Teaching students to use critical thinking skills is a popular goal of many economics courses. But what does "critical thinking" really mean, and how is it implemented? This article considers various interpretations of "critical thinking" and distinguishes "big-think" from "little-think" critical thinking,…

In this article, pre-service teachers' mathematics content knowledge is explored through the analysis of two items about ratio from a Mathematical Competency, Skills and Knowledge Test. Pre-service teachers' thinking strategies, common errors and misconceptions in their responses are presented and discussed. Of particular interest was the range…

Visuospatial tasks are particularly proficient at eliciting gender differences during neuropsychological performance. Here we tested the hypothesis that gender and education are related to different types of visuospatial errors on a task of line orientation that allowed the independent scoring of correct responses ("hits", or H) and one type of…

Sales figures and recollections of psychologists indicate textbooks play a central role in psychology students' education, yet instructors typically must select texts under time pressure and with incomplete information. Although selection aids are available, none adequately address the accuracy of texts. We describe a technique for sampling…

This paper intends to construct a survey data quality strategy for institutional researchers in higher education in light of total survey error theory. It starts with describing the characteristics of institutional research and identifying the gaps in literature regarding survey data quality issues in institutional research. Then it is followed by…

This article analyzes the braille spelling errors of 16 Greek students who are blind. More specifically, it explores the types of spelling errors, the students' attitudes toward spelling, and the relationship between spelling and reading strategies.

Looks at the relationship between error and creativity in the writing of ESL students. Shows how syntactic and lexical constraints combined with students' cultural and aesthetic preferences to produce remarkable poetic effects in their writing. (SR)

The Sato Caution Index takes into account the number and difficulty of items gotten wrong by a student within his or her ability, as well as the number and difficulty of items gotten right beyond his or her ability. Sato subtracts the two components to define a single Caution Index. In this study, the components are kept separate, defining a…

Argues that the internal organization of collection development and the nature of science and scholarship lead to inevitable gaps in collection development. The structural and intellectual causes of collection development gaps are analyzed, and a number of areas whose literatures are especially vulnerable to being ignored or overlooked by…

A multi-faceted Rasch measurement (MFRM) model was used to analyze a clinical skills assessment of 173 fourth-year medical students in a Midwestern medical school to investigate four types of rater errors: leniency, inconsistency, halo, and restriction of range. Each student performed six clinical tasks with six standardized patients (SPs), who…

Predictive validity of preadmissions measures may be understated because of correctable defects in freshman year and cumulative high school grade point averages (GPAs). A study used item response theory (IRT) to develop a more reliable measure of performance and test it using Stanford University data. Results showed increased predictability.…

A study examined the control of selected areas of French grammar by 40 students at 4 different levels of university language study. Improved performance was found at each successive level of study, but significant discrepancies were also found within levels. Implications for instructional and curricular improvement are discussed. (MSE)

Reviews the limited literature on the learning disabled (LD) college student. Identifies difficulties which LD students face. Emphasizes that institutional services available for LD students should be utilized as much as possible. (RAE)

Some of the errors associated with use of data from the National Center for Education Statistics' Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) are described, 1980 HEGIS and census reports of college enrollment are compared in tables of data, and a more cautious use of HEGIS data is recommended. (MSE)

Presents a human-computer interaction (HCI) conceptions model designed to help in the understanding of the cognitive processes involved when college students learn to program computers. Examines syntactic and algorithmic HCI operational errors and reviews conceptions based on natural language reasoning, independent computer reasoning, and…