Humans excel in categorization. Yet from a computational standpoint, learning a novel probabilistic classification task involves severe computational challenges. The present paper investigates one way to address these challenges: assuming class-conditional independence of features. This feature independence assumption simplifies the inference…

Within the professional literature, it is frequently suggested that interpretation of cognitive profile scatter may be useful for generating a host of clinical inferences. To wit, Hale et al. ("Psychology in the Schools," 45, 838-858, (2008)) posit that cognitive scatter is a defining characteristic of specific learning disability and…

Attention to sub-conscious and pre-conceptual cognition is often neglected in educational research and theory, which, through failing to adequately conceptualize the emergence of perceptual learning, often inadvertently privileges a narrow and disembodied approach that emphasizes 'abstract symbolic processing' at the expense of more sensory forms…

Understanding human judgement and decision making during visual inspection of data is of both practical and theoretical interest. While visualizing data is a commonly employed mechanism to support complex cognitive processes such as inference, judgement, and decision making, the process of supporting and scaffolding cognition through effective…

Children's ability to understand and infer the thoughts and feelings of others influences how they develop a unique view of the world. Examining developmental factors that impact young children's success in both social and cognitive domains has important implications for advancing our current knowledge of social cognition. The purpose of this…

Motivation is a central variable in science education research. The Science Motivation Questionnaire II (SMQ II) is an instrument designed to measure student motivation to learn science. Nearly all peer-reviewed studies (n = 26) of the SMQ II have used Classical Test Theory frameworks despite known limitations with this approach. The present study…

Theoretical and empirical research on quantity implicature has concurred that pragmatically strengthened, richer readings are not available when they are not relevant to the discourse purpose. However, this claim relies on an appeal to a notion of "relevance" that has proved difficult to make precise. In this article I discuss and…

This brief experimental study investigated the initial promise of an intervention designed to promote inference generation in adolescents with reading comprehension difficulties. The intervention, provided for nine sessions, included multisyllable word study, teacher explanation and modeling of inference generation and other comprehension…

Like scientists, children seek ways to explain causal systems in the world. But are children scientists in the strict Bayesian tradition of maximizing posterior probability? Or do they attend to other explanatory considerations, as laypeople and scientists--such as Einstein--do? Four experiments support the latter possibility. In particular, we…

The use of big data in higher education has evolved rapidly with a focus on the practical application of new tools and methods for supporting learning. In this paper, we depart from the core emphasis on application and delve into a mostly neglected aspect of the big data conversation in higher education. Drawing on developments in cognate…

An alternative to null hypothesis significance testing is presented and discussed. This approach, referred to as observation-oriented modeling, is centered on model building in an effort to explicate the structures and processes believed to generate a set of observations. In terms of analysis, this novel approach complements traditional methods…

The goal of this study is to determine the impact of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) crisis on Student's Academic Life of Karachi Pakistan. This research helps in observing the behavior of students and their educational progress includes depression and anxiety, rate of absenteeism and undesirable results in exams threatens due to CNG crisis and…

This commentary is a response to those of Hall (2016) and Winebrenner (2016), which in turn were responses to the article the authors wrote on modality preferences and learning styles (Lodge, Hansen, & Cottrell, 2016). There are several key points the authors wish to address in this reply. Most importantly, and aligned with the aims and focus…

It is well known that students of inferential statistics find the hypothetical, probabilistic reasoning used in hypothesis tests difficult to understand. Consequently, they will also have difficulties in understanding "p"-values. It is not unusual for these students to hold misconceptions about "p"-values that are difficult to…

Fisher randomization tests for Neyman's null hypothesis of no average treatment effects are considered in a finite population setting associated with completely randomized experiments with more than two treatments. The consequences of using the F statistic to conduct such a test are examined both theoretically and computationally, and it is argued…