In educational technology and learning sciences, there are multiple uses for a predictive model of whether a student will perform a task correctly or not. For example, an intelligent tutoring system may use such a model to estimate whether or not a student has mastered a skill. We analyze the significance of data recency in making such…

Bayes's theorem is notorious for being a difficult topic to learn and to teach. Problems involving Bayes's theorem (either implicitly or explicitly) generally involve calculations based on two or more given probabilities and their complements. Further, a correct solution depends on students' ability to interpret the problem correctly. Most people…

In the natural world, learning emerges from the joy of play, experimentation, and inquiry as part of everyday life. However, this kind of informal learning is often difficult to integrate within structured educational curricula. This report describes an educational program that embeds naturalistic learning into formal high school, college, and…

Researchers who make tutoring systems would like to know which sequences of educational content lead to the most effective learning by their students. The majority of data collected in many ITS systems consist of answers to a group of questions of a given skill often presented in a random sequence. Following work that identifies which items…

In this study three issues related to "expert" problem solving were studied; the problems considered were based on Tower of Hanoi puzzles. A computer simulation was proposed and tested, effects of cues on subjects' performance were studied, and inter-problem transfer was analyzed. Four predictions were posed for the simulation study. Two of these…

Working simulation sets is as close as most high school accounting students come to actual job experience, according to the author. Suggestions are offered for motivating students, teaching the sets, establishing time goals, using a variety of sets with some student choice, and systematic student evaluation. (MF)

These simulation materials, designed to identify factors, priorities, and information needs in planning vocational education, consist of (1) a background information section outlining the setting and format of the exercises, (2) eight exercises, each of which focuses on a selected vocational education planning problem, and (3) a set of information…

Written clinical simulation problems in forced-choice and essay formats were used to compare the performance of medical students with varying levels of clinical experience at the conclusion of their pediatric rotations. Clinical simulation problems failed to demonstrate responsiveness to development and maturation in the problem-solving approach…

"Gedankensimulation" is a term adapted from Einstein's "thought experiments" to indicate mentally created simulations that can help conceptualize ideas. Presents seven examples of simulations that can be utilized to solve problems or illustrate concepts in probability and statistics. Problem contexts include games of chance,…

This manual is designed to help classroom teachers, instructional designers and test developers, construct sound, challenging and sophisticated paper and pencil exercises that simulate the data-gathering and decision process involved in diagnosing and resolving a problem. It is based on the authors' extensive experience in conducting training…

This project was composed of two major research experiments and four subsidiary experiments, designed to test alternative ways of constructing and applying occupational problem-solving materials. In Part I, Difficulty Level of Simulated Vocational Problems in Encouraging Career Exploration, it was found that the difficulty level did significantly…