A short series of practical classroom mathematics activities employing the use of a large and publicly accessible scientific data set are presented for use by students in years 9 and 10. The activities introduce and build understanding of integral calculus and trigonometric functions through the presentation of practical problem solving that…

Researchers use many different metrics for evaluation of performance of student models. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of commonly used metrics, to discuss properties, advantages, and disadvantages of different metrics, to summarize current practice in educational data mining, and to provide guidance for evaluation of student…

The implementation of an automated system based on the hot-wire technique is described for the measurement of the thermal conductivity of liquids using equipment easily available in modern physics laboratories at high schools and universities (basically a precision current source and a voltage meter, a data acquisition card, a personal computer…

This paper introduces a method for mining multiple-choice assessment data for similarity of the concepts represented by the multiple choice responses. The resulting similarity matrix can be used to visualize the distance between concepts in a lower-dimensional space. This gives an instructor a visualization of the relative difficulty of concepts…

There has been very little discussion of the issues in developing an occupational card sort despite the growing interest in this technique. Discusses these issues as they arose in developing an occupational card-sort system, known as Occu-Sort, and describes how card-sort developers have resolved them. (Author)

Presents and discusses implications of a set of measures of information. Definitions of relevant terms, including fact, data, representation, information, and knowledge, are given; four levels of processing data are explained (i.e., data transfer, data selection, data analysis, and data reduction); and relationships between information and…

Reported is a method for the analysis of qualitative data, based on the linguistic device of systemic networks used to represent a structure of possibilities. Some initial applications are described, and work in progress, including a computing system, is outlined. (Author/HM)

Reports on a survey measuring the performance of a merging algorithm used to generate the now-defunct ULM (Union List of Monographs) file for ALEPH, Israel's research library network. Discusses automatic detection and merging of duplicate bibliographic records, problems created by lack of a standard for Hebrew spelling, and methods for measuring…

Presents a description of a set of data processing operations and an instrument for analyzing the teaching of data collection and manipulation. The functions and reliability of the Data Processing Observed Guide (DPOG) developed for this purpose are also included. (HM)

Offers a rationale and method for using the hand controllers (game paddles) in the design of computer programs for student use. Methods for their use in entering data as well as in conducting pendulum and acceleration experiments are provided. Complete program listings (for Apple) are included. (JN)

The Total Quality Management approach is used as a framework for a discussion of methodological issues related to diversity in higher education, including classification of race and ethnic information, data aggregation, and use of several key indicators (access to college, persistence, and student progress). (MSE)