This paper presents some background information and a brief report on the progress of the first two and one-half months of the Synanon study of the social behavior of communally-reared children in which an attempt is being made to apply ethological methods of observation and analysis to human infant behavior. The children range in age from 6 to 40…

Reports on the findings of an examination of 32 linear algebra textbooks. The examination, to determine existing approaches to teaching the topics, was in preparation for developing a linear algebra program for high school students. (PK)

Conceptual problems hinder the development of computer-assisted art instruction. Presented is a framework to guide the organization of instruction and to facilitate the selection of computer strategies appropriate to particular art learning situations. Various types of computer-assisted instruction are presented within a continuum of teaching…

Included in this column are Star Trek, a geometric construction problem; a simplified approach to correlation using scattergrams; a calculus problem concerning second derivatives for extreme values; and a note on integration by parts. (MNS)

Mary Douglas's typology, using grid and group dimensions, provides a means to classify and compare social environments in terms of their differing cultural constraints on individual autonomy. This article uses the Douglas typology to examine the grid and group characteristics of four diverse schools to determine the framework's applicability to…

Provides a methodology for selection of an expert support system (ESS) in an emergency management training environment. A decision matrix construct for selection of an ESS for casualty disposition training at Emergency Preparedness Canada is presented, and four system options of simulation models that deal with emergency management are described.…

Concepts behind plausible values in estimating population characteristics from sparse matrix samples of item responses are discussed. The use of marginal analyses is described in the context of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and the approach is illustrated with Scholastic Aptitude Test data for 9,075 high school seniors. (SLD)

Presented is a scheduling algorithm that uses all the busses at each step for any rectangular array. Included are two lemmas, proofs, a theorem, the solution, and variations on this problem. (KR)

Geometric approaches to representing interrelations among tests and items are compared with an additive tree model (ATM), using 2,644 examinees and 2 other data sets. The ATM's close fit to the data and its coherence of presentation indicate that it is the best means of representing tests and items. (TJH)

Type I error rates of four multivariate tests (Pilai-Bartlett trace, Johansen's test, James' first-order test, and James' second-order test) were compared for heterogeneous covariance matrices in 360 simulated experiments. The superior performance of Johansen's test and James' second-order test is discussed. (SLD)

Reports on a study that analyzed and compared a restricted set of full-text articles from a sub-specialty of biochemistry in terms of co-occurrences and co-absences of words. The consequences for the lexicographical approach to generating artificial intelligence from scientific texts are discussed. (JAK)

Discusses the concept of taxonomy in learning. Highlights include cognitive domain, affective domain, and psycho-motor domain; behaviorism and constructivism; scaffolding; other classification formats, including rubrics and matrices; learning taxonomy applied to information literacy and to library media specialist as teacher; and the taxonomy for…

Researchers studying monitoring accuracy currently use two different indexes to estimate accuracy: relative accuracy and absolute accuracy. The authors compared the distributional properties of two measures of monitoring accuracy using Monte Carlo procedures that fit within these categories. They manipulated the accuracy of judgments (i.e., chance…

This study investigated the convergent validity of expert-system scores for four mathematical constructed-response item formats. A five-factor model was proposed comprised of four constructed-response format factors and a Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test quantitative factor. Subjects were drawn from examinees taking a single form of…

This paper presents recent developments in provision of support tools for change management and explains how they have been effectively used for teaching students about information technology (IT)-enabled change management in the core IT classes at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Stanford University (California). It also describes…