The methods for calculating returns on investments are taught to undergraduate level business students. In this paper, the authors demonstrate how such calculations are within the scope of senior school students of mathematics. In providing this demonstration the authors hope to give teachers and students alike an illustration of the power and the…

Toys in the classroom was the result of a National Science Foundation grant that brought two engineering graduate students to a middle school math class. The graduate students and teachers collaborated in an effort to enhance students' mathematical learning. An engineering context was theorized as a way to further develop students' understanding…

This paper enlarges the reservoir of solved tutor problems in non-holonomic mechanics at the undergraduate level of physics education. Unlike other, rather artificial, solved problems typically used, the streetboard-rider locomotion problem presented here represents an appealing contemporary real-world problem with interesting applications in a…

In recent work, the author has estimated the rate of return for several workforce development programs in the State of Washington, including secondary and postsecondary career and technical education (CTE; Hollenbeck, 2008). The returns are based on estimates of the net impact of CTE on individuals' labor market experiences and government income…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Curriculum Focal Points (2006) suggested heavy emphasis on instruction in whole numbers for young elementary students. Any intervention curriculum for students who are at-risk for mathematic difficulties should not be oversimplified. Number sense was defined by Berch (1998) as a developing…

This study presents a new approach to estimation of a nonlinear growth curve component with fixed and random effects in multilevel modeling. This approach can be used to estimate change in longitudinal data, such as day-of-the-week fluctuation. The motivation of the new approach is to avoid spurious estimates in a random coefficient regression…

This is the latest in a series of polls sponsored by Phi Delta Kappa International with the Gallup organization. Some important findings of this year's poll include: About half of us believe teacher unions are hurting public education, but we're more likely to support teacher union leaders than governors in disputes over teacher collective…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an early numeracy preventative Tier 2 intervention on the mathematics performance of first-grade students with mathematics difficulties. Researchers used a pretest-posttest control group design with randomized assignment of 139 students to the Tier 2 treatment condition and 65 students to…

The study documents the extent to which high school teachers reflect on their need to revise and extend their mathematical and practicing knowledge. In this context, teachers worked on a set of tasks as a part of an inquiring community that promoted the use of different computational tools in problem solving approaches. Results indicated that the…

The key questions are: is it true that persons with Down's syndrome can study mathematics only at a very elementary level? Might it be possible that their difficulties are mainly restricted to some fields, such as numeracy and mental computation, but do not encompass the entire domain of mathematics? Is the use of a calculator recommended? Is…

This study uses data from an experimental employment program and instrumental variables (IV) estimation to examine the effects of maternal job loss on child classroom behavior. Random assignment to the treatment at one of three program sites is an exogenous predictor of employment patterns. Cross-site variation in treatment-control differences is…

For the forty-second time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two volumes. Volume 1 contains papers dealing…

Several complex sample standard error estimators based on linearization and resampling for the latent regression model of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are studied with respect to design choices such as number of items, number of regressors, and the efficiency of the sample. This paper provides an evaluation of the extent…

Cartesian tensor bases have been widely used to model spherical functions. In medical imaging, tensors of various orders can approximate the diffusivity function at each voxel of a diffusion-weighted MRI data set. This approximation produces tensor-valued datasets that contain information about the underlying local structure of the scanned tissue.…

This report marks the completion of the 2008-09 reporting cycle and the fourth year of the Division III Financial Aid Reporting Program. The report examines findings for all reporting institutions from each of the four reporting cycles, and details the outcomes of the Division III Financial Aid Committee's 2008-09 review process. Four calculations…