The quality of approximations to first- and second-order moments based on latent ability estimates is discussed. The ability estimates are based on the Rasch or the two-parameter logistic model, and true score theory is used to account for the fact that the basic quantities are estimates. (SLD)

Examined preschoolers' inductive inferences across biological and non-biological kinds. Found support for gradual-enrichment model of conceptual change. Four-year-olds had a limited, coherent, independent biological theory which may form the basis of mature understanding of biological kinds. Explored results in terms of multiple explanatory…

Proposes the following approach to teaching statistics: an introductory course on collecting, organizing, and presenting data, then a course on analysis and inference. Presents a study o f 339 students indicating that this course sequence results in better learning and less anxiety. (Contains 18 references.) (SK)

Tests retention of two types of words, words that have to be inferred and words glossed in a text in an interactive program on the Internet for the practice of reading skills for academic purposes. Confirmed theories that retention of inferred words is higher than retention of words where the meaning is given, and that incidental vocabulary…

Measurement of eye movements is a powerful tool for investigating perceptual and cognitive function in both infants and adults. Straightforwardly, eye movements provide a multifaceted measure of performance. For example, the location of fixations, their duration, time of occurrence, and accuracy all are potentially revealing and often allow…

Causal effect modeling with naturalistic rather than experimental data is challenging. In observational studies participants in different treatment conditions may also differ on pretreatment characteristics that influence outcomes. Propensity score methods can theoretically eliminate these confounds for all observed covariates, but accurate…

On any night, the stars seen in the sky can be as close to Earth as a few light-years or as distant as a few thousand light-years. Distances this large are hard to comprehend. The stars are so far away that the fastest spacecraft would take tens of thousands of years to reach even the nearest one. Yet, astronomers have been able to accurately…

Physicist James Trefil once describes the universe as "The Spongy Universe," comparing large-scale cosmic structures to the structure of a sponge. The NASA Genesis education module "Cosmic Chemistry: Cosmogony" features the "Spongy Universe" activity in which pairs of students observe a household sponge, making…

Behavior analysis in general and applied behavior analysis in particular requires a well developed, empirically supported, and useful approach to human language and cognition in order to fulfill its mission of providing a relatively adequate comprehensive account of complex human behavior. This article introduces a series of articles in which the…

This article addresses the underlying beliefs needed by teachers of young children if their learning communities are to be successful and self-sustaining. The relationships of language arts and social studies content to specific academic, social and literary rituals are discussed in the context of classroom examples in the United States. Trust and…

Three studies (N = 171) examined preschool children's tendency to use category information to make inferences about ambiguous behavior. Children heard stories in which category information about story characters was manipulated and behavioral information was held constant. Participants were asked to evaluate, explain, and determine the…

The February 2005 issue of The Science Teacher (TST) reminded everyone that by learning how scientists study stars, students gain an understanding of how science measures things that can not be set up in lab, either because they are too big, too far away, or happened in a very distant past. The authors of "How Far are the Stars?" show how the…

Many important research hypotheses concern conditional relations in which the effect of one predictor varies with the value of another. Such relations are commonly evaluated as multiplicative interactions and can be tested in both fixed-and random-effects regression. Often, these interactive effects must be further probed to fully explicate the…

How do people judge which of 2 risks claims more lives per year? The authors specified 4 candidate mechanisms and tested them against people's judgments in 3 risk environments. Two mechanisms, availability by recall and regressed frequency, conformed best to people's choices. The same mechanisms also accounted well for the mapping accuracy of…

Sensory or input factors can influence the strength of interference in the classic Stroop color-word task. Specifically, in a single-trial computerized version of the Stroop task, when color-word pairs were incongruent, opponent color pairs (e.g., the word BLUE in yellow) showed reduced Stroop interference compared with nonopponent color pairs…