This document consists of a sample curriculum model for grade 7 mathematics based on the 1998 Arkansas State Mathematics Framework. The document is divided into five sections: (1) Number Sense, Properties, and Operations; (2) Geometry and Spatial Sense; (3) Measurement; (4) Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability; and (5) Patterns, Algebra, and…

This document consists of a sample curriculum model for grade 8 mathematics based on the 1998 Arkansas State Mathematics Framework. The document is divided into five sections: (1) Number Sense, Properties, and Operations; (2) Geometry and Spatial Sense; (3) Measurement; (4) Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability; and (5) Patterns, Algebra, and…

In this study we test the performance of some nonexperimental estimators of impacts applied to an educational intervention--reduction in class size--where achievement test scores were the outcome. We compare the nonexperimental estimates of the impacts to "true impact" estimates provided by a random-assignment design used to assess the…

Describes a class experiment illustrating students' illusions about their own mortality (often referred to as "unique invulnerability"). The students received information, culled from actuarial tables, concerning age and mortality rates. The students consistently overestimated their own age of death even when told they would do so. (MJP)

Details six activities that utilize data contained in a telephone book. Topics include data display, fractional numeracy, random art, estimation, and probability. Contains a summary and extension activities, some of which focus on permutations and combinations. (DDR)

Discusses a framework for assessing middle school students' thinking in conditional probability and independence. Establishes four levels of thinking from subjective to numerical reasoning for both constructs. Students (n=15) from grades 4-8 were interviewed. Profiles reveal that levels of probabilistic thinking were stable across the two…

In machine-mediated learning environments, there is a need for more reliable methods of calculating the probability that a learner's response will be correct in future trials. A combination of domain-independent response-state measures of cognition along with two instructional variables for maximum predictive ability are demonstrated. (Author/LRW)

Analysis of patterns in time (APT) is presented as a method for gathering information about observable phenomena so that probabilities of temporal patterns of events can be estimated empirically. APT is illustrated through a classroom study of 25 mentally handicapped students and in a study of 2 computer-based tests. (SLD)

Provides a short BASIC program, RANVAR, which generates random variates for various theoretical probability distributions. The seven variates include: uniform, exponential, normal, binomial, Poisson, Pascal, and triangular. (MVL)

This paper describes a computer simulation of Buffon's needle problem. The problem considers the probability that a needle will cross a line when the needle is thrown in a random way onto the parallel lines a certain distance apart. The paper provides the algorithm and computer program. (YP)

Describes the Interactive Mathematics Program (IMP), a four-year program of problem-based mathematics that integrates algebra, geometry, and trigonometry with additional topics, such as probability and statistics, and uses calculator and computer technology to enhance student understanding. (MKR)

Demonstrates the use of graphing technology to help students develop and interpret three models of jury behavior and explore the potential effect of such actions as changing jury size. MathCAD, an electronic notebook was used. (Contains 10 references.) (MKR)

This article gives a comprehensive description of a theory for efficient assessment of knowledge. The essential concept is that the knowledge state of a subject, with regard to a specified field of information, can be represented by a particular subset of problems that the subject is capable of solving. (SLD)

Procedures for obtaining student samples for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and deriving survey weights for analysis of survey data are described. Sample designs are economically and operationally feasible, and weighting procedures result in increased precision of estimates as they account for the probabilities of student…

We investigated how adolescents' and parents' future beliefs, i.e. their goals and probability estimations (regarding future career, social and family life) were (1) structured, (2) interrelated, and (3) whether adolescents' perceived family interaction mediated parents' and adolescents' beliefs, among 239 11--16-year olds and 197 parents. Using…