When examinees are allowed to review responses on an adaptive test, can they "cheat" the adaptive algorithm in order to take an easier test and improve their performance? Theoretically, deliberately answering items incorrectly will lower the examinee ability estimate and easy test items will be administered. If review is then allowed,…

Although computerized adaptive tests acquire their efficiency by successively selecting items that provide optimal measurement at each examinee's estimated level of ability, operational testing programs will typically consider additional factors in item selection. In practice, items are generally selected with regard to at least three, often…

This thesis addresses problems from two areas of theoretical computer science. The first area is that of computational learning theory, which is the study of the phenomenon of concept learning using formal mathematical models. The goal of computational learning theory is to investigate learning in a rigorous manner through the use of techniques…

This paper examines the effect of using unidimensional item response theory (IRT) item parameter estimates of multidimensional items to create weakly parallel test forms using target information curves. To date, all computer-based algorithms that have been devised to create parallel test forms assume that the items are unidimensional. This paper…

Two studies investigated the effects of verbalization of discovered generalizations on the retention of those principles. (SD)

The use of flow charts in the teaching of college mathematics enhances students' understanding of mathematical processes. Used appropriately in elementary and secondary schools they could also nurture understanding of algorithms. (SD)

To introduce a third-grade class to division, a teacher prepared cards showing rectangular arrays from which some dots were missing; students used the remaining information to remake the cards. Related cards were used later in other activities to develop the repeated subtraction algorithm for division. (SD)

In order to determine the extent to which the LOGO programming language can be used as a reinforcer for general problem solving ability, this field study used a production theory approach to problem solving as a conceptual model, and then translated the model into a LOGO oriented framework. The methodology tested the use of an algorithm in a…

The topic of teaching troubleshooting is examined as an example of the teaching of cognitive strategies for technical problem solving. The traditional behavioral approach to teaching troubleshooting has essentially been algorithmic. Recent cognitive research suggests an approach founded first on task analysis and characterized by: (1) analysis of…

In order to estimate the classical coefficient of test reliability, parallel measurements are needed. H. Gulliksen's matched random subtests method, which is a graphical method for splitting a test into parallel test halves, has practical relevance because it maximizes the alpha coefficient as a lower bound of the classical test reliability…

This description of the Structure-Mapping Engine (SME), a flexible, cognitive simulation program for studying analogical processing which is based on Gentner's Structure-Mapping theory of analogy, points out that the SME provides a "tool kit" for constructing matching algorithms consistent with this theory. This report provides: (1) a…

Research recurrently indicates that children who have difficulty with arithmetic often use systematic routines that yield wrong answers. Recent research has focused less on identifying the most common errors among groups of children and more on analyzing individual children's errors. This paper considers the source of systematic errors in…