Significant relationships were found between linguistic maturity of children, speech of parents, and children's helping behavior. Mean length of utterance was a better predictor of cooperative behavior than child age; no comparable relationships were found for parents' nonverbal behaviors. Results support a hypothesis of verbal mediation of…

Music majors were asked to identify interval when it was either preceded or followed by a tone moving in the same direction. Difficulties in interval recognition in context appear to be an effect not just of placement within the context or of tonality, but of particular combinations of these aspects. (RM)

Describing the types and uses of tests may seem to be an easy task, but it is not as straightforward as it may first appear. Tests vary on many different characteristics, are used in many different ways, cross the typical assessment categories, and in some cases are so unique as to from a category unto themselves. This chapter explores many…

In this study, the effect of appended pretesting was evaluated with regard to item statistics and examinee scores for groups of items that were pretested as part of a large-scale operational testing program. In appended pretesting, items are administered in a separately timed section at the end of an operational test battery. Two evaluations were…

Three experiments demonstrate that the context of a two-object array greatly influences the way in which young children represent the array in their copies. Children were aware of differences in orientation and in the nature of paired objects and were concerned with marking these differences in their drawings. (RH)

Crude mental models should take priority over designs in guiding evaluative inquiry. Three illustrative mental models are shown to have implications for how method mixing is carried out in practice. One of the models, a complex and contextually contingent model, is applied to the Arizona Student Assessment Program. (SLD)

Professional translators were asked what questions they asked the clients before accepting a commission, and were then asked to comment on how the answers to these questions affected the translation assignment. The creation of an "implied reader" by the translator is posited, and a variable definition of equivalence is proposed, based on pragmatic…

Causes of local item dependence in a large-scale performance assessment were studied using data from the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program. Contextual characteristics (content and response requirements) were identified to differentiate locally independent and dependent item clusters. Hypothesized explanations are offered for high…

Investigated the collaborative efforts by way of desktop video conferencing between beginning instructional designers and intern teachers. Discusses the impact of a real-world context for designing instruction on beginning instructional designers and the opportunity for intern teachers to experiences the process of instructional design, and…

Four theoretical streams--contexualism/ecology, systems theory, realism/constructivism, and chaos theory--contributed to a theory of individuals as complex, unique, nonlinear, adaptive chaotic and open systems. Individuals use purposive action to construct careers but can make maladaptive and inappropriate choices. (Contains 42 references.) (SK)

The example of the formation of a learning community in a Yukon Island retreat center demonstrates the influence of context and the importance of community building. Organic learning occurs through the synthesis of the natural environment, the community, and the learning process. (SK)

Two managers described as high performing constructed complexity maps of their organization/world. The maps suggested that high performance is socially constructed and negotiated in specific contexts and management competencies associated with it are context specific. Development of high performers thus requires personalized coaching more than…

Discusses the use of lightly controlled games, primarily in classes in game theory. Considers the value of such games from the viewpoint of both teaching and experimentation and discusses context; control; pros and cons of games in teaching; experimental games; and games in class, including cooperative game theory. (Author/LRW)

Mathematical analysis and computer simulation methods are used to show that interactive models of context effects can exhibit classical context effects if there is variability in the input to the network or the network itself. Interactive models represent hypotheses about information-processing dynamics leading to the global asymptotic behaviors…

Examines the role that affect may play in the understanding of human development. An ecological approach to perception is used to provide a basis for discussion of the adaptive function of affect. (PCB)