Federal standards established in 1997 allow respondents to select multiple-race categories. These new standards changed the single-race subgroup definitions that the government has required since 1977. Meta-analysis, research on long-term assessment trends, and other research involving historical comparisons must account for the definitional…

Research indicates that people more easily understand abstractions when they are preceded by concrete representations (Lawson 2002). This article describes how educators can use science representations to help students form lasting understandings of abstract concepts. A spectrum illustrating some commonly used representation types and their level…

Teachers live for the "teachable moments"--those opportunities to connect their subject content to events taking place beyond the classroom. They can occur spontaneously, lucky occasions to bring the curriculum to life grabbed on the fly. In other instances, a teachable moment looms large. In hundreds of thousands of classrooms nationwide,…

Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) is a popular method for the examination of measurement invariance and specifically, factor invariance. Recent research has begun to focus on using MCFA to detect invariance for test items. MCFA requires certain parameters (e.g., factor loadings) to be constrained for model identification, which are…

Relational thinking plays a central role in human cognition. However, it is not known how children and adults acquire relational concepts and come to represent them in a form that is useful for the purposes of relational thinking (i.e., as structures that can be dynamically bound to arguments). The authors present a theory of how a psychologically…

DIMTEST is a nonparametric hypothesis-testing procedure designed to test the assumptions of a unidimensional and locally independent item response theory model. Several previous Monte Carlo studies have found that using linear factor analysis to select the assessment subtest for DIMTEST results in a moderate to severe loss of power when the exam…

We present a pedagogic approach aimed at modelling electric conduction in semiconductors in order to describe and explain some macroscopic properties, such as the characteristic behaviour of resistance as a function of temperature. A simple model of the band structure is adopted for the generation of electron-hole pairs as well as for the carrier…

This paper describes a computational exercise at undergraduate level that demonstrates the employment of Monte Carlo simulation to study the conformational statistics of flexible polymer chains, and to predict solution properties. Three simple chain models, including excluded volume interactions, have been implemented in a public-domain computer…

The interactive nature of computer simulation allows students to develop a deeper understanding of the laws of charged particle optics. Here, the use of commercially available optical design programs is described as a tool to aid in solving charged particle optics problems. We describe simple and practical demonstrations of basic electrostatic…

In Ramsay-curve item response theory (RC-IRT), the latent variable distribution is estimated simultaneously with the item parameters. In extant Monte Carlo evaluations of RC-IRT, the item response function (IRF) used to fit the data is the same one used to generate the data. The present simulation study examines RC-IRT when the IRF is imperfectly…

"Second Life" is a popular example of an immersive, three-dimensional, virtual world. Inhabitants of "Second Life" often describe their experiences in-world as having great social presence. Certainly there is a good deal of potential for education and training to occur in multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), if designed properly, especially…

The conflict monitoring model of M. M. Botvinick, T. S. Braver, D. M. Barch, C. S. Carter, and J. D. Cohen (2001) triggered several research programs investigating various aspects of cognitive control. One problematic aspect of the Botvinick et al. model is that there is no clear account of how the cognitive system knows where to intervene when…

This edited volume provides an overview of the latest advancements in adaptive training technology. Intelligent tutoring has been deployed for well-defined and relatively static educational domains such as algebra and geometry. However, this adaptive approach to computer-based training has yet to come into wider usage for domains that are less…

Higher education in the U.S. has traditionally prepared students for work and social success, but with families, work, and society itself undergoing revolutionary change, is this preparation sufficient to develop the 21st-century workforce? This book explores how evolving family structures, new ways of balancing work and personal lives, and rapid…

Computers can help the range of ways learners build up their own perception. Students who collect data from the Internet can be self-directed and independent. They can select sources to study and the connections to follow. Relying on the bounds laid down by teachers, the students may be in full control of their subjects and their studies. Students…