Contemporary learning research and development that is embedded in primary and secondary schooling is increasingly acknowledging the significance of a variation approach for enhancing the possibility of learning. However, the variation approach has so far attracted very little attention in higher education, but where it has, the results have been…

In educational effectiveness research, multilevel data analyses are often used because research units (most frequently, pupils or teachers) are studied that are nested in groups (schools and classes). This hierarchical data structure complicates designing the study because the structure has to be taken into account when approximating the accuracy…

This is a ready-to-use simulation that has high school students portraying all of the key players that decide how water from the Colorado River will be allocated. Students act as judges, lobbyists, news analysts, and even protesters during a mock water conference. Water supply is promised beyond nature's delivery, so the problem is real and will…

This article describes the results of a simulation study to investigate the impact of missing data on the detection of differential item functioning (DIF). Specifically, it investigates how four methods for dealing with missing data (listwise deletion, zero imputation, two-way imputation, response function imputation) interact with two methods of…

Interactive simulations are entering mainstream science education. Their effects on cognition and learning are often framed by the legacy of information processing, which emphasized amodal problem solving and conceptual organization. In contrast, this paper reviews simulations from the vantage of research on perception and spatial learning,…

Pressing questions about the merits of market accountability in K-12 education have spawned a large scholarly literature. Unfortunately, much of that literature is of limited relevance, and much of it is misleading. The studies most widely cited in the United States used intense scrutiny of a few small-scale, restriction-laden U.S. school choice…

Background: The relationship between psychopathic traits and aggression in children may be explained by their reduced sensitivity to signs of distress in others. Emotional cues such as fear and sadness function to make the perpetrator aware of the victim's distress and supposedly inhibit aggression. As children high in psychopathic traits show a…

Simulation-based teaching (SBT) is increasingly used in medical education. As an alternative to other teaching methods there is a lack of evidence concerning its efficacy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potency of SBT in anesthesia in comparison to problem-based discussion (PBD) with students in a randomized controlled setting.…

The current study compared 3 models of recognition memory in their ability to generalize across yes/no and 2-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) testing. The unequal-variance signal-detection model assumes a continuous memory strength process. The dual-process signal-detection model adds a thresholdlike recollection process to a continuous…

Assessing whether students can both re-present a corpus of learned knowledge and also demonstrate that they can apply that knowledge to solve problems is key to assessing student understanding. This notion, in turn, impacts our thinking about what we assess, how we author such assessments, and how we interpret assessment results. The diffusion of…

Advances in anatomical informatics, three-dimensional (3D) modeling, and virtual reality (VR) methods have made computer-based structural visualization a practical tool for education. In this article, the authors describe streamlined methods for producing VR "learning objects," standardized interactive software modules for anatomical sciences…

Virtual reality exposure has recently emerged as an important tool for exposure therapy in the treatment of fear of flying. There have been numerous empirical studies that have evaluated the effectiveness of virtual reality exposure as compared to other treatments including in vivo exposure, progressive muscle relaxation, cognitive therapy,…

The term serious game is often used to refer to "games used for training, advertising, simulation, or education." In this article, the authors use the term computer game in its broadest sense, believing it to encompass the broad spectrum of what is usually referred to now as all digital gaming (video games, console games, online games, etc.). They…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to give a brief introduction to Second Life, and to provide an outline of how one academic librarian has got involved with using it and reviews the issues that have arisen from a library perspective. Design/methodology/approach: The paper offers a reflection on whether library activities in Second Life are…

Existing research on the Spanish-language translation of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; L. C. Morey, 1991) suggests that the validity scales from the English- and Spanish-language versions may not be equivalent measures. In the current study, 72 bilingual participants completed both the English- and Spanish-language versions of the PAI…