Assessment of complex task performance is crucial to evaluating personnel in critical job functions such as Navy damage control operations aboard ships. Games and simulations can be instrumental in this process, as they can present a broad range of complex scenarios without involving harm to people or property. However, "automatic"…

Statistics teaching should not be carried out in the same way for all kinds of university students. Instead, teaching statistics should take into account the different fields of study that students have chosen. For example, students of sciences or engineering have different interests and backgrounds compared to students of any social or juridical…

This study extends recent findings of a relationship between the relative age of students among their peers and their probability of disability classification. Using three nationally representative surveys spanning 1988-2004 and grades K-10, we find that an additional month of relative age decreases the likelihood of receiving special education…

The technical complexities and sheer size of international large-scale assessment (LSA) databases often cause hesitation on the part of the applied researcher interested in analyzing them. Further, inappropriate choice or application of statistical methods is a common problem in applied research using these databases. This article serves as a…

This study examines physical and sexual revictimization in a random sample of incarcerated and poor, urban, nonincarcerated women using multiple measures of physical and sexual child abuse. Researchers used hierarchical logistic regression to compare rates of revictimization and the strength of the association between child abuse and adult…

Purpose: To examine the impact of an experimental consumer-choice voucher benefit on the selection of independent and agency personal assistance services (PAS) providers among rural and urban Medicare beneficiaries with disabilities. Methods: The Medicare Primary and Consumer-Directed Care Demonstration enrolled 1,605 Medicare beneficiaries in 19…

Questions about gifted learners and the best way to teach them to face expected challenges is often a source of controversy. This is because old stereotype curriculum and conventional instructional strategies may not be enough to give the needed stimulation. Considering the enormity of what is expected to reinforce the education of the gifted,…

The purpose of this article is to clarify conceptions, definitions, and applications of learning and problem-solving efficiency. Conceptions of efficiency vary within the field of educational psychology, and there is little consensus as to how to define, measure, and interpret the efficiency construct. We compare three diverse models that differ…

The research design is a quantitative causal comparative method. The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) which measures student scores included assessments in mathematics and reading. The design study called for an examination of how type of small learning community (SLC) or the type non-SLC high school environment affected student…

Intelligent tutors have become increasingly accurate at detecting whether a student knows a skill, or knowledge component (KC), at a given time. However, current student models do not tell us exactly at which point a KC is learned. In this paper, we present a machine-learned model that assesses the probability that a student learned a KC at a…

Objective: Paternity is uncertain, so if paternal feelings evolved to promote fitness, we might expect them to vary in response to variables indicative of paternity probability. We therefore hypothesized that the risk of lapses of paternal affection, including abusive assaults on children, will be exacerbated by cues of non-paternity. Methods:…

This study investigated the comprehension and effectiveness of teaching formal, probabilistic decision-making skills to middle school students. Two specific objectives were to determine (1) if middle school students can comprehend a probabilistic decision-making approach, and (2) if exposure to the modeling approaches improves middle school…

This case study addresses two major priorities of the Boston Foundation--health and education. Since the 2007 publication of the "Understanding Boston" report "The Boston Paradox: Lots of Health Care, Not Enough Health," the Boston Foundation has worked to draw attention to the epidemic of preventable chronic disease that not…

Student modeling is a widely used approach to make inference about a student's attributes like knowledge, learning, etc. If we wish to use these models to analyze and better understand student learning there are two problems. First, a model's ability to predict student performance is at best weakly related to the accuracy of any one of its…

This article describes a course redesign project at the University of North Texas that is in the fifth year of a planned nine-year effort. The goals of the Next Generation Course Redesign (NGen) Project include practicing "never-ending course redesign," affecting teaching and learning at all levels of the institution and beyond, and…