Quantifies and confirms subjective impressions of similarity and differences in musical monophonic scores. Adapts concepts from sequence comparison theory and uses algorithms to define distances between any two melodies created by tone and rhythmic structure. Presents and applies a generalized algorithm for identifying locally similar portions in…

This paper presents a theoretical framework for investigating the role of algorithms in mathematical thinking using a combined ontological-psychological outlook. The intent is to demonstrate that the processes of learning and of problem solving incorporate an elaborate interplay between operational and structural conceptualizations of the same…

A study on the impact of misconceptions on preservice elementary teachers' processes in solving problems involving multiplication and division of decimals is described. Included are the purpose of the study, a description of the subjects, instruments, and interviews, the findings, and discussion. (KR)

Studied the ability of logical test design (LTD) to predict student performance in reading Roman numerals for 211 sixth graders in Mexico City tested on Roman numeral items varying on LTD-related and non-LTD-related variables. The LTD-related variable item iterativity was found to be the best predictor of item difficulty. (SLD)

Describes the use of simulation to introduce the bootstrapping technique of creating confidence intervals for the mean, median, and variance. These bootstrap confidence intervals are compared to the traditional confidence intervals for the purpose of analyzing accuracy of the technique. A Minitab program to produce confidence intervals is…

Presents an algorithmic approach to addressing the vocabulary problem in scientific information retrieval and information sharing, using the molecular biology domain as an example. A cognitive study and a follow-up document retrieval study were conducted using first a conjoined fly-worm thesaurus and then an actual worm database and the conjoined…

This project explored the possible applications of new technology to standardized testing. Because the multimedia approach is particularly promising for music, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) music test was chosen as the context for this project. The basic system for administering the test and recording the results was written using…

Items with the highest discrimination parameter values in a logistic item response theory (IRT) model do not necessarily give maximum information. This paper shows which discrimination parameter values (as a function of the guessing parameter and the distance between person ability and item difficulty) give maximum information for the…

Impediments that hamper learning statistics, the relative characteristics of successful and unsuccessful learners, and the nature of interventions required to make learning statistics successful and meaningful were studied. Twenty graduate and 15 undergraduate students in different fields from a large public university, a small private college,…

The most useful method of item selection for making pass-fail decisions with a Computerized Adaptive Test (CAT) was studied. Medical technology students (n=86) took a computer adaptive test in which items were targeted to the ability of the examinee. The adaptive algorithm that selected items and estimated person measures used the Rasch model and…

The use of stepwise regression has been criticized for both interpretive misunderstandings and statistical aberrations. A major statistical problem with stepwise regression and other procedures that involve multiple significance tests is the inflation of the Type I error rate. General approaches to control the family-wise error rate such as the…

The graded response model for two-stage testing was applied to an attitudes toward science scale using real-data simulation. The 48-item scale was administered to 920 students at a grade-8 equivalent in Singapore. A two-stage 16-item computerized adaptive test was developed. In two-stage testing an initial, or routing, test is followed by a…

Online information retrieval is pervasive and its development in libraries is accelerating. Within the near future, most college and research libraries will provide direct access to their patrons to vast information resources via CD-ROMs, locally mounted databases, and gateways. The computer terminal and the "frame" of information it…

The computerized morphological parser, AMPLE, grew out of work in computer assisted dialect adaptation. AMPLE contains no language-specific code, but is controlled entirely through external, user-written files, the notations of which were designed for linguists. AMPLE's constructs are linguistic: e.g., allomorph, morpheme, conditioning…

This paper presents an examination of the construction of logic in multidigit subtraction. Interviews were conducted with 90 grade 2 and grade 3 students to determine whether they understood the logic of borrowing and whether the construction of the logic was related to procedural expertise or corresponding conceptual knowledge. Of 34 students…