Students' reported inner speech during mathematics problem solving was studied. Subjects from grades three to six were assigned to low-task or high-task difficulty groups. Between problems, students reported their inner speech. Both groups maintained an adaptive task-oriented problem-solving stance, with positive affect toward self. (Author/GDC)

Discusses how current procedures for selecting/constructing equivalent texts may lead to error because of their specific limitations; proposes the utilization of micro-propositional analysis coupled with word-frequency lists and readability formulas for constructing "matching" texts; presents some procedures which researchers working in…

Investigates the problem young children have in constructing diagonals, noting that, on the whole, they can not make diagonals in the horizontal/vertical configuration. (HOD)

Research on the usefulness of metaphors as an aid to teaching statistics shows that students taught with metaphors learned more, defined terms more accurately, made more successful inferences, and made fewer errors. (CH)

Examines the relationship between development of logical processes required in deductive reasoning and their use by preschoolers, also considering possible explanations for children's deductive reasoning. The relationship of problem content to real-world knowledge and the sequence of presentation of problem types were found to affect the display…

Evaluates autistic children's affect and rate of task acquisition under three experimental conditions: constant task, varied acquisition task, and varied with maintenance task. Results showed significantly more efficient learning under the varied maintenance condition. (Author/CI)

Guidelines for selecting and using pictures to guide instructional decisions and behaviors are based on three areas of research: role of pictures and how they improve learning, how context or environment in which pictures operate can influence usefulness, and how physical and perceptual characteristics of pictures affect their function. (MBR)

Discusses five research areas offering guidance to people concerned about teaching problem solving in elementary schools. Areas are (1) components of problem difficulty; (2) the contribution of reading difficulties to problem-solving deficiencies; (3) characteristics of successful problem solvers; (4) children's use of problem-solving techniques…

Explored the effects of examiner familiarity, task complexity, and mode of response to the test performance of 79 speech and language impaired preschoolers who completed the Symbolic Mediation Test. Results showed children performed significantly better when tested by familiar examiners. Functioning did not depend on the task's complexity. (JAC)

Seven experiments were performed to address three issues: prose decisions of different levels of difficulty, directed attention effect, and the effects of decisions on memorability of prose among relatively good and relatively poor readers. (Author/PN)

Proposes that while teachers are teaching students how to write more complex sentences, they provide students with the techniques to read increasingly more complex sentences as well. (DD)

A two-stage design provides a way of roughly adapting item difficulty to test-taker ability. All test takers take a parallel stage-one test, and based on their scores, they are routed to tests of different difficulty levels in the second stage. This design provides some of the benefits of standard computer adaptive testing (CAT), such as increased…

This paper summarizes some of the basic concepts in test equating. Various types of equating methods, as well as data collection designs, are outlined, with attempts to provide insight into preferred methods and techniques. Test equating describes a group of methods that enable test constructors and users to compare scores from two different forms…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the viability of the property of parameter invariance for the one-parameter (1P), two-parameter (2P), and three-parameter (3P) item response theory (IRT) models for the Medical College Admissions Tests (MCAT). Invariance of item parameters across different gender, ethnic, and language groups and the…

This study explored whether the addition of the items with more advanced math content to the SAT Reasoning Test™ (SAT®) would impact test-taker performance. Two sets of SAT math equating sections were modified to form four subforms each. Different numbers of items with advanced content, taken from the SAT II: Mathematics Level IC Test (Math IC),…