Designing manipulative ecological experiments is a complex and time-consuming process that is problematic to teach in traditional undergraduate classes. This study investigates the effectiveness of using a computer simulation--the Virtual Rocky Shore (VRS)--to facilitate rapid, student-centred learning of experimental design. We gave a series of…

New communication technologies, including personal response "clickers," have become increasingly popular across college campuses as a way to promote a wide range of practices. This paper calls attention to the need for communication models that account for the usefulness of these new technologies, especially as they relate to health promotion,…

In late October 1967, the USS Scorpion was lost at sea, somewhere between the Azores and Norfolk Virginia. Dr. Craven of the U.S. Navy's Special Projects Division is credited with using Bayesian Search Theory to locate the submarine. Bayesian Search Theory is a straightforward and interesting application of Bayes' theorem which involves searching…

As the technology in computer graphics advances, Animated-Virtual Actors (AVAs) in Virtual Reality (VR) applications become increasingly rich and complex. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) suggests that complex visual materials could hinder novice learners from attending to the lesson properly. On the other hand, previous studies have…

Two simulation studies examined the effect of peer group rejection on 7 and 9 year old children's outgroup prejudice. In Study 1, children (n = 88) pretended that they were accepted or rejected by their assigned group, prior to competing with a lower status outgroup. Results indicated that rejected versus accepted children showed increased…

This article addresses issues in embodied sentence processing from a "cognitive neural systems" approach that combines analysis of the behavior in question, analysis of the known neurophysiological bases of this behavior, and the synthesis of a neuro-computational model of embodied sentence processing that can be applied to and tested in the…

The field of ultra-cold atoms, since the achievement of Bose-Einstein Condensation (Anderson et al., 1995; Davis et al., 1995; Bradley et al., 1995), have seen an immensely growing interest over the past decade. With the creation of optical lattices, new possibilities of studying some of the widely used models in condensed matter have opened up.…

Currently, standardized tests are widely used as a method to measure how well schools and students meet academic standards. As a result, measurement issues have become an increasingly popular topic of study. Unidimensional item response models are used to model latent abilities and specific item characteristics. This class of models makes…

Despite the increasing popularity of latent class models (LCM) in educational research, methodological studies have not yet accumulated much information on the appropriate application of this modeling technique, especially with regard to requirement on sample size and number of indicators. This dissertation study represented an initial attempt to…

Confirmatory factor analytic tests of measurement invariance (MI) require a referent indicator (RI) for model identification. Although the assumption that the RI is perfectly invariant across groups is acknowledged as problematic, the literature provides relatively little guidance for researchers to identify the conditions under which the practice…

Throughout much of the social and behavioral sciences, latent growth modeling (latent curve analysis) has become an important tool for understanding individuals' longitudinal change. Although nonlinear variations of latent growth models appear in the methodological and applied literature, a notable exclusion is the treatment of growth following…

The use of Miller's Theorem in the determination of the high-frequency cutoff frequency of transistor amplifiers was recently challenged by a paper published in this TRANSACTIONS. Unfortunately, that paper provided no simulation or experimental results to bring credence to the challenge or to validate the alternate method of determination…

This study examined gender-related issues in using new desktop virtual reality (VR) technology as a learning tool in career and technical education (CTE). Using relevant literature, theory, and cross-case analysis of data and findings, the study compared and analyzed the outcomes of two recent studies conducted by a research team at Oklahoma State…

Surveys indicate that there is more interest today in politics among college students than has been the case in the recent past. This article describes a multidisciplinary freshman seminar aimed at using that interest to promote student engagement and the Reacting to the Past simulations at the course's center.

A primary concern with testing differential item functioning (DIF) using a traditional point-null hypothesis is that a statistically significant result does not imply that the magnitude of DIF is of practical interest. Similarly, for a given sample size, a non-significant result does not allow the researcher to conclude the item is free of DIF. To…