There are at least two procedures to assess item difficulty stability in the Rasch model: robust z procedure and "0.3 Logit Difference" procedure. The robust z procedure is a variation of the z statistic that reduces dependency on outliers. The "0.3 Logit Difference" procedure is based on experiences in Rasch linking for tests…

Appropriate behavior in relation to an object often requires judging whether it is owned and, if so, by whom. The authors propose accounts of how people make these judgments. Our central claim is that both judgments often involve making inferences about object history. In judging whether objects are owned, people may assume that artifacts (e.g.,…

Successful language acquisition involves generalization, but learners must balance this against the acquisition of lexical constraints. Such learning has been considered problematic for theories of acquisition: if learners generalize abstract patterns to new words, how do they learn lexically-based exceptions? One approach claims that learners use…

Object use is a ubiquitous characteristic of the human species, and learning how objects function is a fundamental part of development. In this article the authors examine the role that intentionality plays in children's understanding of causal relationships during observational learning of object use. Children observed demonstrations in which…

Cross-national comparisons of IQ have become common since the release of a large dataset of international IQ scores. However, these studies have consistently failed to consider the potential lack of independence of these scores based on spatial proximity. To demonstrate the importance of this omission, we present a re-evaluation of several…

This study examined the effect of different goals (process, performance outcome, and multiple goals) and self-recording on self-regulation of learning a dart-throwing skill. Participants were 105 fifth and sixth graders who were randomly assigned to six (3 Goal type x 2 self-recording) experimental and one control group. Results showed a positive…

This study investigated whether gesture can enhance the pragmatic comprehension of language impaired children. Language impaired children (N = 21) and age matched typically developing children (N = 26) were presented verbal scenarios in two conditions: speech only and speech+gesture. In the speech+gesture condition, speech was accompanied by…

Displaying guilt after a transgression serves to appease the victim and other group members, restore interpersonal relationships, and indicate the transgressors' awareness of and desire to conform to the group's norms. We investigated whether and when young children are sensitive to these functions of guilt displays. In Study 1, after 4- and…

In this intervention study, teachers tried to implement four instructional principles derived from the literature on research-based, explicit reading comprehension instruction in their fifth-grade classrooms. The principles focused on relevant background knowledge, reading comprehension strategies, reading-group organization, and reading…

The study examines the resources related to science that African American young men learn and develop by playing a card game called Spades, a common cultural practice in African American communities that dates back to the Civil War Era. The qualitative study examines what the Spades players at a local high school consider when making decisions…

There are many reasons to be curious about the way people learn, and the past several decades have seen an explosion of research that has important implications for individual learning, schooling, workforce training, and policy. In 2000, "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition" was published and its…

The authors of this article review the development and discuss potential uses for a new instrument that evolved from follow-up research conducted after completion of a five-year study of innovative curricular and instructional practices. The instrument is A Stakeholder's Perceptions of Innovative Reform Efforts (ASPIRE). The primary purpose of…

Background: The primary objective of the current study was to examine the childhood predictors of adolescent reading comprehension in velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS). Although much research has focused on mathematics skills among individuals with VCFS, no studies have examined predictors of reading comprehension. Methods: 69 late adolescents…

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the effects of frequency of peer victimization experiences on psychological and academic adjustment during early adolescence, with a focus on testing psychological adjustment as a mediator, as well as differences based on gender and type of victimization. The sample in this short-term longitudinal…

Although Bayesian methodology has become a powerful approach for describing uncertainty, it has largely been avoided in undergraduate statistics education. Here we demonstrate that one can present Bayes' Rule in the classroom through a hypothetical, yet realistic, legal scenario designed to spur the interests of students in introductory- and…