Presents an activity that demonstrates a crude method of mapping the sea floor and helps students appreciate some basic considerations that scientists face in working with a project of this type. Demonstrates the logistics of teamwork and the effects of time and cost limitations on science projects. (JRH)

Two possible standard error formulas for the polytomous differential item functioning index proposed by N. J. Dorans and A. P. Schmitt (1991) were derived. These standard errors, and associated hypothesis-testing procedures, were evaluated through simulated data. The standard error that performed better is based on N. Mantel's (1963)…

Debunks five misconceptions about improving creative thinking. To encourage students to think creatively, instructional techniques should reflect an integrated set of mental skills, use materials mimicking real-life situations, consider students' beliefs and tendencies toward creative thinking, show metacognitive sensibility, and foster a creative…

Developed and investigated a goodness-of-fit statistic that considers the uncertainty with which ability is estimated and a resampling-based hypothesis testing procedure. Simulation study results indicate that the procedure should be useful for evaluating goodness-of-fit item response theory models for most testing applications when uncertainty in…

Reviews "Learning from the Market: Integrating 'The Stock Market Game' across the Curriculum" guide for teachers in grades 4 to 12. Believes the guide suffers from errors of fact and omission. Suggests corrections and alternative activities that enable instructors to continue to use the material. (JEH)

Studied three stratification designs for computerized adaptive testing in conjunction with three well-developed content balancing methods. Simulation study results show substantial differences in item overlap rate and pool utilization among different methods. Recommends an optimal combination of stratification design and content balancing method.…

Explored procedures to detect test takers using item preknowledge in computerized adaptive testing and suggested a Bayesian posterior log odds ratio index for this purpose. Simulation results support the use of the odds ratio index. (SLD)

Synthesizes lessons from school finance research that employs computational structural models to investigate different policy proposals. Suggests that full equilibrium analysis may lead to outcomes that differ from those predicted by partial equilibrium models. (Contains 50 references and 47 notes.) (JOW)

Describes an activity that would be useful for any level biology class discussing recombinant DNA technology to help students visualize the step-by-step process involved. (JRH)

Several methods of constructing confidence intervals for Spearman's rho (rank correlation coefficient) (C. Spearman, 1904) were tested in a Monte Carlo study using 2,000 samples of 3 different sizes. Results support the continued use of Spearman's rho in behavioral research. (SLD)

In one seminar, 39 occupational and 34 physical therapy students interacted with a simulated patient; in another, they viewed a videotape of a simulated patient and clinician. Student identification of patient problems tended to agree with experts in the first seminar; more student treatment plans agreed with experts in the video seminar. (SK)

Four experiments examined 6-year-olds' performance on intentionality stories and one false belief story. Children answered according to their own knowledge in an intentional context, even though they responded by choosing a picture to insert into a protagonist's thought bubble rather than reporting the belief verbally. Children could correctly…

Studied whether ordered latent class models can be used as nonparametric item response theory (NIRT) models to scale polytomous models. Simulation findings show that the Bayesian estimation method presented can handle the inequality restrictions on the parameters and the sparseness of the data quite well. (SLD)

A local government administrator used her work experiences to create simulation exercises for public administration students. Advantages that such practitioners bring to the classroom include "inside" information, organizational management skills, budget knowledge, and the ability to provide networking opportunities for students. (JOW)

Many problem-solving activities include mathematical principles but students do not use them during the design and experimentation phases before creating a prototype or product. Restricting the amount and/or type of materials available to students will require them to calculate and requisition the materials needed. (JOW)