USING ITEM RESPONSE THEORY TO CONDUCT A DISTRACTER ANALYSIS ON CONCEPTUAL INVENTORY OF NATURAL SELECTION

Concept inventories are often used to assess current student understanding although conceptual change models are problematic. Due to controversies with conceptual change models and the realities of student assessment, it is important that concept inventories are evaluated using a variety of theoretical models to improve quality. This study used a modified item response theory model to determine university nonmajor biology students’ levels of understanding of natural selection (n = 1,192). Using Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection, we have reported how we applied Bock’s modified nominal item response theory model and the distracter test item analysis. We found that the use of this model can define student levels of understanding and identify problematic distracters.     

The Relative Contribution of Certain Factors to Individual Differences in Arithmetical Problem Solving Ability

A hierarchy of analytic concepts and processes was derived from the related substantive and syntactical structures of geographic method and submitted to study as a test of a central premise underlying the curriculum reform movement in social studies. Performance data were obtained from 84 instructed second graders on test items criterion referenced to specific capabilities of the hierarchy. Application of Murray’s (5) misclassification model yielded the following results: (a) Values of correct classification probabilities for a modified five-level hierarchy were high, indicating over 90% of the Ss were correctly classified on all levels of the modified scale; and (b) Overall test of fit was well within nonsignificant boundaries, indicating the data could be assumed to fit the hypothesized latent pure scale model. Implications for curriculum were derived.     

An Assessment of Statistical Process Control-Based Approaches for Charting Student Evaluation Scores

We compare three control charts for monitoring data from student evaluations of teaching (SET) with the goal of improving student satisfaction with teaching performance. The two charts that we propose are a modified p chart and a z‐score chart. We show that these charts overcome some of the shortcomings of the more traditional charts for analyzing SET data. A comparison of three charts (an individuals chart, the modified p chart, and the z‐score chart) reveals that the modified p chart is the best approach for analyzing SET data because it utilizes distributions that are appropriate for categorical data, and its interpretation is more straightforward. We conclude that administrators and faculty alike can benefit by using the modified p chart to monitor and improve teaching performance as measured by student evaluations.     

Finding Truth in ‘Lies’: Nietzsche's Perspectivism and its Relation to Education

In his 2001 article ‘Teaching to Lie and Obey: Nietzsche on Education’, Stefan Ramaekers defends Nietzsche's concept of perspectivism against the charge that it is relativistic. He argues that perspectivism is not relativistic because it denies the dichotomy between the ‘true’ world and the ‘seeming’ world, a dichotomy central to claims to relativism. While Ramaekers' article is correct in denying relativistic interpretations of perspectivism it does not go far enough in this direction. In fact, the way Ramaekers makes his case may actually encourage the charge of relativism, especially when it comes to his appropriation of perspectivism for education. This article proposes to pick up where Ramaekers left off. It will argue that Nietzsche's denial of the opposition between the ‘true’ world and the ‘seeming’ world opens up the possibility for the reestablishment of truth, albeit in a modified form. After examining Nietzsche's modified ‘realist’ epistemology, the paper will explore the implications of it for his philosophy of education. It will be argued that Nietzsche's educational philosophy is founded on his concept of perspectivism in so far as he demands that students be rigorously inculcated into a pedagogical framework that teaches students to discriminate between ‘true’ and ‘false’ perspectives. This framework is essential for the development of an intellectually robust and life‐affirming culture.     

Assessing Understanding of the Learning Cycle: The ULC

An 18-item, multiple choice, 2-tiered instrument designed to measure understanding of the learning cycle (ULC) was developed and field-tested from the learning cycle test (LCT) of Odom and Settlage (Journal of Science Teacher Education, 7, 123–142, 1996). All question sets of the LCT were modified to some degree and 5 new sets were added, resulting in the ULC. The ULC measures (a) understandings and misunderstandings of the learning cycle, (b) the learning cycle’s association with Piaget’s (Biology and knowledge theory: An essay on the relations between organic regulations and cognitive processes, 1975) theory of mental functioning, and (c) applications of the learning cycle. The resulting ULC instrument was evaluated for internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha, yielding a coefficient of .791.     

《论衡》征引“诸子类”“诗赋类”文献新探

依照《汉书·艺文志》图书分类法，参考汉代出土文献研究成果，以文献文化史视角梳理、分析《论衡》所引"诸子类""诗赋类"文献，鸟瞰王充的知识来源与阅读视野。同时，将上述文献细分为王充"读过""可能读过""仅作为论据提及，难以断定是否寓目原书"等情况详加申述，指出部分文献对《论衡》话语表达、学术建构的影响，并在具体论述中补充、修订若干前人的观点。     

Estimation of the J-resistance curve for Cr2Ni2MoV steel using the modified load separation parameter S_（pb） method

Based on load separation theory, the load separation parameter Spb method is an effective approach for estimating the J-resistance curve from records of load versus displacement directly, using one sharp cracked specimen and an additional reference blunt cracked specimen. However, the effect of the reference blunt cracked specimen on J-resistance determination was not explicitly considered in past work. In this paper, a modified load separation parameter Spb method was developed to eliminate this effect, and then a unique estimation of instantaneous crack length for one sharp cracked specimen could be obtained. Furthermore, a forced blunting calibration method was also adopted to determine the instantaneous crack length in the load inseparable region, referring to a normalization method. Experiments on steam turbine rotator steel Cr2Ni2MoV were carried out to estimate J-resistance curves using an unloading compliance method. By removing unload and reload data from load-displacement records, the J-resistance curve for the same sharp cracked specimen was estimated using the modified separation parameter Spb method. The results indicate that the modified Spb method completely eliminates the effect of the reference blunt cracked specimen on the instantaneous crack length determination of the sharp cracked specimen. However, different J-resistance curves in a small range of crack extension are present when different blunting coefficients are used in the blunting line equation. The J-resistance curve obtained from the modified Spb method agrees well with that obtained from the compliance method.     

Parent–Child Joint Behaviors in Novel Object Play Create High-Quality Data for Word Learning

This research takes a dyadic approach to study early word learning and focuses on toddlers’ (N = 20, age: 17–23 months) information seeking and parents’ information providing behaviors and the ways the two are coupled in real-time parent–child interactions. Using head-mounted eye tracking, this study provides the first detailed comparison of children’s and their parents’ behavioral and attentional patterns in two free-play contexts: one with novel objects with to-be-learned names (Learning condition) and the other with familiar objects with known names (Play condition). Children and parents in the Learning condition modified their individual and joint behaviors when encountering novel objects with to-be-learned names, which created clearer signals that reduced referential ambiguity and potentially facilitated word learning.     

The Quality and Readability of English Wikipedia Anatomy Articles

Forty anatomy articles were sampled from English Wikipedia and assessed quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitatively, each article’s edit history was analyzed by Wikipedia X-tools, references and media were counted manually, and two readability indices were used to evaluate article readability. This analysis revealed that each article was updated 8.3 ± 6.8 times per month, and referenced with 33.5 ± 24.3 sources, such as journal articles and textbooks. Each article contained on average 14.0 ± 7.6 media items. The readability indices including: (1) Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level Readability Test and (2) Flesch Reading Ease Readability Formula demonstrated that the articles had low readability and were more appropriate for college students and above. Qualitatively, the sampled articles were evaluated by experts using a modified DISCERN survey. According to the modified DISCERN, 13 articles (32.5%), 24 articles (60%), 3 articles (7.5%), were rated as “good,” “moderate,” and “poor,” respectively. There were positive correlations between the DISCERN score and the number of edits (r = 0.537), number of editors (r = 0.560), and article length (r = 0.536). Strengths reported by the panel included completeness and coverage in 11 articles (27.5%), anatomical details in 10 articles (25%), and clinical details in 5 articles (12.5%). The panel also noted areas which could be improved, such as providing missing information in 28 articles (70%), inaccuracies in 10 articles (25%), and lack or poor use of images in 17 articles (42.5%). In conclusion, this study revealed that many Wikipedia anatomy articles were difficult to read. Each article’s quality was dependent on edit frequency and article length. Learners and students should be cautious when using Wikipedia articles for anatomy education due to these limitations.     

Relationship of creativity and critical thinking to pattern recognition among Singapore private school students

Abstract

Cognitive pattern recognition is known to be an important skill for academic subjects such as mathematics, science, languages, or even humanities. In this study, we investigate the relationships between creativity, critical thinking, and pattern recognition among 203 private school students in Singapore. The instruments used include a creativity test (modified Creativity Selected Elements Questionnaire), a Critical Thinking Test (modified Cornell Critical Thinking), and a pattern recognition test. The main data analysis is done using the SMART-PLS structural equation modeling software. The results of the study reveal that creativity is a weak predictor of pattern recognition (β?=?0.131, p?>?0.05, f² = 0.024) but critical thinking is a good predictor (β?=?0.517, p?<?0.05, f² = 0.374). An implication of the research outcome is that more training on critical thinking should be given to the students to improve their pattern recognition ability.     

Public policy failure and fiasco in education: perspectives on the British examinations crises of 2000–2002 and other episodes since 1975

Abstract

This article is the first part of a debate with David Hargreaves about the ideas expressed in his article ‘Diversity and choice in school education: a modified libertarian approach’. It discusses the difficulties of using cost‐benefit analysis in education, examines in detail some of the documents on which Hargreaves's argument is based and traces the development of policy on school choice. It is argued that policy on choice must be understood within a consideration of the wider social and political context in which that policy has arisen. The article then documents the various new forms of selection that have accompanied increased choice and considers problems of social segregation. The article concludes with suggestions on how the system might be reformed.     

Simulation of game analysis based on an agent-based artificial stock market re-examined

INTRODUCTION The Santa Fe Institute Artificial Stock Market (SFI-ASM) is a stochastic discrete event agent based model that simulates a market in which a number of agents choose between investing in a risk-free bond with a fixed interest rate, and a stock with an autore- gressive stochastic dividend. In contrast to mathe- matical models of stock markets based on unrealistic assumptions of agents’ knowledge and processing power, the model had been shown to demonstrate features observe…     

FLUENCY AS A PERVASIVE ELEMENT IN THE MEASUREMENT OF CREATIVITY1

It was suggested that fluency, defined as number of responses, may misleadingly influence both high Intercorrelations sometimes reported among measures of creativity and low correlations sometimes reported between measures of creativity and intelligence. Subjects were 93 Saturday art school students between the ages of 9 and 15 years. Intercorrelations among five “creativity” scores derived from a slightly modified version of Torrance's Figure Completion Test and between these scores and Henmon-Nelson Intelligence were compared using both raw creativity scores and creativity scores corrected for the effect of fluency. Uncorrected creativity scores intercorrelated high among themselves (mean r= .45) and low with intelligence (mean r= .09), while corrected creativity scores showed low intercorrelations among themselves (mean r= .08) and with intelligence (mean r= .13). These findings are interpreted as confirming the influence of fluency upon high intercorrelations among so-called measures of creativity and as failing to support the suggestion that fluency may also influence low correlations among creativity and intelligence measures.     

The Effect of Group Orientated Classroom Management Procedures on Individual Pupils

Summary This study was designed to test the hypothesis that group orientated classroom management procedures may achieve their apparent success merely by raising still further the on‐task behaviour of non‐troublesome pupils. To this end, 1812‐13 year old pupils in a secondary school remedial class were observed and their individual levels of on‐task behaviour recorded. The class teacher's use of approval and disapproval was also noted.

Following the collection of baseline data, a modified, simple ‘rules, praise and ignoring’ intervention strategy was implemented, followed by a partial reversal to baseline conditions. Mean class on‐task behaviour was clearly shown to increase from 77% at baseline to 91% during intervention and this was maintained during the partial reversal. Moreover, it was shown that every pupil's on‐task behaviour increased, these increases varying between 3 and 33%, the pupils with the lowest baseline levels making the biggest gains.     

改进Gauss-Seide方法的收敛速度的单调性

In this note, we prove that the convergence rate of the modified Gauss-Seidel (MGS) method with preconditional I Sa isa monotonic function of preconditioning parameter a. Based on this result, to achieve better convergence rate we suggest proformingtwice preconditoning when applying the MGS method to solve a linear system whose coefficient matrix is an irreducible non-singularM-matrix.     

Use of the woodcock language proficiency battery with culturally variant learning-disabled students

The Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery (WLPB) was administered to 18 learning-disabled adolescents from a culturally variant population in rural southern Louisiana and to a matching group of normal achievers. ANOVA results revealed that group status (learning-disabled vs. normally achieving) had a significant effect on cluster scores (Oral Language, Reading, and Written Language), p < .001. Significant effects for cluster scores were not discovered; however, the significant interaction (p < .05) between subjects and cluster scores was determined to be the result of group differences on all cluster scores. Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z-test results indicated that all WLPB cluster scores for the learning-disabled group were significantly lower (p < .001) than the test's means for each of these clusters; but, for the achieving group, only the Oral Language Cluster mean was significantly lower than the WLPB mean, p < .001. Additional t-test investigation revealed that the learning-disabled group means were significantly lower than the achieving group means on all subtests except for Picture Vocabulary. A modified contrastive linguistic analysis did not uncover the existence of test bias for semantics when error responses were evaluated. The results of this study suggest that the WLPB may be a useful tool for culturally diverse students when interpretation is based on a community norm perspective.     

Environmental Pollution: An Ecological Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of participation in a 3-day outdoor environmental education program on preservice teachers' attitudes toward self-efficacy—which is a teacher's belief that he or she can teach environmental education (EE) effectively—and on outcome expectancy—which is a teacher's estimation of his or her influence on student learning. Participants were a convenience sample of 72 preservice elementary teachers taking a science methodology course at a state university. Participants were divided into 2 groups for this modified pretest/2-posttest/control group study. The instrument for all 3 tests was Sia's (1992) Environmental Education Efficacy Belief Instrument. The authors used parametric t tests to compare group means. The results suggested that the preservice teachers' self-efficacy was high before the program and remained unchanged by their teaching experiences but dropped significantly approximately 7 weeks after teaching. The lack of change in self-efficacy from the teaching experience was attributed to the structured nature and success of the teaching experience, but the negative effect of time on self-efficacy was believed to have resulted from the preservice teachers reevaluation of their ability to teach as they learned more about teaching methodologies. In addition, there was no significant change in outcome expectancy as a result of participation in the program or over time (7 weeks).     

Implications of the Delphi method in the evaluation of sustainability open education resource repositories

To better understand the sustainable development of open educational resources (OER), this paper aimed to break through the original ‘fixed’, highly structured evaluation system and develop an open and flexible “1?+?X” evaluation framework of OER by using the modified Delphi method. “1” refers to the mandatory basic criteria that the repository must reflect essential attributes and core functions, which are consist of four components: information content, learning process, system technology, and user experience. “X” refers to optional distinctive criteria that the repository shall focus on one or more developmental orientations, which may include: resource evolution, international collaboration, inclusiveness and equality, open educational practices, and value-added services. Optional “X” criteria, in line with the criteria’s diversity aims, can lead to the sustainable development of OER and globalized lifelong learning. The framework of this study provides a basis for the evaluation and optimization of existing OER repositories, and also serves as functional scaffolding for the construction of new repositories.

     

Counselor-Education Curricula and Professional Identity

Satisfaction with present emphasis on various components of curricula and the desire for changes in those same components were assessed as they related to two major opposing perspectives influencing professional identity, strict preparation in classical psychology, and broad, general, experiential preparation. A questionnaire asking counselor educators to rate 25 curriculum areas of their programs with respect to satisfaction and amount of change desired was sent to a modified, stratified random sample of 108 institutions. The responses on the 60 returns were analyzed by using Hotelling's T² and subsequent dependent samples' t tests for indications of discrepancies between present and desired emphases. Significant discrepancies were examined for trends. Overall, there was an expressed desire for increased emphasis in every area. Grouping components logically produced a ranking according to desire for change as follows: career counseling, statistics-research and counseling experience, counseling theory and psychological background, and assessment. Implications of the findings for counselor preparation are discussed in relation to trends found regarding program size and available resources.     

Review Essay

This article provides a critical sociological analysis of trends and perspectives pervasive during the emergence of North American adult education (1919–1970). In discussing transitions during the first 50 years of what is considered modern practice, it draws on Webster E. Cotton's (1986, On Behalf of Adult Education: A Historical Examination of the Supporting Literature. Boston, MA: Center for the Study of Liberal Education for Adults) periodization model—modified a few years later—to organize people, politics, and ideas as categories shaping North American adult education. In exploring this complexity, the article reflects on the perennial difficulty of answering the question ‘What is adult education?’ Following brief considerations of periods one (1919–1929) and two (1930–1946) in the field’s emergence, the article focuses on period three (1947–1970) in more detail, providing critical perspectives on field expansion during the perceived corporate age of adult education. It considers how adult education and constituent higher adult education were each affected as the field of study and practice negotiated the knowledge–culture–language–power nexus where it sought presence and place. Then, comparing the historical example of post-World War II North American adult education and the contemporary example of lifelong learning in neoliberal times, the article concludes by considering how cultural change forces have placed educational formations into reactive modes over time and tides.