This paper reports a study designed to probe the abstraction ability that US Algebra I students can achieve in moving the concepts rate of change and accumulation between motion and money contexts. The Algebra I students used the technologies motion detectors and Interactive Banking software during a replacement unit focused on slope, ratio, and…

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs and the Association for Specialists in Group Work standards of practice require programs to provide both experiential and didactic training in group leadership skills. This article discusses methods traditionally used to meet these standards and the practical and ethical…

Simulations, particularly human-to-human interactions, offer social science students the opportunity to learn from firsthand experience, and can be an important and useful addition to an educator's teaching repertoire. However, it can be difficult for an instructor to know how to structure a simulation environment to meet specific educational…

Interview skills is critical to a job seeker's success in obtaining employment. However, learning interview skills takes time. This article offers an activity for providing students with interview practice while sacrificing only a single classroom period. The authors begin by reviewing relevant literature. Then, they outline the process of…

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential effect of false assumptions regarding the motivation of examinees on item calibration and test construction. A simulation study was conducted using data generated by means of several models of examinee item response behaviors (the three-parameter logistic model alone and in combination with…

It is believed by some that most tests are multidimensional, meaning that they measure more than one underlying construct. The primary objective of this study is to illustrate how variations in the secondary ability distribution affect the statistical detection of dimensionality and to demonstrate the difference between substantive and statistical…

As the evidence of the benefits of multidisciplinary education accumulates many schools and instructors are finding ways of hybridizing courses to include substantial components of what are otherwise distinct sciences. Often, such course development is done with an eye toward industry, which requires a workforce capable of synthesizing varied…

This study examined the effect of physical and virtual field trips on undergraduate, nonscience majors. No significant differences were seen in achievement, attitudes, learning styles, interactions between field trip and learning styles, or students' ability to answer questions at different levels. Results imply that both field trips promote…

The ability to design and to aspire of the future design of three-dimensional molecular animations to teach molecular symmetry is an exciting outcome of computer-driven technologies. Some of the details and vital issues addressed in developing a set of Web pages to teach molecular symmetry at Imperial College London using crafted animations are…

This paper presents a multimodal discourse analysis of children using "drill-and-practice" literacy software at a primary school in the Western Cape, South Africa. The children's interactions with the software are analysed. The software has serious limitations which arise from the global political economy of the educational software…

Due to the lengthy learning process associated with complicated clinical techniques, undergraduate radiotherapy students can struggle to access sufficient time or patients to gain the level of expertise they require. By developing a hybrid virtual environment with real controls, it was hoped that group learning of these techniques could take place…

In social studies classes, there is a longstanding interest in how societies evolve and change over time. However, as stories of the past unfold, it is often difficult to identify a direct link between causes and effects, so students are forced to accept at face value the interpretations of economists, political scientists, historians,…

This article uses four data sets to assess changes in the relative weights of test- and performance-based merit criteria on college enrollment during the 1980s and 1990s and considers their significance for affirmative action. Our results support the "shifting meritocracy" hypothesis, revealed by selective postsecondary institutions'…

This study presents an application of a measure of learner involvement developed by Paas, Tuovinen, van Merrienboer, and Darabi (2005). These authors combined learners' performance scores with their perceived mental effort invested in instruction and used it to assess learner involvement in instructional conditions. The present study examines the…

This study examined the impact of NISL's [National Institute for School Leadership's] Executive Development Program for principals on student achievement in Pennsylvania schools between 2006-2009. Roughly half of the NISL-trained principals started the program during the 2007 school year and completed it in the 2008 school year, whereas the other…