We present a view of knowledge construction processes, focusing on partially correct constructs. Motivated by unexpected and seemingly inconsistent quantitative data based on the written reports of students working on an elementary probability task, we analyze in detail the knowledge construction processes of a representative student. We show how…

Although anxiety has both dispositional and situational determinants, little is known about how individuals' anxiety-related sensitivities and their expectations about stressful events combine to determine anxiety. This research used Information Integration Theory and Functional Measurement to assess how participants' anxiety sensitivity and event…

A fundamental issue for theories of human induction is to specify constraints on potential inferences. For inferences based on shared category membership, an analogy, and/or a relational schema, it appears that the basic goal of induction is to make accurate and goal-relevant inferences that are sensitive to uncertainty. People can use source…

This article proposes a procedure, based on a global statistic, for assessing intra-individual consistency in a test-retest design with a short-term retest interval. The procedure is developed within the framework of parametric item response theory, and the statistic is a likelihood-based measure that can be considered as an extension of the…

In 3 experiments, the authors examined whether a single act of testimony can inform children's subsequent information seeking. In Experiment 1, participants saw one informant give a correct and another informant give an incorrect answer to a question, assessed who was "right" ("wrong"), and decided to whom to address a 2nd question. Adults and…

To understand one developmental process, it is often helpful to investigate its relations with other developmental processes. Statistical methods that model development in multiple processes simultaneously over time include latent growth curve models with time-varying covariates, multivariate latent growth curve models, and dual trajectory models.…

Dice are considered one of the oldest gambling devices and thus many mathematicians have been interested in various dice gambling games in the past. Dice have been used to teach probability, and dice rolls can be effectively simulated using technology. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) recommends that teachers use simulations…

This paper investigates the effect of family size and birth order on educational attainment. An instrumental variables approach is used to identify the effect of family size. Instruments for the number of children are twins at last birth and the sex mix of the first two children. The effect of birth order is identified, by examining the relation…

Comparing the predicted and actual rolls of combinations of both two and three dice can help to introduce many of the basic concepts of statistical thermodynamics, including multiplicity, probability, microstates, and macrostates, and demonstrate that entropy is indeed a measure of randomness, that disordered states (those of higher entropy) are…

This article presents a problem set which includes a selection of probability problems. Probability theory started essentially as an empirical science and developed on the mathematical side later. The problems featured in this article demonstrate diversity of ideas and different concepts of probability, in particular, they refer to Laplace and…

Preference for working on variable schedules and temporal discrimination were simultaneously examined in two experiments using a discrete-trial, concurrent-chains arrangement with fixed interval (FI) and random interval (RI) terminal links. The random schedule was generated by first sampling a probability distribution after the programmed delay to…

Among 180 Turkish university students, the probability of suicide was strongly predicted by both hopelessness and deficiencies in problem solving. In addition, for women, unhealthy attachment styles (preoccupied and dismissing) also predicted suicidality. The clinical implications of these findings are that psychotherapists should focus on helping…

If questioned about their beliefs, psychometricians in one camp would argue the firm conviction that the Rasch model is mathematically elegant and intuitive as well as plausible for practitioners, pointing out the advantages of a simple model that "counts" every item in the same way. Psychometricians of another camp would argue that the three…

In the present research, we evaluated the effectiveness of a multi-year professional development program in mathematics for elementary teachers. Each year the program focused on a different domain of mathematics. We found the program increased teachers' knowledge of (a) number and operations, (b) measurement and geometry, and (c) probability and…

For students who major in meteorology, engaging in weather forecasting can motivate learning, develop critical-thinking skills, improve their written communication, and yield better forecasts. Whether such advances apply to students who are not meteorology majors has been less demonstrated. To test this idea, a weather discussion and an eLearning…