Arthur L. White

A Study of the Effect of HyperCard and Pen-Paper Performance Assessment Methods on Expert-Novice Chemistry Problem Solving.

This study investigated HyperCard as a tool for assessment in science education and determined whether or not a HyperCard assessment instrument could differentiate between expert and novice student performance (balancing stoichiometric equations) in science education. Five chemical equations were presented by traditional pen-paper and by a HyperCard (Hyperequation) program. Thirty honors (expert) and 30 regular (novice) chemistry students were randomly divided into HyperCard and traditional pen-paper groups of 15 students each. Scoring was based on five dependent variables: performance scores, number of attempts, rate of attempts, time on task, and correctness. Correlation results indicated that students with high performance scores correctly balanced more equations, required fewer attempts to balance equations, and required less time per attempt than did students with low performance scores. MANOVA results showed that performance scores and correctness scores for both experts and novice were significantly higher on HyperCard compared to pen-paper assessment; the novice scores on HyperCard nearly equaled the expert pen-paper assessment scores. Significant interactions were found for time on task and for correctness. The results suggest that HyperCard can be a suitable tool for assessment in science education and that such an instrument can differentiate between expert and novice student performance.

Feature Frequency and Negative Instances in Concept Learning

In conjunctive feature identification tasks, sequences of all positive instances are favored over mixed sequences of positive and negative instances in laboratory tasks, but in mathematical conjunctive feature identification tasks, mixed sequences are favored over all positive instances. The subjects were 100 adolescents randomly assigned to one of four treatments formed by crossing sequence condition (positive or positive/negative) with relative frequency of features of irrelevant dimensions (equal or unequal). Results support the classical favoring of positive over positive/negative for equal frequency of irrelevant features (1:1) but positive/negative over positive for unequal frequency of irrelevant features (9:1) (p < .05). Feature frequency of irrelevant dimensions is shown to be a critical factor in the effects found for negative instances. Implications for educational practice are discussed.

Using technology in assessing integrated science and mathematics learning

Drawing from current models, research, and science and mathematics education reform documents, this article first defines and/or delimits three broad domains of education: integrated school science and mathematics, assessment, and technology. Based upon this three-tiered discussion, a list of characteristics is then distilled to guide in the development of assessment for integrated school science and mathematics using technology. Two integrated school science and mathematics activities are provided to illustrate the alignment of instruction and assessment and the systematic integration of technology into both.

VALIDATION OF AN INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE UNDERSTANDING OF PATTERN BY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

The analysis and validation of an instrument to measure the ability of elementary school children to recognize and extend patterns in different representational forms is presented.

The Research Agenda of the National Center for Science Teaching and learning: External Influences on Science Education

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