Statistical edutainment: An experimental way to teach for good measure

Concepts of experimentation and measurement are explored using statistics educational fun items and illustrated by sharing our process in conducting an experiment on cartoon captions.     

论小说创作

如果可能，请别写小说。小说创作是一种非社会行为，一旦动笔，小说家会时刻为小说中的人物所困扰；而且，真正写起来，小说指南一类书籍并不管用。假如非写不可，那么，小说家需考虑是以情节为主还是以人物为主。如果以情节为主，小说家即在虚构的事情中间而非在所谓的真实生活中寻找人物的时候，抓住情节不放；如果以人物为主，那么，小说家则需对适于情节的某些特征加以强调，使人物在新环境中显得真实可信，从而赋予他们生命。小说家无论重情节抑或是重人物，都还要考虑以何种形式、何种风格呈现情节和人物的问题；当然，在优秀的小说家笔下，故事和人物本身会以最适合的形式出现。小说家应对形式、人物和语言保持一种敏锐的感觉。此外，小说家可能会对道德教诲产生迷恋。尽管应当通过作品给读者以教益，但是，真诚的艺术家并不能专注于说教。     

Misconceptions in Van den Broeck's representation of misconceptions about learning disability research

The methods and conclusions of Van den Broeck (in this issue) are evaluated from two perspectives: (a) statistical considerations and (b) theoretical models of IQ and achievement, specifically reading achievement. We consider the statistical model proposed by Van den Broeck for the regression-based discrepancy model (RDM) to be either irrelevant or conceptually inconsistent with current models of IQ and achievement. The resulting simulation produced exemplar cases that are not realistic in terms of practice. The theoretical representations of IQ and achievement were, in our understanding, inconsistent with contemporary models of either. We suggest that acceptable models support the use of the RDM as it has been proposed by us and by others as one component of the determination of the presence or absence of a learning disability.     

Patterns in how pre-service elementary teachers formulate evidence-based claims about student cognition

Large-scale, robust implementation of teacher data-driven decision making (DDDM) is a challenging endeavor, impeded by numerous organizational, and teacher, factors. One well-documented barrier to teacher DDDM is underdevelopment of teacher data literacy. This study examines common errors made by pre-service elementary teachers in the formulation of evidence-based claims about student cognition (e.g. student strengths and weaknesses relative to content mastery) in a United States of America context. Teachers in the sample commonly made several errors in the articulation of evidence-based claims based on classroom assessments, including providing nonspecific, irrelevant evidence for claims, and misinterpreting statistical evidence. Specific implications for pre-service teacher education and future research are discussed.