This study used innovative assessment practices to obtain and document broad learning outcomes for a 15-hour game-based curriculum in Quest Atlantis, a multi-user virtual environment that supports school-based participation in socio scientific inquiry in ecological sciences. Design-based methods were used to refine and align the enactment of…

The aim of the 2018 International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA) conference was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There have been advances in both cognitive…

The purpose of this Item Response Theory study was to investigate how the expected reduction in item information, due to the collapsing of response categories in performance assessment data, was affected by varying testing conditions: item difficulty, item discrimination, inter-rater reliability, and direction of collapsing. The investigation used…

A 1-year study determined what students were doing as they engaged in the Chelsea Bank computer software simulation activities. The major goal of the analysis was to build a knowledge base for the development of assessments that would guide instruction and focus teachers and students (in middle-level and high school classrooms) as they used the…

This study investigates parameter estimation under the simple linear regression model for situations in which the underlying assumptions of ordinary least squares estimation are untenable. Classical nonparametric estimation methods are directly compared against some robust estimation methods for conditions in which varying degrees of outliers are…

This paper describes the "Sickle Cell Counselor" (SCC), a goal based scenario on permanent display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. SCC is an exploratory hypermedia simulation program which provides users with a basic understanding of Sickle Cell Anemia. The user of the program plays the role of a genetic counselor, and,…

This study considers the problem of performing all pairwise comparisons of column means for a two-by-four additive nonorthogonal factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) model where cell variances are heterogeneous. Extensions of the following procedures are considered: (1) Games-Howell (1976) procedure; (2) the C. W. Dunnett (1980) T3 and C…

Most of the multivariate statistical techniques rely on the assumption of multivariate normality. The effects of non-normality on multivariate tests are assumed to be negligible when variance-covariance matrices and sample sizes are equal. Therefore, in practice, investigators do not usually attempt to remove non-normality. In this simulation…

This study integrates into one comprehensive Monte Carlo simulation a vast array of previously defined and substantively interrelated research studies of the robustness of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) statistical procedures. Three sets of balanced ANOVA and ANCOVA designs (group sizes of 15, 30, and 45) and one…

A didactic example is provided, using a Monte Carlo method, of how differential item functioning (DIF) can be eliminated (and thus better understood) when the complete latent space is used. The main source of DIF is that the matching single criterion used in some DIF procedures, Mantel Haenszel or Simultaneous Item Bias (SIBTEST), does not account…

This Monte Carlo study examines whether, given various numbers of variables, treatments, and sample sizes, in a one-way multivariate analysis of variance, Type I error rates of the test approximations provided by the BMDP program, the Statistical Analysis System (SAS), and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for Roy's largest…

Console-operation skill is procedural knowledge of control panel actions. The console operator must select appropriate sequences of steps (e.g., setting dials, pressing buttons, etc.) as mandated by desired goals and subgoals. A computer-based training (CBT) environment can simulate an environment where knowledge acquisition is efficiently and…

The nature of qualitative understanding and associated learning processes in the context of a computer simulation called the "Envisioning Machine" (EM) are investigated. The questions focused on in this paper include the following: What sorts of knowledge do students' construct? What role does prior knowledge play in the construction of…

The Intelligent Maintenance Training System (IMTS) is a set of software tools that permit the composition and presentation of interactive graphical simulations for computer-based technical training. IMTS is designed to support training on the operation and maintenance of complex devices. Simulations are authored by device experts, who use the IMTS…

This critical review of 13 political science software simulations and tutorials rates the programs both by quality of presentation and by educational content. Courseware does have a truly interactive nature yet allows the student to be in an active mode of control. The software programs reviewed feature a variety of graphic, textual, and…