A major benefit of education is the lower risk of unemployment at higher educational levels. Analysis of statistical data on the white male labor force drawn from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) indicates that the reduction of the incidence of unemployment is far more important than the reduced duration of unemployment in creating…

The purpose of this teaching unit is to approach elementary probability problems in three ways. First, actual trials are performed and results are recorded. Second, a simple computer simulation of the problem provided on diskette and written for Apple IIe and IIc computers, is run several times. Finally, the mathematical solution of the problem is…

Five sets of activities for students are included in this document. Each is designed for use in junior high and secondary school mathematics instruction. The first "Note" concerns magic squares in which the numbers in every row, column, and diagonal add up to the same sum. An etching by Albrecht Durer is presented, with four questions followed by…

Based on the game "Prisoners' Dilemma," a game-theoretical model of the arms race suitable for postsecondary level mathematics and/or political science students is developed in which two players can initially choose any level of arms development. The purpose of the game is to show under what conditions deescalation rather than escalation…

On well-constructed multiple-choice tests, the most serious threat to measurement is not variation in item discrimination, but the guessing behavior that may be adopted by some students. Ways of ameliorating the effects of guessing are discussed, especially for problems in latent trait models. A new item response model, including an item parameter…

Studies of methods of teaching statistics are reported. Three brief texts were written for the investigations; they varied in degree of explanation of basic concepts of elementary probability. Subjects were undergraduate students at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. None of the subjects had had previous formal exposure to probability or…

The development of game theory was a response to a need to understand human decision making processes in situations of incomplete or imperfect information. By reducing decision making situations to probability game systems, it is possible to analyze and test various competitive strategies that maximize wins and minimize losses. Although game…

The feasibility of using a distance measure, called the Bayesian distance, for automatic sequential document classification was studied. Results indicate that, by observing the variation of this distance measure as keywords are extracted sequentially from a document, the occurrence of noisy keywords may be detected. This property of the distance…

Item characteristic curve (ICC) theory describes the relationship between the ability of individuals and the probability of their answering a test question correctly; it is useful in estimating test scores, equating the scores of various tests, and scoring responses during adaptive testing. A simulation study of the effectiveness of the following…

Several highly motivating lessons particularly pertinent to the study of mathematics in high schools and the first years of college are presented. These lessons fall into four categories: (1) problems that present a challenge and which are interesting for their own sake; (2) problems based on real situations that can be understood by the student;…

This is the instructor's guide to a text designed for the contemporary business student who frequently questions the need for studying mathematics. The text material is presented in a "building-block" fashion, with skills learned in earlier chapters organized to provide a smooth transition into more difficult topics. This guide consists…

Past research has suggested that supervisors, when evaluating the poor performance of a subordinate, are influenced by the outcome of the performance. Nurses (N=55) in advanced training assumed the role of a supervisor of a nurse described as having performed poorly. Half of the subjects read an incident without an outcome and half read an…

This SMSG study guide is designed to provide assistance to teachers who wish to improve their professional competence by self-study or by group study. The main purpose of the guide is to list and organize suitable references. Topics covered include: (1) algebra; (2) geometry; (3) number theory; (4) probability; and (5) statistics. (MP)

College teachers attending an NSF-sponsored summer workshop (1974) produced a series of films showing computer displays of mathematical problems and phenomena. These instructional materials are organized into four units: (1) functions and graphs; (2) analysis; (3) probability, statistics, and simulation; and (4) mathematical models. They are keyed…

Behavioral objectives for grades 10 through 12 are specified for plane geometry, algebra, general mathematics, computer mathematics, slide rule mathematics, basic college mathematics, trigonometry, analytic geometry, calculus and probability. Most sections present material in terms of portions of a school year. At least one major objective is…