Proposes a hierarchical item response theory (IRT) model for mastery classification in criterion-referenced measurement. In this model, items measuring the same criterion are grouped, and a difficulty and discrimination parameter for the criterion is estimated on the same scale as the person and item parameters. Illustrates the model with a test…

Review of eight studies evaluating strategies for teaching nursing research found they emphasized contextual rather than internal or external validity. A typology for research on teaching strategies was proposed using the categories of purpose, methodological assumptions, types of validity, and sample size. (Contains 45 references.) (SK)

Qualitative and quantitative measures were utilized to explore the abilities of 11 young children nominated by their parents as gifted. Characteristics nominated by parents as indicators of their child's giftedness were consistent with indicators in the research literature and were generally supported by norm-referenced test results and teacher…

Three experiments examined the relative importance of original function and current function in artifact categorization for young children and adults. It was concluded that 6-year-olds have begun to organize their understanding of artifacts around the notion of original function, whereas 4-year-olds have not. Data were examined in terms of how…

Identifies, describes, and categorizes events occurring between members of different learning groups in three ninth-grade physical science classrooms. Explains how concepts, ideas, tools, tool-related practices, and materials diffused throughout the classroom environment were appropriated by learners in various ways to contribute to the…

Four studies examined the tendency of preschoolers to use verbal labels versus appearance information in making novel inductive inferences. Results revealed that preschoolers tended to use trait labels of "shy" or "outgoing" rather than superficial resemblance in making psychological inferences. These results could not be attributed to biases on…

Describes connectionist model showing exclusivity asymmetries when categorizing visual stimuli, similar to pattern shown by infants. Examines asymmetries in terms of an associative learning mechanism, distributed internal representations, and statistics of feature distributions in the stimuli. Details test of model with infants, finding that…

Categorization and analysis of articles on tourism research provided evidence that tourism is not a discipline but a field. A case study of a travel and tourism management program at a British university shows how business studies are emphasized in preparing for the field. (Contains 50 references.) (SK)

This study compared three methods for identifying non-mainstream dialect use: listener judgment ratings, type-based counts of non-mainstream pattern use, token- based counts. Correct dialect classifications were made for 88 to 97 percent of participants, although regression algorithms had to be applied to the type- and token-based results. For…

Describes indexes to Web resources that have been created by librarians to be more discriminating than the usual Web search engines, some of which are organized by standard classification systems. Includes indexes by solo librarians as well as by groups of librarians, some in public libraries and some in higher education. (LRW)

Three studies involved kindergartners in a categorization task with an adult in collaborative and noncollaborative conditions; tested subjects on memory of who had performed which actions; and asked them to recategorize items independently. Results suggested that one process contributing to children's internalization of knowledge may involve…

Six match-to-sample picture/object selection experiments explored 3- to 5-year-olds' knowledge about superordinate words and acquisition of this knowledge. Findings indicated that number of standards (one versus two), types of standards (different versus same basic-level categories), and nature of representation (pictures versus objects)…

This article discusses hearing loss in adults. It begins with an explanation of the anatomy of the ear and then explains the three types of hearing loss: conductive hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss, and mixed conductive-sensorineural hearing loss. Tinnitus, hearing aids, and cochlear implants are also addressed. (CR)

Presented neonates with lexical and grammatical words prepared from natural maternal speech. Found that neonates could categorically discriminate the sets based on a constellation of perceptual cues that distinguished them. Suggested that this ability to discriminate words on basis of multiple acoustic/phonological cues provides a perceptual base…

Describes a method that uses program participants' compliance with program instructions as a means of classifying participants and in that way obtains a randomized control group for a subset of participants. Illustrates two variations of the method through a large smoking-intervention project. (SLD)