Offers the final word on the measurement-driven instruction (MDI) debate in this "Kappan" issue. Claims that Popham's article is internally inconsistent and provides no examples of well-constructed, instructionally illuminative tests. Also lacking are teacher testimonials and evidence that MDI programs are cost-effective or oriented…

Multiple choice questions are a common method of assessing student understanding. In this article, the authors discuss and evaluate a student-focused collaborative learning strategy for working with such questions that results in greater student learning and allows instructors to better understand student thinking and ultimately to write better…

At the beginning of a Java computer programming course, nine students in an undergraduate class and nine students in a graduate class completed a web-based programmed instruction tutoring system that taught a simple computer program. All students exited the tutor with an identical level of skill, at least as determined by the tutor's required…

The limitations of teaching and assessment of knowledge are emphasized, and an improved method is suggested to test the students. This superior examination technique would replace multiple-choice questions with free-response questions for numerical problems, wherein the numerical inputs fed in the computer would be optically scanned and graded…

In traditional Chinese medicine, a key maxim is "Zhi Bing Yao Zhi Gen," which literally means, "To cure a disease one must cure the underlying cause." The author was reminded of this principle when she reflects on K-12 math education reform when the US. President Bush's 2006 State of the Union Address prompted yet another wave…

Some of the pitfalls in the construction of multiple choice tests are discussed and examples of invalid questions given. (RM)

Discusses one way of addressing the difficulty of mastering a large number of concepts through the use of ConcepTests; that is, multiple choice questions given in a lecture that test understanding as opposed to calculation. Investigates various types of ConcepTests and the material they can cover. (Author/KHR)

The aim of this research was to show the importance of instruction in learning a specific set of words. Two different tasks were used in the experiment: one in which subjects were required to fill in sentences and choose the appropriate answer in a multiple choice exercise (lexical test), and the other was a rating task designed to assess semantic…

This study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of CAI vs. classroom lecture for computer science at ICS level. The objectives were to compare the learning effects of two groups with classroom lecture and computer-assisted instruction studying the same curriculum and the effects of CAI and CRL in terms of cognitive development. Hypotheses of…

Investigated the learning of young and old adults as related to two variables, stimulus concreteness (low vs. high) and presentation method (recall vs. multiple choice vs. associate matching). Main findings were: (a) the elderly did not perform as well as young adults, (b) for both groups, performance was better for the pairs with concrete…

A learning-for-mastery approach, recommended by Bloom and based on key points suggested by Biehler, was used in large lecture sections of undergraduate educational psychology. Quizzes were composed of completion items; one or more alternate forms could be taken until mastery was achieved or grades raised. Students also did short papers on readings…

Presents four teaching suggestions: a thinking twist on the multiple-choice question; building active readers through debate; two-column response to literature; and motivating a soldier to form a reading habit. (SR)

This paper describes the commonly found "knowledge delivery" education format and argues that work outside the academy and more in-depth academic training demand skills and competencies not developed by the "knowledge delivery" model. The knowledge curriculum education is characterized as lecture-type instruction, knowledge delivery and exposure,…

Undergraduate students participated in an experiment designed to evaluate different types of elaborations on definitions of 16 psychology terms. First, participants received booklets presenting the definition of each term, followed by 1 of several elaborations: an example, a mnemonic, a paraphrase, or a repeated definition (the nonelaborating…

College-level biology courses contain many complex processes that are often taught and learned as detailed narratives. These processes can be better understood by perceiving them as dynamic systems that are governed by common fundamental principles. Conservation of matter is such a principle, and thus tracing matter is an essential step in…