At the beginning of the twenty-first century, there is a dramatic change in society. Teachers and educators are confronting the challenges of more accountability to fulfill the increasing demands of multicultural education in urban areas. Wise (2000) and Freire (1993) declare that society requires the development of an especially flexible,…

The challenges of modeling students' performance in simulation-based assessments include accounting for multiple aspects of knowledge and skill that arise in different situations and the conditional dependencies among multiple aspects of performance in a complex assessment. This paper describes a Bayesian approach to modeling and estimating…

Contrasts aptitude by treatment interaction (ATI) and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) methods for making cross-level inferences between individual-level and group-level factors in school effectiveness research. Recommends HLM when intraclass correlations are high. ATI is suitable when intraclass correlations are low, but partitioning the…

Children ages 3 to 5 years old are observed in a series of 3 experiments assessing their use of counterfactual thinking in causal reasoning. Results suggest that young children readily interpret the cause of an outcome in terms of a contrast between the observed sequence of events, and a counterfactual alternative in which the outcome did not…

Explains the process of focusing on one critical reading strategy--questioning. Notes that the teacher first modeled questioning while reading a book aloud. Concludes that as students become full participants in questioning, they understand new vocabulary, enjoy reading, and solve their problems. (PM)

A study investigated aspects of reading comprehension for familiar and unfamiliar topics among native and nonnative English-speaking college students enrolled in French and Italian courses. Results suggest that, as comprehension proficiency improves, qualitative differences appear rather than just quantitative ones. Background knowledge was found…

Discusses the use or misuse of statistics or probability in society. Presented are examples from opinion polling, sports, the 1970 draft lottery, and the law. Lists 18 references. (YP)

Measures of working memory capacity and measures of word knowledge were used as predictors of three measures of reading skills in 95 undergraduates. Vocabulary size and speed of accessing it were independent of word knowledge. Reading comprehension, reading speed, and text inferencing ability were independent measures of reading skill. (SLD)

Suggests activities for fostering critical reading skills in social studies. Activities include assigning reporting roles to students; asking students to create a cartoon or a slogan; requiring students to review a favorite television program; and helping students identify exaggeration. (KO)

Examines how paraphrasing, formulating questions, comparing and contrasting, and completing matching exercises on worksheets affect recall of information. Concludes that the quality of inferences differed according to the writing task, with question writing and compare-contrast tasks generating more new information, while question writing results…

The computer has its own "niches" in language learning in which it functions well in helping students learn a foreign language. Such niches are discussed in the context of developing individualized courseware for developing skill in reading with explanations, speed reading and spelling, and inferencing. (Author/LB)

Educational assessment concerns inference about student knowledge, skills, and accomplishments. Test theory has evolved in part to address questions of weight, coverage, and import of data. Resulting concepts and techniques can be viewed as applications of more general principles for inference in the presence of uncertainty. (SLD)

In 2 experiments, 261 middle school students processed an analogy and responded to factual and inferential target-domain questions in a study of variables that contribute to the formation of analogical misconceptions. Results of both experiments support a six-variable model of analogical misconception formation. (SLD)

Describes the of attribute sampling to estimate characteristics of library collections and operations. The nature of statistical sampling and making a statistical inference are covered, and examples from library situations are given. Tables of determination of sample size and evaluation of results are included. (Contains six references.) (EAM)

Presents classroom activities using banknotes to teach history and social studies. Suggests that students' interest in money can be utilized to teach about geography, national heroes, symbolism, and the image a nation wishes to present to its citizens and the rest of the world. Lists sources for obtaining banknotes and directories to help identify…