It is said that meteorology is the only profession where a person can be wrong half the time and still keep his or her job. The truth is not quite so bleak, but one can still ask, "Just how accurate are weather forecasters, anyway?" This article presents two projects for middle level students to investigate this issue in a hands-on,…

Estimates of the costs and consequences of many types of public policy proposals play an important role in the development and adoption of particular policy programs. Estimates of the same, or similar, policies that employ different modeling approaches can yield widely divergent results. Such divergence often undermines effective policymaking.…

In this online exploration of sound energy and the human ear, students carry out an inquiry-based activity, which leads them to websites featuring a diagram of a human ear, an interactive demonstration of the Doppler effect, a model of longitudinal waves, and an animation of human hearing. In the activity, students formulate, justify, and evaluate…

Many students in introductory science courses at both the secondary and tertiary levels learn science as a miscellaneous collection of facts, concepts, and equations that must be memorized to pass examinations. One way to show students that they actually can "do" science is to have them use an observable event to generate a relationship that can…

This study assessed the psychometric properties of two scales that can be used in predicting team performance: specifically how team members assess the market orientation of their work unit as well the leadership skills present in the team. The first scale is a three-dimensional assessment of the unit's market orientation (innovative, process, or…

This descriptive study analyzed the emergence of the imperfect in the written production of 30 beginning learners of Spanish. The analysis focused on the use of the imperfect and the morphological marking of state verbs. The results follow the patterns predicted by the aspect hypothesis (Andersen and Shirai, 1994), and support some refinements of…

Despite continuing improvements in risk assessment for child protective services (CPS) and movement toward actuarial prediction of child maltreatment, current models have not adequately addressed child sexual abuse. Sexual abuse cases present unique and ambiguous indicators to the investigating professional, and risk factors differ from those…

Time limits represent a substantial departure from previous welfare policy. Theory suggests that their effects should vary according to the age of the youngest child of the family. I test this prediction using data from the Current Population Survey and find that time limits indeed have larger effects on families with younger children. I further…

This study examined the relationship between perception of communication and report of symptoms among second-generation Cambodian children and their parents using a matched-control design of clinic and community children. Children reported significantly higher symptoms than parents in both samples. Clinic parents reported more symptoms than …

School districts are increasingly initiating random drug-testing (RDT) programs in an effort to curb substance-use rates among students, yet little is known about student attitudes toward RDT and potential obstacles to program acceptance and effectiveness. The authors surveyed 1011 9th through 11th grade students in 2 rural high schools in North…

This research examined the effects of three factors (friendship, gender, and topic of teasing) on adolescents' predicted emotional reactions to hypothetical teasing episodes regarding appearance and academic competence. The 8th graders (n = 131) in Study 1 made predictions regarding the negative emotions and humor experienced when teasing occurred…

Mothers' emotion talk, children's emotion talk, and children's understanding of emotion were examined in 50 mother-child dyads at 41 months. Language measures included total emotion words, unique emotion words, labels, explanations, and different types of explanations. Children's emotion understanding was assessed for labeling, situation, and…

This paper compares the advantages of a strength-based perspective to the long-standing pathology-based approach to assessment. Theoretical advantages to strength-based assessment, such as greater compatibility with early prevention efforts and increased acceptance by multiple stakeholders, are suggested. The "Devereux Early Childhood Assessment"…

Despite a century of research, the mechanisms underlying short-term or working memory for serial order remain uncertain. Recent theoretical models have converged on a particular account, based on transient associations between independent item and context representations. In the present article, the authors present an alternative model, according…

This article analyses current concerns over grading standards and academic inflation. Attempting to clarify a complex phenomenon, the researchers took advantage of a rare opportunity afforded by one university's policy reducing the number of high grades awarded by its Education department. The issue providing the focus of study was whether…