The Sixth International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-6) was special in that it provided a context commemorating the life and work of George Polya (1887-1985) whose native land was Hungary and to whom all those interested in the teaching of mathematical problem solving owe a great debt. What follows in this publication is a collection…

An approach to teaching children aged 12 through 14 a substantial course about computers is described. Topics covered include simple algorithms, information and communication, man-machine communication, the concept of a system, the definition of a system, and the use of files. (SD)

The process of developing a computer program that can turn French text into speech is described. The program is designed to change a conventionally-spelled text into a phonemic transcription with an accuracy level of over 99.9%, divide the text into breath-groups that are syntactically correct and not over 14 syllables long, treat the unstable…

A joint maximum likelihood estimation algorithm, based on the partial compensatory multidimensional logistic model (PCML) proposed by L. Zeng (1989), is presented. The algorithm simultaneously estimates item difficulty parameters, the strength of each dimension, and individuals' abilities on each of the dimensions involved in arriving at a correct…

The Mantel-Haenszel (MH) procedure attempts to identify and quantify differential item performance (item bias). This paper summarizes the MH statistics, and identifies the parameters they estimate. An equivalent procedure based on the Rasch model is described. The theoretical properties of the two approaches are compared and shown to require the…

The illustrative method of teaching employed in most undergraduate accounting courses is becoming increasingly burdensome to professors and students due to the rapid proliferation of accounting and auditing professional standards and the increased complexity of the tax law. This teaching method may be near the breaking point in upper division…

This paper describes the Structure-Mapping Engine (SME), a cognitive simulation program for studying human analogical processing. SME is based on Gentner's Structure-Mapping theory of analogy, and provides a "tool kit" for constructing matching algorithms consistent with this theory. This flexibility enhances cognitive simulation studies by…

An algorithm is first defined by an example of making pancakes and then through discussion of how computers operate. The understanding that human beings bring to a task is contrasted with this algorithmic processing. In the second section, the question of understanding is related to learning algorithmic performance, with counting used as the…

Arguments for and against the use of computers in mathematics classes have centered on whether students benefit from or are merely hindered by practicing computational skills. This paper claims that the true essence of mathematics lies not in computation, basically a mechanical operation, but in problem-solving. Since no amount of computational…

This is the second unit of a 15-unit School Mathematics Study Group (SMSG) mathematics text for high school students. Topics presented in the first chapter (Informal Algorithms and Flow Charts) include: changing a flat tire; algorithms, flow charts, and computers; assignment and variables; input and output; using a variable as a counter; decisions…

The first part of this four-part dissertation reviews conceptual and operational approaches to human communication systems. A new conceptual model for studying communication, General Algorithm for Studying Structuring in Complex Systems (GASSICS), is developed in the second part, and an operational method for applying GASSICS is presented in part…

A case is given against teaching division of fractional numbers. Types of problems usually solved by division are solved by methods involving only multiplication. (JP)

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether children in grade 3 who differ in cognitive processing capacity add and subtract differently. The researchers drew upon information from three sources: individual results from a battery of 14 tests, an objective-referenced achievement test measuring a variety of arithmetic skills related to…

To make training cost-effective for its small systems customers, Digital Equipment Corporation provides self-paced training packages for several years that can be used by its customers on-site. To control the quality of this training, Digital is now incorporating computer managed instruction (CMI) into some of these packages. This CMI component…

The 15 papers and summaries of presentations in this collection provide technical information and guidance offered by representatives from federal agencies and private industry. Topics discussed include physical security, risk assessment, software security, computer network security, and applications and implementation of the Data Encryption…