This paper addresses two Global Matching predictions in embedded-category designs: the within-category choice advantage in forced-choice recognition (superior discrimination for test choices comprising a same-category distractor); and the category length effect in forced-choice and old/new recognition (a loss in discriminability with increases in…

One perceived concern in the process of educating in faith in the context of our Western societies is the temptation of approaching this experience primarily in terms of observable and measurable criteria (e.g., church growth, reception of sacraments, acquisition of factual knowledge, study of trends). Although Religious Education requires…

Theories of categorization need to account for ways in which people use their creativity to categorize things, especially in the context of similarity. The current three-phase study is a preliminary attempt to understand how people group concepts together as well as to explore the role of similarity between concepts in creative categorization.…

There are several important decisions that must be made when implementing taxometric procedures such as mean above minus below a cut (MAMBAC), maximum covariance (MAXCOV), and maximum eigenvalue (MAXEIG). A Monte Carlo study was performed with 10,000 (5,000 categorical, 5,000 dimensional) samples to examine 5 ways to locate the first and last…

Two voluntary task-switching experiments probed the influence of previous exposures to stimuli and categorizations of these stimuli on task choice during subsequent exposures to the same stimuli. Subjects performed origin and size judgments under standard voluntary task-switching instructions to perform the tasks equally often in a random order.…

This study examined whether infants privilege shape over other perceptual properties when making inferences about the shared properties of novel objects. Forty-six 15-month-olds were presented with novel target objects that possessed a nonobvious property, followed by test objects that varied in shape, color, or texture relative to the target.…

Delving into the life and legacy of Henry VIII is both complex and captivating. People seem compelled to learn more abut his critical contributions and controversial conduct that range from the significant to the scandalous. Reflecting on the history of the world would be incomplete without investigating the events and escapades associated with…

Phylogenetic trees, such as the "Tree of Life," are commonly found in biology textbooks and are often used in teaching. Because students often struggle to understand these diagrams, I developed a simple, inexpensive classroom model. Made of pipe cleaners, it is easily manipulated to rotate branches, compare topologies, map complete lineages,…

Current literature on careers, social identity and meaning in work tends to understate the multiplicity, historical significance, and nuances of the concept of calling(s). In this article, we trace the evolution of the concept from its religious roots into secular realms and develop a typology of interpretations using occupation and religious…

Aim: To investigate relationships between hand function, brain lesions, and corticomotor projections in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP). Method: The study included 17 children (nine males, eight females; mean age 11.4 [SD 2.4] range 7-16y), with unilateral CP at Gross Motor Function Classification System level I and Manual Ability…

A huge gap in science literacy is between students who do not show the competencies that are necessary to participate effectively in life situations related to science and technology and students who have the skills which would give them the potential to create new technology. The objective of this paper is to identify, for 25 countries, distinct…

This article presents results from a research project exploring the relational interplay between school staff and students, its functions and complexity in the secondary school context. School relationships (between students and different kinds of staff) are more or less indirectly related to educational content: subject matter as well as norms…

Across the globe, educational tests are being used at a rapidly increasing rate. More recently, educational tests are being used to inform educational policy and for holding educators accountable for student learning. One reason educational assessments are used for these important purposes is that they are considered to provide reliable and…

When lotteries are infeasible, researchers must rely on observational methods to estimate charter effectiveness at raising student test scores. Considerable attention has been paid to observational studies by the Stanford Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), which have analyzed charter performance in 27 states. However, the…

This report is part of a long-term collaboration of the Quality Teaching for English Learners initiative at WestEd with the Fort Worth Independent School District. The focus of this report is on comparisons between ninth grade newcomers and other groups of English language learners (ELLs). Analyses compare newcomers to 1) long-term ELLs who were…