User interfaces are becoming more intuitive following the requirements of the individual learner and reinforcing the drive towards more personalised learning and greater learner autonomy. There are clearly a new set of challenges emerging for teaching practitioners that will have implications upon not just what is learned but importantly upon…

To find out about the microscopic life in the valuable estuary environment, it is usually necessary to be near the water. This dry lab offers an alternative, using authentic data and a simulation of plankton sampling. From the types of organisms found in the sample, middle school students can infer relationships in the biological and physical…

Differential item functioning (DIF) occurs when an item on a test or questionnaire has different measurement properties for 1 group of people versus another, irrespective of mean differences on the construct. This study focuses on the use of multiple-indicator multiple-cause (MIMIC) structural equation models for DIF testing, parameterized as item…

Using experiential simulation games is a commonly used pedagogical method to enrich classroom discussions and to facilitate students' learning in supply chain management education at both undergraduate and graduate levels. However, existing games are inappropriate for undergraduate students that are first-time learners of the subject. In this…

Recent technological, geophysical, and societal forces have fundamentally altered the structure and functioning of human environments. Prominent among these forces are the rise of the Internet; rapid rates of global environmental change; and widening rifts among different socioeconomic, racial, religious, and ethnic groups. The present article…

Second Life (SL) is a user-created virtual environment with possible merit for teaching and learning in higher education. In this article, two teacher educators reflect on their initial development in SL, considering the ways they worked within SL to meet their differing instructional needs and the ways they prepared students for these learning…

The authors examined the robustness of multilevel linear growth curve modeling to misspecification of an autoregressive moving average process. As previous research has shown (J. Ferron, R. Dailey, & Q. Yi, 2002; O. Kwok, S. G. West, & S. B. Green, 2007; S. Sivo, X. Fan, & L. Witta, 2005), estimates of the fixed effects were unbiased, and Type I…

Using video games, virtual simulations, and other digital spaces for learning can be a time-consuming process; aside from technical issues that may absorb class time, students take longer to achieve gains in learning in virtual environments. Greg Jones and Scott Warren describe how intelligent agents, in-game characters that respond to the context…

Historically, Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) have been used for entertainment purposes, but that is rapidly changing. Advances in computer technology and an enhanced perception of functionality have allowed MMOGs to combine with other technologies, such as networking and web-based learning, to provide educators with opportunities to…

Same and opposite-sex pairs of preadolescents interacted twice in a MUD, a virtual domain where they created characters known as avatars and socially interacted with one another. Boys interacted primarily through rapid scene shifts and playful exchanges; girls interacted with one another through written dialogue. Opposite-sex pairs lagged behind…

The trigger for shifting gaze between stimuli requiring vocal and manual responses was examined. Participants were presented with picture-word stimuli and left- or right-pointing arrows. They vocally named the picture (Experiment 1), read the word (Experiment 2), or categorized the word (Experiment 3) and shifted their gaze to the arrow to…

Choice strategies for selecting among outcomes in multiple-cue probability learning were investigated using a simulated medical diagnosis task. Expected choice probabilities (the proportion of times each outcome was selected given each cue pattern) under alternative choice strategies were constructed from corresponding observed judged…

The estimation of nonlinear structural models is not trivial. One reason for this is that a closed form solution of the likelihood may not be feasible or does not exist. We propose to estimate nonlinear structural models using the efficient method of moments, as generating data according to the models is often very easy. A simulation study of the…

This volume contains the following papers: (1) Beyond Computer Literacy: Supporting Youth's Positive Development through Technology (Marina Umaschi Bers); (2) Educational Technology, Reimagined (Michael Eisenberg); (3) Children as Codesigners of New Technologies: Valuing the Imagination to Transform What Is Possible (Allison Druin); (4) Content…

The ineffectiveness of business ethics education has received attention from the popular press and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business after repeated ethics scandals. One possibility is that teaching ethics is different from other content areas because ethics is best learned when the student does not know it is being taught.…