The article, "Distributed Revisiting: An Analytic for Retention of Coherent Science Learning" is an interesting study that operates at the intersection of learning theory and learning analytics. The authors observe that the relationship between learning theory and research in the learning analytics field is constrained by several…

Learning a more distributed representation of the input feature space is a powerful method to boost the performance of a given predictor. Often this is accomplished by partitioning the data into homogeneous groups by clustering so that separate models could be trained on each cluster. Intuitively each such predictor is a better representative of…

We present a learning module to engage students in the global inequality debate using Google Public Data World Development Indicators. Goals of this article are to articulate the importance and urgency of teaching global issues to American students; situate the central debate in the globalization literature, paying particular attention to global…

This guide is designed to help researchers make sure that their research reports include enough information about study measures so that readers can assess the quality of the study's methods and results. The guide also provides examples of write-ups about measures and suggests resources for learning more about these topics. The guide assumes…

This toolkit, developed by Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Central in collaboration with York Public Schools in Nebraska, provides a process and tools to help teachers use data from their classroom assessments to evaluate promising practices. The toolkit provides teachers with guidance on how to deliberately apply and study one classroom…

This addendum to previously published results presents alternative analyses of data from large-scale effectiveness studies of Cognitive Tutor Algebra I in middle schools and high schools. These alternative analyses produce results that are substantively the same as previously reported. We find a significant positive effect of 0.21 standard…

Colleges and universities are increasingly being held accountable for assessing and reporting student learning. Recently there has been increased focus on using assessment to improve learning over time. In this paper we present a simple, step-by-step assessment process that will deliver meaningful results to achieve these ends. We emphasize the…

Although the term data-driven decision making (DDDM) is relatively new (Moss, 2007), the underlying concept of DDDM is not. For example, the practices of formative assessment and computer-managed instruction have historically involved the use of student performance data to guide what happens next in the instructional sequence (Morrison, Kemp, &…

A course design for first-year science students is described, where the focus is on the skills necessary to do science. The course uses original research projects, designed by the students, to teach a variety of skills including reading the scientific literature, hypothesis development and testing, experimental design, data analysis and…

In this article, the author describes a series of lessons that focuses on observation and documentation of organisms and that is appropriate for the second through fourth grades. By giving students the necessary initial support, they will have the ability to observe details and the skills and confidence to make realistic scientific drawings and…

At the University of Vermont, an interdisciplinary faculty team developed an introductory watershed science field course. This course honed field skills and catalyzed communication across water-related disciplines without requiring specific prerequisites. Five faculty (geology, engineering, geography, natural resources) taught the four-credit…

Instruction is increasingly being delivered through distributed multimedia applications. Instruction delivered through these online environments creates robust opportunities for content presentation and learner interaction. These environments give the designer control over every aspect of the instructional experience. With some simple…

The ability to comprehend trophic (nutritional) relationships and food web dynamics is an essential part of environmental literacy. However, students face severe difficulties in grasping the variety of causal patterns in food webs. We propose a curriculum for comprehending trophic relations in elementary school. The curriculum allows students to…

Discusses methodological issues in cross-cultural studies of diverse communities, including language problems, data collection and analysis, sample size, and dissemination of findings. A study of the information-seeking behavior of ethnolinguistic gatekeepers in several communities in California is described. Suggestions are given for public…

Discussion of the four-level model of training evaluation focuses on the need for evaluation at level III, to show that training has been effective and that trainees behave differently on the job. Suggests data collection and measurement methods, including pretraining-posttraining evaluation, action plan audits, simulations, and unobtrusive…