Purpose: The normative group of a norm-referenced test is intended to provide a basis for interpreting test scores. However, the composition of the normative group may facilitate or impede different types of diagnostic interpretations. This article considers who should be included in a normative sample and how this decision must be made relative…

A simulation called "Star Power" provides an invaluable means to help students understand structural social inequality. This paper explains how Star Power achieves this goal and provides suggestions on how to inculcate the following points that are both central to sociology and difficult to adequately convey to students: 1) Students see how those…

Aspiring teachers are taught the elements of "pedagogy," originally the art and science of teaching children. Many aspects of teaching adults, however, are fundamentally different than those employed in teaching children. In order to acknowledge these differences, a new word--"andragogy"--gained currency in the late 20th century. This article…

In the first issue of "Australian Educational Computing," in 1986, Cumming and Abbott reported a controlled comparison of top-down and bottom-up teaching strategies for Grade 5 and 6 students' use of a simple logic programming language. They found that both strategies were rated highly by students and teachers, and gave useful learning;…

This study demonstrates a method for extending debates on the effectiveness of school inputs into the cost-effectiveness realm. This study uses the example of Florida's statewide initiative to reduce class sizes to determine which of many state inputs buys the most effect for the same expenditure. The method includes a three-stage process:…

A computerized adaptive test (CAT) may be modeled as a closed-loop system, where item selection is influenced by trait level ([theta]) estimation and vice versa. When discrepancies exist between an examinee's estimated and true [theta] levels, nonoptimal item selection is a likely result. Nevertheless, examinee response behavior consistent with…

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is an approach to language teaching which is claimed to help achieve excellence in learner performance. Yet there is little evidence of the impact that NLP techniques in teachers' discourse can have on learners. The article draws on workshops with teachers where classroom simulations were used to raise teachers'…

Recognizing that a solid pre-trial drug intervention program is a vital first step in educating first-time offenders about the seriousness of drug abuse and criminal behavior, staff at the Intervention Program for Substance Abusers in Montgomery County, Maryland's Department of Correction and Rehabilitation decided that better strategies were…

An original concept for a Web-based role play "SurfingGlobalChange" is proposed on the basis of multi-year interdisciplinary teaching experience and constructivist pedagogy. Underlying didactic orientation is towards self-guided learning, acquiring socially compatible "competence to act" in a globalised world, self-optimising social procedures…

There is a nascent literature on the question of whether active learning methods, and in particular simulation methods, enhance student learning. In this article, the authors evaluate the utility of an international relations simulation in enhancing learning objectives. Student evaluations provide evidence that the simulation process enhances…

This article examines a role play scenario in which students actively learn about the challenges of negotiation by taking on the roles of different factions and international mediators in a three-way civil war. Students gain a greater appreciation for the complexities of negotiations both in terms of outcomes and process, and they may begin to…

Reservoir simulation is one of the core courses in the petroleum engineering curriculum and it requires knowledge and skills in three major disciplines, namely programming, numerical methods and reservoir engineering. However, there were often gaps in the students' readiness to undertake the course, even after completing the necessary…

The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of simulations based on conceptual change conditions (CCS) and traditional confirmatory simulations (TCS) on pre-service elementary school teachers' understanding of direct current electric circuits. The data was collected from a sample consisting of 89 students; 48 students in the…

The authors describe 2 efficiency (planned missing data) designs for measurement: the 3-form design and the 2-method measurement design. The 3-form design, a kind of matrix sampling, allows researchers to leverage limited resources to collect data for 33% more survey questions than can be answered by any 1 respondent. Power tables for estimating…

This study presents the random-effects rating scale model (RE-RSM) which takes into account randomness in the thresholds over persons by treating them as random-effects and adding a random variable for each threshold in the rating scale model (RSM) (Andrich, 1978). The RE-RSM turns out to be a special case of the multidimensional random…