Maintains that the explosion of communications technology represents both content and method for social studies courses. Praises the International Negotiation Project (INP) as an educational resource that incorporates both. The INP is a computer-assisted simulation of international negotiation and foreign policy decision making. (MJP)

Effectively teaching college students about social class stratification is a difficult challenge. Explanations for this difficulty tend to focus on the students who often react with resistance, paralysis, or rage. Sociologists have been using games and simulations as alternative methods for several decades to teach about these sensitive subjects.…

Background: Existing research suggests that one of the challenges for teachers in persisting with innovative inquiry curricula is their difficulty scaffolding students' transitions into technology-supported and open-ended activities. The question of whether students can effectively scaffold one another's transitions has not been previously…

This paper describes a study, now in progress, of new methods for representing the sampling variability of Mantel-Haenszel differential item functioning (DIF) results, based on the system for categorizing the severity of DIF that is now in place at the Educational Testing Service. The methods, which involve a Bayesian elaboration of procedures…

This study extended item parameter recovery studies in item response theory to the nominal response model (NRM). The NRM may be used with computerized adaptive testing, testlets, demographic items, and items whose alternatives provide educational diagnostic information. Moreover, with the increasing popularity of performance-based assessment, the…

Whether or not subjects can simulate mental retardation, a consideration that has implications in criminal cases, was studied using 21 adult Caucasian males between 20 and 30 years of age, largely comprised of students and staff employees of the University of New Mexico. Subjects were asked to give genuine and simulated responses to two major test…

Instructional message design must attract attention and result in learning by facilitating perception, comprehension, and retention. The purposes of this research are: (1) to develop a conceptual framework for message design; (2) to develop a systematic procedure for message design; and (3) to provide one basis for the development of a performance…

The use of two alternative item response theory (IRT) estimation models in the scaling and equating of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was explored; and item scaling and test equating results based on these models were compared with results based on the three-parameter (3PL) model currently being used with the TOEFL. Models were…

This booklet provides instructions for simulating the causes and events that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon as President of the United States. Students role-play activities related to the Watergate break-in, the cover-up attempts, the Congressional hearings relating to impeachment considerations, and the resignation of President Richard…

Validity generalization meta-analysis (VG) examines the extent to which the validity of an instrument can be transported across settings. VG offers correction and summarization procedures designed in part to remove the effects of statistical artifacts on estimates of association between criterion and predictor. By employing a random effects model,…

C. L. Olson (1976, 1979) suggests the Pillai-Bartlett trace (V) as an omnibus multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) test statistic for its superior robustness to heterogeneous variances. J. Stevens (1979, 1980) contends that the robustness of V, Wilk's lambda (W) and the Hotelling-Lawley trace (T) are similar, and that their power functions…

Valid assessment of professional competence has proven to be an elusive goal. Objective tests, direct observation of performance, overall ratings of competence, and simulations have been tried and found wanting in one way or another. Objective test items are criticized as being unrealistic and therefore invalid. Direct observation tends to be very…

The appallingly inadequate knowledge of current and international affairs among U.S. college students is well documented. ICONS, the International Communication and Negotiation Simulations program, offers an encouraging initiative for addressing the problem. ICONS is a "model United Nations" that the staff of the University of Maryland…

A typology of role-playing and simulation exercises based on interpersonal interactions, used in second language instruction, is presented. Ten dimensions of such simulations were identified, which can then be used as criteria for classifying the exercises. The dimensions include: the starting point of the simulation; complexity of the…

Car Builder is a scientific CD-ROM-based simulation program that lets students design, construct, modify, test, and compare their own cars. Students can design sedans, four-wheel-drive vehicles, vans, sport cars, and hot rods. They may select for aerodynamics, power, and racing ability, or economic and fuel efficiency. It is a program that teaches…