In March 2008, the National Early Childhood Transition Initiative released a document developed collaboratively over several months titled "Designing and Implementing Effective Early Childhood Transition Processes". The document was created as a resource for improving state and local performance on the State Performance Plans (SPP) and…

A growing number of demographically diverse, globally-conscious students demand instant access and flexibility when it comes to formal learning. Institutions of higher education are hard pressed to respond, and often cling to old delivery methods and pedagogy. Learner-directed use of Web 2.0 applications to locate, organize, and evidence…

The Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) represents a collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort combining the expertise of mental health treatment providers, psychological researchers, industry, and information sciences and technology. This report outlines a preliminary effort to describe the range of information on college student mental…

Young children love to investigate the natural world, and they love to take photographs. "Picture Science" goes beyond just documenting class projects. The book shows how to use digital photography to make each step in the scientific process--from posing a question, to gathering data, to showing findings--concrete and fun for children. Keyed…

Many states and districts across the country struggle with designing and implementing coherent dropout prevention initiatives that promote academic advancement, especially for special needs students, who drop out at much higher rates than the general student population. This "snapshot" describes New Hampshire's innovative use of data…

The typical goal of distance learning is to provide students with coursework they would not otherwise have access to. The students are open to it because they are comfortable with technology. Often, the most resistant are teachers, either because they are worried that their jobs will be overtaken by computers or because they are just not inclined…

Models represent a set of generic patterns to test hypotheses. This paper presents the CogMoLab student model in the context of an integrated learning environment. Three aspects are discussed: diagnostic and predictive modeling with respect to the issues of credit assignment and scalability and compositional modeling of the student profile in the…

Every schoolyard presents a wealth of opportunities for science exploration. To capitalize on this resource, the authors developed an activity in which students assessed whether their schoolyard could provide a viable habitat for treefrogs. This inquiry-based module was composed of three lessons: A Hoppin' Treefrog Adventure, Field Research Means…

In this inquiry-based activity, Roborovsky hamsters are used to provide students with an opportunity to develop their skills of analysis, inquiry, and design. These hamsters are easy to maintain, yet offer students a means to use conventional techniques and those of their own design to make further observations through measuring, assessing, and…

In this article, the authors comment on Hugh Foot's article on student research and ethics ["Psychology Teaching Review," 12(1), 82-86 (2006)] The authors agree with Foot that there is no case for accepting less stringent ethical criteria when the researcher is a student. However, they argue that greater attention and more stringent measures…

From children's viewpoints, what they experience in the world is what the world is like--for everyone. "What do others experience with their senses when they are in the same situation?" is a question that young children can explore by collecting data as they use a "feely box," or take a "sensory walk." There are many ways to focus the children's…

Gathering large-scale data on tax evasion is an undisputable challenge in and of itself. Doing so in a country in transition from a communist to a democratic system is even more difficult. This paper discusses the challenges and presents a case study to show how they can be dealt with effectively. One important implication of the paper is that…

The fortunes of chance and data have fluctuated in the mathematics curriculum in Australia since their emergence in the National Statement in the early 1990s. Their appearance in Australia followed closely on similar moves in the United States. In both countries the topics, taken together, were given a section status equal to other areas of the…

Data is a daily reality for school systems. Between standardized tests and tools from companies that offer data warehousing services, educators and district superintendents alike are up to their eyeballs in facts and figures about student performance that they can use as the basis for curricular decisions. Still, there is more to assessment than…

Our study compared the quantitative and qualitative outcomes associated with course evaluations collected over the Internet with those collected using a paper-and-pencil method. We randomly assigned students to 1 of the 2 different formats. There was no significant difference in quantitative student responses based on administration method, but…