text:
Contemporary Educational Psychology/Chapter 9: Instructional Planning/Creating Bridges with Students' Experiences

Creating Bridges Among Curriculum Goals and Students’ Prior Experiences
To succeed, then, instructional plans do require a variety of resources, like the ones discussed in the previous section. But they also require more: they need to connect with students’ prior experiences and knowledge. Sometimes the connections can develop as a result of using the Internet, taking field trips, or engaging in service learning, particularly if students are already familiar with these activities and places. More often than not, though, teachers need to find additional ways to connect curriculum with students’ experiences—ways that fit more thoroughly and continuously into the daily work of a class. Fortunately, such techniques are readily at hand; they simply require the teacher to develop a habit of looking for opportunities to use them. Among the possibilities are four that deserve special mention:
 * modeling behavior and modeling representations of ideas,
 * activating prior knowledge already familiar to students,
 * anticipating preconceptions held by students, and
 * providing guided and independent practice, including its most traditional form, homework.

Modeling
The term modeling can mean either a demonstration of a desired behavior or a representation of an important theory, idea, or object. Each of these meanings can link curriculum goals with students’ prior knowledge and experience.

Modeling as a Demonstration
In the first meaning, modeling refers to performing or demonstrating a desired new behavior or skill, as when a teacher or classmate demonstrates polite behaviors or the correct solution to a math problem. In this case we say that the teacher or classmate models the desired behavior, either deliberately or in the course of other ongoing activity. Students observe the modeled behavior and (hopefully) imitate it themselves. Research repeatedly shows that modeling desired behaviors is an effective way to learn new behaviors, especially when the model is perceived as important (like the teacher), similar to the learner (like a student’s best friend), or has a warm, positive relationship with the learner (like the teacher or the student’s friend) (Bandura, 2002; Gibson, 2004). Modeling in this sense is sometimes also called observational learning. It has many of the same properties as the classic operant conditioning discussed in Chapter 2, except that reinforcement during observational learning is witnessed in others rather than experienced by the learner directly. Watching others being reinforced is sometimes called vicarious reinforcement. The idea is that if, for example, a student observes a classmate behave politely with the teacher and then sees the classmate receive praise for the behavior (vicarious reinforcement), the student is more likely to imitate the polite behavior that he saw. As in classic operant conditioning, furthermore, if the student observes that politeness by classmates is ignored (extinction or no reinforcement), then the student is much less likely to imitate the politeness. Worse yet, if the student observes that negative behaviors in others lead to positive consequences (like attention from peers), then the student may imitate the negative behaviors (Rebellon, 2006). Cursing and swearing, and even bullying or vandalism, can be reinforced vicariously, just as can more desired behaviors.

Modeling—in this first sense of a demonstration—connects instructional goals to students’ experiences by presenting real, vivid examples of behaviors or skills in a way that a student can practice directly, rather than merely talk about. There is often little need, when imitating a model, to translate ideas or instructions from verbal form into action. For students struggling with language and literacy, in particular, this feature can be a real advantage.

Modeling as Simplified Representation
In a second meaning of modeling, a model is a simplified representation of a phenomenon that incorporates the important properties of the phenomenon. Models in this sense may sometimes be quite tangible, direct copies of reality; when I was in fourth grade growing up in California, for example, we made scale models of the Spanish missions as part of our social studies lessons about California history. But models can also be imaginary, though still based on familiar elements. In a science curriculum, for example, the behavior of gas molecules under pressure can be modeled by imagining the molecules as ping pong balls flying about and colliding in an empty room. Reducing the space available to the gas is by making the room smaller, causes the ping pong balls to collide more frequently and vigorously, and thereby increases the pressure on the walls of the room. Increasing the space has the opposite effect. Creating an actual room full of ping pong balls may be impractical, of course, but the model can still be imagined.

Modeling in this second sense is not about altering students’ behavior, but about increasing their understanding of a newly learned idea, theory, or phenomenon. The model itself uses objects or events that are already familiar to students—in this example simple balls and their behavior when colliding—and in this way supports students’ learning of new, unfamiliar material. Not every new concept or idea lends itself to such modeling, but many do: students can create models of unfamiliar animals, for example, or of medieval castles, or of ecological systems. Two-dimensional models—essentially drawings—can also be helpful: students can illustrate literature or historical events, or make maps of their own neighborhoods. The choice of model depends largely on the specific curriculum goals which the teacher needs to accomplish at a particular time.

Activating Prior Knowledge
Another way to connect curriculum goals to students’ experience is by activating prior knowledge, a term that refers to encouraging students to recall what they know already about new material being learned. Various formats for activating prior knowledge are possible. When introducing a unit about how biologists classify animal and plant species, for example, for example, a teacher can invite students to discuss about how they already classify different kinds of plants and animals. Having highlighted this informal knowledge, the teacher can then explore how the same species are classified by biological scientists, and compare the scientists’ classification schemes to the students’ own schemes. The activation does not have to happen orally, as in this example; a teacher can also ask students to write down as many distinct types of animals and plants that they can think of, and then ask students to diagram or map their relationships—essentially creating a concept map like the ones we described in Chapter 8 (Gurlitt, et al., 2006). Whatever the strategy used, activation helps by making students’ prior knowledge or experience conscious and therefore easier to link to new concepts or information.

Anticipating Preconceptions of Students
Ironically, activating students’ prior knowledge can be a mixed blessing if some of the prior knowledge is misleading or downright wrong. Misleading or erroneous knowledge is especially common among young students, but it can happen at any grade level. A kindergarten child may think that the sun literally “rises” in the morning, since she often hears adults use this expression, or that the earth is flat because it obviously looks flat. But a high school student may mistakenly believe that large objects (a boulder) fall faster than small ones (a pebble), or that a heavy object dropped (not thrown) from a moving car window will fall straight down instead of traveling laterally alongside the car while it falls.

Because misconceptions are quite common among students and even among adults, teachers are more effective if they can anticipate preconceptions of students wherever possible. The task is twofold. First the teacher must know or at least guess students’ preconceptions as much as possible in advance, so that she can design learning activities to counteract and revise their thinking. Some preconceptions have been well-documented by educational research and therefore can in principle be anticipated easily—though they may still sometimes take a teacher by surprise during a busy activity or lesson (Tanner & Allen, 2005; Chiu & Lin, 2005). Table 9-8 lists a few of these common preconceptions. Others may be unique to particular students, however, and a teacher may only by able to learn of them through experience—by listening carefully to what students say and write and by watching what they do. A few preconceptions may be so ingrained or tied to other, more deeply held beliefs that students may resist giving them up, either consciously or unconsciously. It may be hard, for example, for some students to give up the idea that girls are less talented at math or science than are boys, even though research generally finds this is not the case (Hyde & Linn, 2006).

The second task when anticipating preconceptions is to treat students’ existing knowledge and beliefs with respect even when they do include misconceptions or errors. This may seem obvious in principle, but it needs remembering when students persist with misconceptions in spite of a teacher’s efforts to teach alternative ideas or concepts. Most of us—including most students—have reasons for holding our beliefs, even when the beliefs do not agree with teachers, textbooks, or other authorities, and we appreciate having our beliefs treated with respect. Students are no different from other people in this regard. In a high school biology class, for example, some students may have personal reasons for not agreeing with the theory of evolution associated with Charles Darwin. For religious reasons they may support explanations of the origins of life that give a more active, interventionist role to God (Brumfiel, 2005). If their beliefs disagree with the teacher’s or the textbook, then the disagreement needs to be acknowledged, but acknowledged respectfully. For some students (and perhaps some teachers), expressing fundamental disagreement respectfully may feel awkward, but it needs to be done nonetheless.

Guided Practice, Independent Practice, and Homework
So far, we have focused on bridging the goals or content of a curriculum to events, beliefs, and ideas from students’ lives. In studying human growth in a health class, for example, a teacher might ask students to bring photos of themselves as a much younger child. In this case a concept from the curriculum—human growth—then gets related to a personal event, getting photographed as a youngster, that the student finds meaningful.

But teachers can also create bridges between curriculum and students’ experiences in another way, by relating the process of learning in school with the process of learning outside of school. Much of this task involves helping students to make the transition from supervised learning to self-regulated learning—or put differently, from practice that is relatively guided to practice that is relatively independent.

Guided Practice
When students first learn a new skill or a new set of ideas, they are especially likely to encounter problems and make mistakes that interfere with the very process of learning. In figuring out how to use a new software program, for example, a student may unknowingly press a wrong button that prevents further functioning of the program. In translating sentences from Spanish into English in language class, for another example, a student might misinterpret one particular word or grammatical feature, and this one mistake may cause many sentences to be translated incorrectly. And so on. So students initially need guided practice—opportunities to work somewhat independently, but with a teacher or other expert close at hand prevent or fix difficulties when they occur. In general, educational research has found that guided practice helps all learners, but especially those who are struggling (Bryan & Burstein, 2004: Woodward, 2004). A first-grade child has difficulty in decoding printed words, for example, benefits from guidance more than one who can decode easily. But both students benefit in the initial stages of learning, since both may make more mistakes then. Guided practice, by its nature, sends a dual message to students: it is important to learn new material well, but it is also important to become able to use learning without assistance, beyond the lesson where it is learned and even beyond the classroom.

Guided practice is much like the concepts of the zone of proximal development (or ZPD) and instructional scaffolding that we discussed in Chapter 2 in connection with Vygotsky’s theory of learning. In essence, during guided practice the teacher creates a ZPD or scaffold (or framework) in which the student can accomplish more with partial knowledge or skill than the student could accomplish alone. But whatever its name—guided practice, a ZPD, or a scaffold—insuring the guidance is successful depends on several key elements: focus on the task at hand, asking questions that break the task into manageable parts, reframing or restating the task so that it becomes more understandable, and giving frequent feedback about the student’s progress (Rogoff, 2003). Combining the elements appropriately takes sensitivity and improvisational skill—even artfulness—but these very challenges are among the true joys of teaching.

Independent Practice
As students gain facility with a new skill or new knowledge, they tend to need less guidance and more time to consolidate (or strengthen) their new knowledge with additional practice. Since they are less likely to encounter mistakes or problems at this point, they begin to benefit from independent practice—opportunities to review and repeat their knowledge at their own pace and with fewer interruptions. At this point, therefore, guided practice may feel less like help than like an interruption, even if it is well-intentioned. A student who already knows how to use a new computer program, for example, may be frustrated by waiting for the teacher to explain each step of the program individually. If a student is already skillful at translating Spanish sentences into English in a language class, it can be annoying for the teacher to “help” by pointing out minor errors that the student is likely to catch for herself.

By definition, the purpose of independent practice is to provide more self-regulation of learning than by definition happens in guided practice. It implies a different message for students than is conveyed by guided practice, a message that goes beyond the earlier one: that it is now time to take more complete responsibility for own learning. When all goes well, independent practice is the eventual outcome of the zone of proximal development created during the earlier phase of guided practice described above: the student can now do on his or her own, what originally required assistance from someone else. Or stated differently, independent practice is a way of encouraging self-determination about learning, in the sense that we discussed this idea in Chapter 6. In order to work independently, a student must set his own direction and monitor his own success; by definition, no one can do this for him.

Homework
The chances are that you already have experienced many forms of homework in your own educational career. The widespread practice of assigning review work to do outside of school is a way of supplementing scarce time in class and of providing independent practice for students. Homework has generated controversy throughout most of its history in public education, partly because it encroaches on students’ personal and family-oriented time, and partly because research finds no consistent benefits of doing homework (Gill & Schlossman, 2004). In spite of these criticisms, though, parents and teachers tend to favor homework when it is used for two main purposes. One purpose is to review and practice material that has already been introduced and practiced at school; a sheet of arithmetic problems might be a classic example. When used for this purpose, the amount of homework is usually minimal in the earliest grades, if any is assigned at all. One educational expert recommends only ten minutes per day in first grade at most, and only gradual increases in amount as students get older (Cooper & Valentine, 2001).

The second purpose for supporting homework is to convey the idea of schoolwork being the “job” of childhood and youth. Just as on an adult job, students must complete homework tasks with minimal supervision and sometimes even minimal training. Doing the tasks, furthermore, is a way to get ahead or further along in the work place (for an adult) or at school (for a child). One study in which researchers interviewed children about these ideas, in fact, found that children do indeed regard homework as work in the same way that adults think of a job (Cornu & Xu, 2004). In the children’s minds, homework tasks were not “fun,” in spite of teachers’ frequent efforts to make them fun. Instead they were jobs that needed doing, much like household chores. When it came to homework, children regarded parents as the teachers’ assistants—people merely carrying out the wishes of the teacher. And like any job, the job of doing homework varied in stressfulness; when required at an appropriate amount and level of difficulty, and when children reported having good “bosses” (parents and teachers), the job of homework could actually be satisfying in the way that many adults’ jobs can be satisfying when well-done.

(back to Chapter 9...)


text:
Talk:Contemporary Educational Psychology/Chapter 9: Instructional Planning

I see now that my way of sectioning chapters into manageably sized webpages has the disadvantage of concealing some of the content on the opening page(s)--i.e. subsections are not currently evident to a reader unless the reader actually goes and checks out the parent section.

A possible remedy is to post a "detailed table of contents" somewhere, and constantly refer readers to it. This was my original intent with the opening page of each chapter, but the sectioning challenges got ahead of me. Maybe a better place for a detailed table of contents would be at or near the page for the "brief" table of contents? KelvinLeeSeifert 20:57, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text: File:MSProject Application.GIF

title: File:MSProject Application.GIF


text:
Basic Computer Security/Malware/Removing & Preventing Malware

Whilst the list of malware that can infect your computer looks daunting, there are several relatively simple steps that you can take to prevent being infected by these nasty pieces of software.

Dealing With Viruses
Unfortunately in the web climate of today sticking even to trusted websites can leave you wide open to virus attacks. Staying away from dodgy websites will prevent most virus infections, but there will always be one or two viruses that find their way on to your system, with the ability to cause untold amounts of damage.

However, viruses can be easily combated by installing and using a reputable antivirus package. Antivirus programs are essential but choosing the right one can be just as important as having one.

Generally commercial antivirus products tend to perform best at keeping your computer free from infection. Some recommended antivirus packages are (in no particular order): though there are many other commercial packages that will do just as good a job.
 * Symantec's Norton Antivirus
 * McAfee Antivirus
 * Steganos Antivirus

There are also several free anti-virus packages that will protect you from a variety of threats. Two of the most well known offerings are AVG Antivirus and Avast Antivirus.

Using Antivirus Software
Once antivirus software is installed, it should dramatically increase your computer's defences against malware. However, it is important to ensure that it is set up to scan for and defend against all viruses.

Although the features between different packages may be similar, the methods for enabling and disabling them will vary wildly.

To ensure that you are as protected, you can make sure that you enable everything that looks useful. Words to look out for are 'heuristics', 'bloodhound', 'proactive defense' and 'registry guard' or anything that sounds similar. Also set the scan security level to highest possible to ensure that nothing is missed. This will elongate scan times but will ensure that as few viruses as possible are missed. Also tell your antivirus to scan inside archives.

If you are unsure how to set up your antivirus product refer to the documentation that came bundled with it or the companies website.

Scanning for Viruses
For most users scanning once a week should be sufficient to protect your computer from damage. Ideally you should scan your computer every few days, especially if you are accessing internet banking services on a daily basis. Try and scan your computer as often as possible, but don't go crazy with it, adjust the frequency of scans to the level of internet activity on your computer.

Dealing with Trojan Horses
Generally trojan horses will be found and removed by your anti-virus software.


text:
HSC Information Processing and Technology/Decision Support Systems

Decision support systems are systems which are created to help the user make a decision.

Information at HSC online:

characteristics of decision support systems

 * decision support systems – those that assist user(s) in making a decision
 * the interactive nature of decision support systems
 * the nature of decision support systems which model, graph or chart situations to support human decision making categories of decision making


text: User talk:165.228.133.11

title: User talk:165.228.133.11


text:
Radiation Oncology/Sarcoma/Angiosarcoma

Overview

 * Rare malignancy of vascular origin
 * Soft tissue sarcoma ~1% of all malignancies
 * Angiosarcoma ~2% of soft tissue sarcomas
 * Clinically heterogenous, and can occur anywhere in the body
 * ~1/3 cutaneous
 * ~1/4 soft tissue
 * Rest miscellaneous locations
 * Thought to arise from vascular endothelium
 * Unlike other sarcomas, may present as multifocal disease, and spread to LNs and distantly
 * Typically have an aggressive course, with difficulty clearing surgical margins, and with frequent local and distant failure
 * Treatment is challenging, and requires multidisciplinary approach

Pathogenesis

 * Thought to originate from vascular endothelium
 * Cell marker studies are consistent with lymphocyte differentiation but ultrastructural characteristics are consistent with blood vessel differentiation (PMID 3104187)
 * Vascular endothelial factor D (VEGF-D) (PMID 14746640) and angiopoietin 2 (PMID 15149523) significantly elevated compared to controls
 * Fas ligand (w:Fas_ligand|Fas-L) is detected in >70% tumors (PMID 11549589), and number of Fas-L positive cells correlates inversely with survival. This suggests that Fas-L positive tumor cells may induce apoptosis in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and thus blunt immune response
 * Frequently develops in areas previously treated with radiation (e.g. breast) or with chronic lymphedema Stewart-Treves syndrome
 * Median time from RT 8.6 years in one series (PMID 15166970), and risk increases with dose
 * Pathology
 * Distinguished from hemangioma by presence of "collagen dissection patterns", anastomoses, and papillary formation
 * Early lesions may in fact present as benign hemangiomas
 * Most present as intermediate or high grade lesions, but typically have an aggressive course
 * Well differentiated tumors are composed of well-formed, irregular vascular channels (sinusoids) anastomosing together, lined by atypical cells (64%)
 * Poorly differentatied tumors may contain only pleomorphic spindle cells with subtle vascular lumens, or may still contain vaso-formative areas
 * Grade is not a prognostic factor

Treatment

 * Mass General Hospital; 2007 (1980-2006) PMID 17356953 -- "Treatment and outcome of 82 patients with angiosarcoma." (Abraham JA, Ann Surg Oncol. 2007 Jun;14(6):1953-67.)
 * Retrospective. 82 patients (32 cutaneous, 22 deep tissue/organs, 10 RT or lymphedema, 8 bone, 7 non-RT breast).
 * Primary disease: 46 patients, all treated with surgery, 67% RT and 27% chemo. 5-year DSS 60%. Negative prognosis: intermediate/high grade, RT- or lymphedema-related
 * Advanced disease: 36 patients, 36 palliative surgery, 78% RT, 58% chemo. Median survival 7 months. Cutaneous tumors better prognosis
 * Conclusion: Aggressive surgical resection with RT for close margins or worrisome pathology can result in long-term survival. Advanced disease poor prognosis

 * UCLA; 1996 (1955-1990) PMID 8635113 -- "Angiosarcoma. A report of 67 patients and a review of the literature." (Mark RJ, Cancer. 1996 Jun 1;77(11):2400-6.)
 * Retrospective. 67 patients. Median F/U 2.5 years)
 * Outcome: 2-year DFS 44% and 5-year DFS 24%. 81% LR component
 * 5-year DFS: surgery + RT 43% vs. surgery +/- CT 17% (SS)
 * Conclusion: Surgery + RT offers best chance for long term control; chemo undefined

Overview

 * Typically presents on scalp or face
 * Optimal treatment has not been defined due to rarity, but probably includes primary resection with wide margins, followed by adjuvant RT
 * RT recommendations from PMID 17023791
 * Consider dose 45-50 Gy subclinical disease, 60-65 Gy for adjuvant treatment, and 70-75 Gy for gross disease
 * Risk of LN mets is probably 10-20%, therefore consider elective nodal RT
 * Consider total scalp irradiation due to need for very wide margins
 * Docetaxel and paclitaxel appear to have some activity in palliative setting

Presentation

 * Patients tend to be older, white, and male
 * Lesion that resembles a "spreading bruise", variable color from blue, purple, to red
 * May be gravity dependent, and be brought on for example by washing hair in a sink
 * Nodular component often develops with time
 * Usually asymptomatic, but may develop bleeding or ulceration
 * Typically more extensive than suggested by physical findings

Diagnosis

 * "Head-Tilt" maneuver, where patient is asked to place his/her head below the level of the heart for 10 seconds. The involved area becomes markedly violaceous and engorged (PMID 17224545)
 * MRI to define extent of primary tumor
 * Consider CT to detect regional node mets
 * Biopsy necessary to obtain diagnosis, but grading may be difficult (PMID 16359536)
 * There is no specific AJCC Staging; please see Staging for soft tissue sarcoma, with understanding that angiosarcoma grade is not prognostic

 * Hamamatsu; 2005 (Japan) PMID 16272865 -- "Magnetic resonance imaging findings of angiosarcoma of the scalp." (Isoda H, J Comput Assist Tomogr. 2005 Nov-Dec;29(6):858-62.)
 * 8 patients with angiosarcoma of the scalp.
 * Outcome: tumors well enhanced on both contrast T1 with fat saturation and T2 with fat saturation. In 4/8 patients tumors were larger than on inspection
 * Conclusion: MRI useful for determining extent

 * Institut Curie; 2003 (France) PMID 12951681 -- "Cytohistologic correlations in angiosarcoma including classic and epithelioid variants: Institut Curie's experience." (Klinanienko J, Diagn Cytopathol. 2003 Sep;29(3):140-5.)
 * Retrospective. FNA and histology review of 29 tumors in 23 patients
 * Conclusion: Accurate tumor typing difficult, particularly in low-grade angiosarcoma

Outcomes

 * Japan; 2005 (1988-2002) PMID 15817349 -- "Angiosarcoma of the scalp treated with curative radiotherapy plus recombinant interleukin-2 immunotherapy." (Ohguri T, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2005 Apr 1;61(5):1446-53.)
 * Retrospective. 20 patients treated with RT and recombinant IL-2. RT dose median 70 Gy
 * Outcome: median OS 3 years, 5-year DSS 40%; 70% developed recurrence, 50% local component
 * IL-2 resulted in significantly less DM
 * Conclusion: RT + rIL-2 is effective, need additional studies

 * Multi-institutional; 2004 PMID 15153886 -- "Cutaneous angiosarcoma: a case series with prognostic correlation." (Morgan MR, J Am Acad Dermatol. 2004 Jun;50(6):867-74.)
 * Retrospective. 4 institutions. 47 patients with cutaneous angiosarcoma (breast, prior-RT, or prior lymphedema excluded). Average age 75 years, men 3:1, 96% head and neck. Follow up range 0.5-5 years
 * Histology: anastomosing dissecting sinusois lined by atypical cells (64%), diffuse epithelioid/spindle cell proliferation (15%), mixed (21%). Average depth of invasion 2.9 mm (1.8-6 mm), average size 5.3 cm (1-9 cm)
 * 5-year outcome: LR 84%, OS 34%; most patients died with widespread pulmonary, cardiac, and/or brain mets.
 * Negative predictors: large diameter (>5 cm), depth (>3 mm), high mitotic rate, SM+
 * Conclusion: poor prognosis

 * Michigan; 2003 (1975-2002) PMID 14534889 -- "Cutaneous angiosarcoma of the scalp: a multidisciplinary approach." (Pawlik TM, Cancer. 2003 Oct 15;98(8):1716-26.)
 * Retrospective. 29 patients with scalp lesions only. 75% pT2, 76% high grade. 97% surgery but only 21% SM-. RT given as wide-field in 79% including all patients with SM-. Median F/U 1.5 years
 * Outcome: median OS 2.4 years; negative prognosis: older patients and T2 disease. RT prolonged time to local recurrence
 * Conclusion: surgery first option, post-op RT should be employed routinely

 * MD Anderson; 1995 (1970-1989) PMID 8625109 -- "Cutaneous angiosarcoma of the head and neck. A therapeutic dilemma." (Morrison WH, Cancer. 1995 Jul 15;76(2):319-27.)
 * Retrospective. 14 patients with scalp (n=11) and upper face (n=3). Surgery in 7, chemo in 10. Median RT dose 60 Gy (50-66) microscopic and 55-75 Gy macroscopic
 * 5-year outcome: LR control microscopic 40% vs. 24% macroscopic; infield control 80% vs. 55%; 5-year OS 50% vs. 13% (overall 29%)
 * Conclusion: RT effective for local disease, especially if R0/R1 disease

 * St. John's Hospital; 1987 (London, UK) PMID 3104187 -- "Angiosarcoma of the face and scalp, prognosis and treatment." (Holden CA, Cancer. 1987 Mar 1;59(5):1046-57.)
 * Retrospective. 72 patients with angiosarcoma of face and scalp.
 * 5-year OS: 12%; half died within 15 months of presentation
 * Prognostic factors: larger lesions (>10cm); location, age, gender, appearance not significant
 * Radical RT (wide-field electrons) resulted in good local control; 2 patients developed pulmonary disease 10 years later

Chemotherapy

 * Kobe; 2007 (2003-2006) PMID 17582627 -- "Docetaxel: A therapeutic option in the treatment of cutaneous angiosarcoma: report of 9 patients." (Nagano T, Cancer. 2007 Aug 1;110(3):648-51.)
 * Retrospective. 9 patients given docetaxel 25 mg/m2 QW x8 weeks. 6 had RT, 4 surgery, and IL-2
 * Outcome: 2 CR, 4 PR. Severe radiation dermatitis in 3/9
 * Conclusion: docetaxel has activity and may suppress lung mets

 * MSKCC; 1999 (1992-1998) PMID 10570428 -- "Paclitaxel in the treatment of patients with angiosarcoma of the scalp or face." (Fata F, Cancer. 1999 Nov 15;86(10):2034-7.)
 * Prospective. 9 patients with AS of scalp or face. 6 prior RT. 3 metastatic, 6 unresectable or recurrent. paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 (also 90 and 250) Q3W
 * Outcome: 4 CR, 4 PR. Median duration of response 5 months
 * Toxicity: neutropenia and peripheral neuropathy
 * Conclusion: paclitaxel as single agent has substantial activity

Review

 * Univ Florida; 2006 PMID 17023791 -- "Cutaneous angiosarcoma." (Mendenhall WM, Am J Clin Oncol. 2006 Oct;29(5):524-8.)

title: Radiation Oncology/Sarcoma/Angiosarcoma


text:
Civ/Civilization III

This is a strategy guide for Civilization III and its expansion packs.

Table of Contents

 * The Basics1
 * /Civilization Traits/
 * /Diplomacy/

Appendices

 * /Forms of Government/
 * /Unit Index/
 * /Terrain Reference/
 * /Patch History/
 * Conquests Extras

[1] Chapter common to more than one guide

title: Civ/Civilization III


text:
Civ

This is a guide for the computer series Civilization ("Civ" for short). A few of the guides will share chapters, for instance, every guide begins with The Basics. For convenience these all use the original Civilization terminology except when discussing particular games, e.g., "shields" will consistently be used to refer to what are called "minerals" in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, except in sections specific to Alpha Centauri. In order to help you with the terminology differences among the games, we have written /Terminology/.

Civilization

 * /Civilization/, the original
 * /CivNet/
 * /Civilization II/, its various expansion packs, and Civilization II: Test of Time
 * /Civilization III/ and its expansion packs
 * /Civilization IV/
 * /Civilization V/
 * /Civilization VI/

Related Games

 * /Civilization: Call to Power/
 * /Call to Power II/
 * /Colonization/
 * /Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri/ and Alien Crossfire

Civilization Clones

 * /Freeciv/

About this Book

 * /Authors/

title: Civ


text:
User talk:63.94.237.130

Welcome!
Welcome to Wikibooks, a collection of open-content textbooks! You don't have to log in to read or edit articles on Wikibooks, but creating an account is quick, free and non-intrusive, requires no personal information, and gives you many benefits, including:
 * The use of a username of your choice
 * The ability to view all your contributions via a "My contributions" link
 * Your own user page
 * Your own talk page which, if you choose, also allows users to send you messages without knowing your e-mail address
 * The use of your own personal watchlist to which you can add articles that interest you
 * The ability to rename pages.
 * The ability to upload images
 * The ability to customize the appearance and behavior of the website
 * The eligibility to become an administrator
 * The right to be heard in votes and elections
 * Your IP address will no longer be visible to other users.

We hope that you choose to become a Wikibookian and create an account. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have on my talk page. By the way, make sure to sign your posts and comments with four tildes (~~~~), which will let others know who left it.

 – Mike.lifeguard  | talk 02:20, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:63.94.237.130


text:
User:Whiteknight/Gadget Instructions

To install, add these lines to your personal javascript: import_script('User:Whiteknight/gadgetscore.js'); import_script('User:Whiteknight/');

Your personal Javascript page is most likely located at "User:/monobook.js" Go to that page and copy+paste the above line of code and click.

Once you save your javascript, you will need to perform a hard reset, typically by pressing +, or some other key combination.

 * Browsers not listed here have not been tested or are known not to work
 * Browsers not listed here have not been tested or are known not to work
 * Browsers not listed here have not been tested or are known not to work
 * Browsers not listed here have not been tested or are known not to work
 * Browsers not listed here have not been tested or are known not to work
 * Browsers not listed here have not been tested or are known not to work

title: User:Whiteknight/Gadget Instructions


text:
User:Yxiao001

Something

title: User:Yxiao001


text:
Past LSAT Explained

Click the link below for the explanations for the previously administered LSAT exams. Please contribute to the explanations if you can.

 * /Methodology/
 * /Reading Comprehension/
 * /Logical Reasoning/
 * /Analytical Reasoning/

 * /PrepTest 01/ June 1991
 * /PrepTest 02/ October 1991
 * /PrepTest 03/ December 1991
 * /PrepTest 04/ February 1992
 * /PrepTest 05/ June 1992
 * /PrepTest 06/ October 1992
 * /PrepTest 07/ February 1993
 * /PrepTest 08/ June 1993
 * /PrepTest 09/ October 1993
 * /PrepTest 10/ February 1994
 * /PrepTest 11/ June 1994
 * /PrepTest 12/ October 1994
 * /PrepTest 13/ December 1994
 * /PrepTest 14/ February 1995
 * /PrepTest 15/ June 1995
 * /PrepTest 16/ September 1995
 * /PrepTest 17/ December 1995
 * /PrepTest 18/ December 1992
 * /PrepTest 19/ June 1996
 * /PrepTest 20/ October 1996
 * /PrepTest 21/ December 1996
 * /PrepTest 22/ June 1997
 * /PrepTest 23/ October 1997
 * /PrepTest 24/ December 1997
 * /PrepTest 25/ June 1998
 * /PrepTest 26/ September 1998
 * /PrepTest 27/ December 1998
 * /PrepTest 28/ June 1999
 * /PrepTest 29/ October 1999
 * /PrepTest 30/ December 1999
 * /PrepTest 31/ June 2000
 * /PrepTest 32/ October 2000
 * /PrepTest 33/ December 2000
 * /PrepTest 34/ June 2001
 * /PrepTest 35/ October 2001
 * /PrepTest 36/ December 2001
 * /PrepTest 37/ June 2002
 * /PrepTest 38/ October 2002
 * /PrepTest 39/ December 2002
 * /PrepTest 40/ June 2003
 * /PrepTest 41/ October 2003
 * /PrepTest 42/ December 2003
 * /PrepTest 43/ June 2004
 * /PrepTest 44/ October 2004
 * /PrepTest 45/ December 2004
 * /PrepTest 46/ June 2005
 * /PrepTest 47/ October 2005
 * /PrepTest 48/ December 2005
 * /PrepTest 49/ June 2006
 * /PrepTest 50/ October 2006
 * /PrepTest 51/ December 2006
 * /PrepTest 52/ September 2007
 * /PrepTest 53/ December 2007
 * /PrepTest 56/ December 2008
 * /PrepTest 58/ September 2009
 * /PrepTest 64/October 2011 LSAT
 * /The Official LSAT PrepTest With Explanations and the LSAT Itemwise/ - February 1997
 * /The Official LSAT SuperPrep/
 * /Sample PrepTest/- June 2007

By Dates
 * June 1991 LSAT
 * October 1991 LSAT
 * December 1991 LSAT
 * February 1992 LSAT
 * June 1992 LSAT
 * October 1992 LSAT
 * December 1992 LSAT
 * February 1993 LSAT
 * June 1993 LSAT
 * October 1993 LSAT
 * /December 1993 LSAT/ (Nondisclosed)
 * February 1994 LSAT
 * June 1994 LSAT
 * October 1994 LSAT
 * December 1994 LSAT
 * February 1995 LSAT
 * June 1995 LSAT
 * September 1995 LSAT
 * December 1995 LSAT
 * February 1996 LSAT
 * June 1996 LSAT
 * October 1996 LSAT
 * December 1996 LSAT
 * February 1997 LSAT
 * June 1997 LSAT
 * October 1997 LSAT
 * December 1997 LSAT
 * /February 1998 LSAT/ (nondisclosed)
 * June 1998 LSAT
 * September 1998 LSAT
 * December 1998 LSAT
 * February 1999 LSAT
 * June 1999 LSAT
 * October 1999 LSAT
 * December 1999 LSAT
 * February 2000 LSAT
 * June 2000 LSAT
 * October 2000 LSAT
 * December 2000 LSAT
 * /February 2001 LSAT/ (nondisclosed)
 * June 2001 LSAT
 * October 2001 LSAT
 * December 2001 LSAT
 * /February 2002 LSAT/ (nondisclosed)
 * June 2002 LSAT
 * October 2002 LSAT
 * December 2002 LSAT
 * /February 2003 LSAT/ (nondisclosed)
 * June 2003 LSAT
 * October 2003 LSAT
 * December 2003 LSAT
 * /February 2004 LSAT/ (nondisclosed)
 * June 2004 LSAT
 * October 2004 LSAT
 * December 2004 LSAT
 * /February 2005 LSAT/ (nondisclosed)
 * June 2005 LSAT
 * October 2005 LSAT
 * December 2005 LSAT
 * /February 2006 LSAT/ (nondisclosed)
 * June 2006 LSAT
 * September 2006 LSAT
 * December 2006 LSAT
 * /February 2007 LSAT/ (nondisclosed)
 * June 2007 LSAT
 * September 2007 LSAT
 * December 2007 LSAT
 * October 2011 LSAT

title: Past LSAT Explained


text:
Past LSAT Explained/PrepTest 25

Back to Past LSAT Explained

Section IV Logical Reasoning
Question 08 Common sense tells you that the argument is not entirely true since they still teach Latin and Greek in high school and college. People still learns hieroglyphics to read Egyptian inscriptions. The task here is to find a choice that best describes the weakness in the argument. Here is a rephrase of the paragraph.

Knowing ancient Greek is essential for reading original Greek texts. “Most” (but not necessarily all!) Greek are translated into English so we can just read English translations of Homer and Plato. So ancient historian wannabes don’t need to learn Greek anymore.

The weakness of the argument is that there maybe a small number of the texts that have not been translated. The argument did not preclude this possibility since it did not say all ancient historical documents have been translated.

(A) Correct. Knowing ancient Greek is not always necessary since we have an English translation of Iliad and Odyssey. But there may be a few works that were not translated. It is too strong to say it is no longer necessary to learn the languages. Watch out for extreme words like “never” (B) Incorrect. The passage does not treats the fact as an opinion. False. (C) Incorrect. The conclusion is NOT a restatement of the evidence. The evidence is “most are translated into English” and “we can read them in English”. The conclusion is “therefore, we don’t need to learn the original languages.” (D) Incorrect. There is no expert judgement here. (E) Incorrect. all the evidences are consistent. No problem here.

|25

title: Past LSAT Explained/PrepTest 25


text:
Algebra/Stemplots

The next thing we need to look at to properly read the plot is the key. Lets look at our example again.

Scores of Our Last Math Test

6|446 7|02668 8|022244888 9|026 9|2 = 92%

The key in this case is: 9|2 = 92%

What does the key tell us? It tells us, that in this case, the data we are looking at are percentages. It is always important to know what you are looking at, and not just be a robot and read numbers off of a plot. Now that we understand the title and the key, we know that by reading the data off of our plot, we are reading off grades in percentages.

title: Algebra/Stemplots


text:
XQuery/Ah-has

Redundancy in Expressions
let $r := if ($x = 1) then true else false; better as let $r := ($x = 1)

and

for $p in (0 to string-length($arg1)) return $p better as (0 to string-length($arg1))

and

for $i in (1 to 5) return for $j in (11 to 15) return ($i, $j)

better as

for $i in (1 to 5), $j in (11 to 15) return ($i, $j)

OR

for $i in (1 to 5) for $j in (11 to 15) return ($i, $j)

all three return (1 11 1 12 1 13 1 14 1 15 2 11 2 12 2 13...)

XPath predicates clearer and faster than where clauses
for $x in //Page where $x/heading = 1 return $x better as  //Page[heading = 1]

Default values
if (exists($a)) then $a else "Default"

better as  ($a,"Default") [1]

OR for a sequence of items ($list1, "Default"[empty($list1)])

OR another possible for a sequence [not(position = last and not(last = 1))]

any number of cascaded defaults can be handled this way.

compare with 'COALESCE' in SQL

title: XQuery/Ah-has


text:
User talk:Ap25

Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally. -- Herby talk thyme 10:27, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for experimenting with Wikibooks. Your test worked, and has now been removed. Please use Sandbox for any other tests you want to do, since testing material in modules will normally be removed quickly. Please see the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our project. Thanks. -- Herby talk thyme 10:27, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Ap25


text:
User talk:Pradeep banjara

hi anyone could please suggest e books which can help me learn industrial designing

title: User talk:Pradeep banjara


text:
User talk:222.118.209.100

Please stop removing content from Wikibooks; it is considered vandalism. If you want to experiment, please use the sandbox. Thank you. -- Herby talk thyme 11:50, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:222.118.209.100


text: Sound Synthesis Theory/Page Listing

title: Sound Synthesis Theory/Page Listing


text:
Radiation Oncology/Total Scalp

Total Scalp Irradiation

 * Scalp lesions are common in angiosarcoma, lymphoma, and melanoma
 * There are multiple approaches, from electron only fields, to mixed electron/photon fields, IMRT, and brachytherapy

Brachytherapy

 * Leipzig; 2007 PMID 17406803 -- "Helmet mold-based surface brachytherapy for homogeneous scalp treatment: a case report." (Liebmann A, Strahlenther Onkol. 2007 Apr;183(4):211-4.)
 * Description of brachytherapy mold using a customized polyethylene helmet, using HDR IR-192
 * Conclusion: safe and practicable

 * Japan; 2003 PMID 12810835 -- "Iridium-192 brachytherapy for hemorrhagic angiosarcoma of the scalp: a case report." (Nakamura R, Jpn J Clin Oncol. 2003 Apr;33(4):198-201.)
 * Case report. Description of HDR Ir-192 mold.

 * Ankara; 2002 (Turkey) PMID 12419458 -- "Mold brachytherapy can be an optional technique for total scalp irradiation." (Ozyar E, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2002 Nov 15;54(4):1286.)
 * Case report. Description of HDR Ir-192 helmet; 48 catheters. Prescribed 40.5 Gy at 1cm (0.5 cm skin depth), over 3 weeks

IMRT/Tomotherapy

 * Wisconsin
 * 2006 PMID 16504768 -- "Helical tomotherapy as a means of administering total or partial scalp irradiation: In regards to Bedford et al.", Khuntia D, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2006 Mar 15;64(4):1288-9; author reply 1289-90.)
 * Helical tomotherapy, no bolus
 * Conclusion: excellent dosimetry, fast (~25 min) treatment times
 * 2005 PMID 16112468 -- "Total scalp irradiation using helical tomotherapy." (Orton N, Med Dosim. 2005 Fall;30(3):162-8.)
 * Comparison of IMRT and helical tomotherapy plans
 * Conclusion: EUD better and brain dose lower with tomotherapy plans

 * Royal Marsden; 2005 (UK) PMID 16029817 -- "Treatment of extensive scalp lesions with segmental intensity-modulated photon therapy." (Bedford JL, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2005 Aug 1;62(5):1549-58.)
 * Comparison of static electrons, electron arc therapy, and 5-field photon IMRT for large, but only partial, scalp lesions
 * Conclusion: IMRT improves homogeneity to PTV, but increases dose to the brain

 * Washington Univ; 2002 PMID 11872304 -- "Potential of tomotherapy for total scalp treatment." (Locke J, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2002 Feb 1;52(2):553-9.)
 * Evaluation of IMRT plan and lateral photon/electron technique
 * Conclusion: lateral photon/electron technique superior; IMRT substantial dose to lens, brain, and orbit

 * MC Virginia; 1996 PMID 8665137 -- "Short communication: Total craniofacial photon shell technique for radiotherapy of extensive angiosarcomas of the head." (Kinard JD, Br J Radiol. 1996 Apr;69(820):351-5.)
 * Case report. Description of arc therapy

Mixed photons/electrons

 * MD Anderson; 1993 PMID 8365936 -- "Dosimetric evaluation of total scalp irradiation using a lateral electron-photon technique." (Tung SS, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1993 Sep 1;27(1):153-60.)
 * Dosimetric evaluation of a modified opposed-lateral electron/photon UCSF technique
 * Conclusion: practical, acceptable dosimetry, adapted this technique for use at MDACC

 * UCSF; 1989 PMID 2504182 -- "Treatment of the scalp using photon and electron beams." (Akazawa C, Med Dosim. 1989;14(2):129-31.)
 * Description of lateral opposed photons matched with lateral opposed electrons

Electrons

 * MD Anderson; 1991 PMID 1917604 -- "Evaluation of a total scalp electron irradiation technique." (Able CM, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1991 Sep;21(4):1063-72.)
 * Dosimetric evaluation of 12-beam electron technique

title: Radiation Oncology/Total Scalp


text:
General Securities Representative Exam/Equity Securities

Equity Securities
A corporation can create capital by offering shares of the corporation to the public. These shares are Equity Securities, or stocks. When a corporation wants to sell equity securities it first applies for a charter that states the par-value and the number of authorized shares. Here is an outline of the types of shares:

 * Authorized
 * Issued
 * Treasury
 * Outstanding
 * Unissued

Stocks may either be common stock or preferred stock. Holders of Common Stock enjoy the following rights as part owner of the corporation:
 * The right to a certificate
 * A share of profits in the form of dividends, when and if paid
 * The right to attend shareholder meetings and to vote on matters, particularly election of the board of directors
 * The right to transfer or sell their shares of the stock
 * Access to information about the corporation like financial statements
 * Pre-emptive offer of newly issued stocks proportionate to their current holdings.

Dividends may either be in the form of cash paid to the share holder, additional shares, or some combination of both. If the dividend is paid in shares, each shareholder's percent ownership remains the same since all shareholders receive equal dividend shares for each share owned. Dividends paid in shares increase the number of outstanding shares, but not the par-value. Dividends are paid to common stock holders after all debts are paid, and after dividends are paid to shareholders of preferred stock.

Preferred Stock
Owners of Preferred Stock have a priority claim to any remaining assets in bankruptcy after creditors (for example, bondholders) have been paid, but before any payments are available to common stockholders. Preferred shares also may have a guaranteed dividend, and sometimes offer superior voting powers to common shareholders. It is important to individually review the rights attached to a corporation's preferred shares as additional rights vary significantly from company to company. Some preferred shares have no voting rights at all, or may not offer guarantee dividends.

Dividends paid to preferred stockholders are usually at a fixed rate based on the par-value, and can be cumulative, meaning that if a dividend was not paid for some reason that dividend will accumulate and must be paid in arrears when the funds become available. Preferred stock can also be convertible to a fixed amount of common stocks. It can also be callable, meaning the corporation can call or buy back preferred shares. Also preferred stocks can participate in dividends paid to common shareholders.

Stock Split
A corporation can propose to the share holders to split the stock in order to make the stock more affordable to investors. Shareholders have the option to vote for or against the split. If the split proposal passes, then the number of outstanding shares increases proportionate to the ratio of the split. Say for a 2:1 split, then each shareholder would get an additional share, thus doubling the number of outstanding shares. The new shares come from the original authorized shares that were unissued. Splitting a stock, say 1:2, would reduce the share price to half the pre-split value, and it also would split the par-value of the shares. A stock can also have a reverse split. This would make the stock more attractive to investors if the share value was low. Reverse splits reduces the number of outstanding shares and the par-value proportionate to the split ratio, say 1:2 for example.


text:
User talk:Salle021

Welcome message
Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally. Urbane  (Talk)   (Contributions)  14:50, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Salle021


text:
User talk:Cbarr023

Welcome message
Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally. Urbane  (Talk)   (Contributions)  14:51, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Cbarr023


text:
User talk:Tabby~enwikibooks

Welcome message
Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally. Urbane  (Talk)   (Contributions)  14:53, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Tabby. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Tabby~enwikibooks that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:49, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 05:34, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Tabby~enwikibooks


text:
User talk:Markclaydon

Welcome message
Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally. Urbane  (Talk)   (Contributions)  14:54, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Markclaydon


text:
User talk:Thomas.lochmatter

Welcome message
Come introduce yourself at the new users page. If you have any questions, you can ask there or contact me personally. Urbane  (Talk)   (Contributions)  14:54, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Copyright problems with |File:File:SwisTrack 4 Presentation IROS 2008.pdf|File:SwisTrack 4 Presentation IROS 2008.pdf}}
Your PDF states "see below" for the permission but you have not provided licensing information. Please follow the instructions in the above notification to provide a valid license stating the terms under which others can reuse the PDF. -- Adrignola talk contribs 22:23, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

title: User talk:Thomas.lochmatter


text:
Sound Synthesis Theory/Policy

 * Although the tone is generally aimed at musicians and people with little prior knowledge of music systems, there may be some mathematical concepts and programming techniques that are not familiar.
 * The book focuses on synthesis from a digital perspective rather than an analogue one, since it aims to demonstrate the theory of digital synthesis rather than applications to a specific medium or piece of software.
 * Use diagrams and pictures where possible to illustrate ideas; it informs and makes the Wikibook more readable, approachable and better overall.
 * Key terms and words are included in a /Glossary/ for further clarification.

title: Sound Synthesis Theory/Policy


text:
Cyber Guide to ODU Career Management/Get Up-to-Date

CAP Meeting  Agenda/Actions/Accomplishments

Senior Staff Meeting Agenda

Problems Reported and Work Orders Requested'''


text:
User talk:69.116.66.135

Welcome to Wikibooks. We invite everyone to contribute constructively to our collection. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing. However, unconstructive edits, such as those you made to How_To_Build_a_Pinewood_Derby_Car, are considered vandalism. If you continue in this manner you may be blocked from editing without further warning. Please stop, and consider improving rather than damaging the hard work of others. Thanks. --Kkmurray 17:49, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:69.116.66.135


text:
Contemporary Educational Psychology/Chapter 10: Teacher-Made Assessment Strategies/Selecting Appropriate Assessments, Part 1

Selecting Appropriate Assessment Techniques, Part 1: High Quality Assessments
For an assessment to be high quality it needs to have good validity and reliability as well as absence from bias.

Validity
Validity is the evaluation of the "adequacy and appropriateness of the interpretations and uses of assessment results” for a given group of individuals (Linn & Miller, 2005, p. 68). For example, is it appropriate to conclude that the results of a mathematics test on fractions given to recent immigrants accurately represents their understanding of fractions? Is it appropriate for the teacher to conclude, based on her observations, that a kindergarten student, Jasmine, has Attention Deficit Disorder because she does not follow the teachers oral instructions? Obviously in each situation other interpretations are possible – that the immigrant students have poor English skills rather than mathematics skills, or that Jasmine may be hearing impaired. It is important to understand that validity refers to the interpretation and uses made of the results of an assessment procedure, not of the assessment procedure itself. For example, making judgments about the results of the same test on fractions may be valid if the students all understand English well. A teacher concluding from her observations that the kindergarten student has Attention Deficit Disorder may be appropriate if the student has been screened for hearing and other disorders (although the classification of a disorder like ADD cannot be made by one teacher). Validity involves making an overall judgment of the degree to which the interpretations and uses of the assessment results are justified. Validity is a matter of degree (e.g., high, moderate, or low validity) rather than all-or none (e.g. totally valid vs. invalid).

Three sources of evidence are considered when assessing validity - content, construct and predictive. Content validity is associated with the question: How well does the assessment include the content or tasks it is supposed to? For example, suppose your educational psychology instructor devises a mid-term test and tells you this includes chapters one to seven in the text book. Obviously, all the items in test should be based on the content from educational psychology, not your methods or cultural foundations classes. Also, the items in the test should cover content from all seven chapters and not just chapters three to seven -  unless the instructor tells you that these chapters have priority.

Teachers’ have to be clear about their purposes and priorities for instruction before they can begin to gather evidence related content validity. Content validation determines the degree that assessment tasks are relevant and representative of the tasks judged by the teacher (or test developer) to represent their goals and objectives. It is important for teachers to think about content validation when devising assessment tasks and one way to help do this is to devise a Table of Specifications. An example, based on Pennsylvania’s State standards for grade 3 geography, is in Table 10-1. In the left hand column is the instructional content for a 20-item test the teacher has decided to construct with two kinds of instructional objectives: identification and uses or locates. The second and third columns identify the number of items for each content area and each instructional objective. Notice that the teacher has decided that six items should be devoted to the sub area of geographic representations- more than any other sub area. Devising a table of specifications helps teachers determine if some content areas or concepts are over-sampled (i.e., there are too many items) and some concepts are under-sampled (i.e., there are too few items).

Construct validity is more complex than content validity evidence. Often we are interested in making broader judgments about student’s performances than specific skills such as doing fractions. The focus may be on constructs such as mathematical reasoning or reading comprehension. A construct is a characteristic of a person we assume exists to help explain behavior. For example, we use the concept of test anxiety to explain why some individuals when taking a test have difficulty concentrating, have physiological reactions such as sweating, and perform poorly on tests but not in class assignments. Similarly mathematics reasoning and reading comprehension are constructs as we use them to help explain performance on an assessment. Construct validation is the process of determining the extent to which performance on an assessment can be interpreted in terms of the intended constructs and is not influenced by factors irrelevant to the construct. For example, judgments about recent immigrants’ performance on a mathematical reasoning test administered in English will have low construct validity if the results are influenced by English Language skills that are irrelevant to mathematical problem solving. Similarly, construct validity of end-of-semester examinations is likely to be poor for those students who are highly anxious when taking major tests but not during regular class periods or when doing assignments. Teachers can help increase construct validity by trying to reduce factors that influence performance but are irrelevant to the construct being assessed. These factors include anxiety, English language skills, and reading speed.

A third form of validity evidence is called criterion-related validity. Selective colleges use the ACT or SAT among other criteria to choose who will be admitted because these standardized tests help predict freshman grades, i.e., have high criterion-related validity. Some K-12 schools give students math or reading tests in Fall semester in order to predict which are likely to do well on the annual State Tests administered in Spring semester and which students are unlikely to pass the tests and so will need additional assistance. If the tests administered in Fall do not predict students’ performances accurately then the additional assistance may be given to the wrong students illustrating the importance of criterion-related validity.

Reliability
Reliability refers to the consistency of a measurement (Linn & Miller 2005). Suppose Mr. Garcia is teaching a unit on food chemistry in his 10th grade class and gives an assessment at the end of the unit using test items from the teachers’ guide. Reliability is related to questions such as: How similar would the scores of the students be if they had taken the assessment on a Friday or Monday? Would the scores have varied if Mr. Garcia had selected different test items, or if a different teacher had graded the test? An assessment provides information about students by using a specific measure of performance at one particular time. Unless the results from the assessment are reasonably consistent over different occasions, different raters, or different tasks (in the same content domain) confidence in the results will be low and so cannot be useful in improving student learning.

Obviously we cannot expect perfect consistency. Students’ memory, attention, fatigue, effort, and anxiety fluctuate and so influence performance. Even trained raters vary somewhat when grading assessment such as essays, a science project, or an oral presentation. Also, the wording and design of specific items influence students’ performances. However, some assessments are more reliable than others and there are several strategies teachers can use to increase reliability:

 * 1) Assessments with more tasks or items typically have higher reliability. To understand this, consider two tests one with five items and one with 50 items. Chance factors influence the shorter test more than the longer test. If a student does not understand one of the items in the first test the total score is very highly influenced (it would be reduced by 20%). In contrast, if there was one item in the test with 50 items that were confusing, the total score would be influenced much less (by only 2%). Obviously this does not mean that assessments should be inordinately long, but, on average, enough tasks should be included to reduce the influence of chance variations.
 * 2) Clear directions and tasks help increase reliability. If the directions or wording of specific tasks or items are unclear, then students have to guess what they mean undermining the accuracy of their results.
 * 3) Clear scoring criteria are crucial in ensuring high reliability. In a later section of this chapter we describe strategies for developing scoring criteria for a variety of types of assessment.

Absence of Bias
Bias occurs in assessment when there are components in the assessment method or administration of the assessment that distort the performance of the student because of their personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, or social class (Popham, 2005). Two types of assessment bias are important: offensiveness and unfair penalization. An assessment is most likely to be offensive to a subgroup of students when negative stereotypes are included in the test. For example, the assessment in a health class could include items in which all the doctors were men and all the nurses were women. Or a series of questions in a social studies class could portray Latinos and Asians as immigrants rather than native born Americans. In these examples, some female, Latino or Asian students are likely to be offended by the stereotypes, and this can distract them from performing well on the assessment.

Unfair penalization occurs when items disadvantage one group not because they may be offensive but because of differential background experiences. For example, an item for math assessment that assumes knowledge of a particular sport may disadvantage groups not as familiar with that sport (e.g., American football for recent immigrants). Or an assessment on team work that asks students to model their concept of a team on a symphony orchestra is likely to be easier for those students who have attended orchestra performances - probably students from affluent families. Unfair penalization does not occur just because some students do poorly in class. For example, asking questions about a specific sport in a Physical Education class when information on that sport had been discussed in class is not unfair penalization as long as the questions do not require knowledge beyond that taught in class that some groups are less likely to have.

It can be difficult for new teachers teaching in multiethnic classrooms to devise interesting assessments that do not penalize any groups of students. Teachers need to think seriously about the impact of students’ differing backgrounds on the assessment they use in class. Listening carefully to what students say is important as is learning about the backgrounds of the students.

(back to Chapter 10...)


text:
Contemporary Educational Psychology/Chapter 10: Teacher-made Assessment Strategies/Selecting Appropriate Assessment Techniques, Part 2

Selecting Appropriate Assessment Techniques, Part 2: Types of Teacher-made Assessments
One of the challenges for beginning teachers is to select and use appropriate assessment techniques. In this section we summarize the wide variety of types of assessments that classroom teachers use. First we discuss the informal techniques teachers use during instruction that typically require instantaneous decisions. Then we consider formal assessment techniques that teachers plan before instruction and allow for reflective decisions.

Teachers’ Observation, Questioning, and Record Keeping
During teaching, teachers not only have to communicate the information they planned but also continuously monitor students’ learning and motivation in order to determine whether modifications have to be made (Airasian, 2004). Beginning teachers find this more difficult than experienced teachers because of the complex cognitive skills required to improvise and be responsive to students needs while simultaneously keeping in mind the goals and plans of the lesson (Borko & Livingston, 1989). The informal assessment strategies teachers most often use during instruction are observation and questioning.

Observation
Effective teachers observe their students from the time they enter the classroom. Some teachers greet their students at the door not only to welcome them but also to observe their mood and motivation. Are Hannah and Naomi still not talking to each other? Does Ethan have his materials with him? Gaining information on such questions can help the teacher foster student learning more effectively (e.g. suggesting Ethan goes back to his locker to get his materials before the bell rings or avoiding assigning Hannah and Naomi to the same group).

During instruction, teachers observe students’ behavior to gain information about students’ level of interest and understanding of the material or activity. Observation includes looking at non-verbal behaviors as well as listening to what the students are saying. For example, a teacher may observe that a number of students are looking out of the window rather than watching the science demonstration, or hear students making comments in their group indicating they do not understand what they are supposed to be doing. Observations also help teachers decide which student to call on next, whether to speed up or slow down the pace of the lesson, when more examples are needed, whether to begin or end an activity, how well students are performing a physical activity, and if there are potential behavior problems. Many teachers find that moving around the classroom helps them observe more effectively because they can see more students from a variety of perspectives. However, the fast pace and complexity of most classrooms makes it difficult for teachers to gain as much information as they want.

Questioning
Teachers ask questions for many instructional reasons including keeping students’ attention on the lesson, highlighting important points and ideas, promoting critical thinking, allowing students’ to learn from each others answers, and providing information about students’ learning. Devising good appropriate questions and using students’ responses to make effective instantaneous instructional decisions is very difficult. Some strategies to improve questioning include planning and writing down the instructional questions that will be asked, allowing sufficient wait time for students to respond, listening carefully to what students say rather than listening for what is expected, varying the types of questions asked, making sure some of the questions are higher level, and asking follow-up questions.

While the informal assessment based on spontaneous observation and questioning is essential for teaching, there are inherent problems with the validity, reliability and bias in this information. The problems are summarized in Table 10-2.

Record Keeping
Keeping records of observations improves reliability and can be used to enhance understanding of one student, a group, or the whole class interactions. Sometimes this requires help from other teachers. For example, Alexis, a beginning science teacher is aware of the research documenting that longer wait time enhances students’ learning (e.g., Rowe, 2003), but is unsure of her behaviors so she asks a colleague to observe and record her wait times during one class period. Alexis learns her wait times are very short for all students so she starts practicing silently counting to five whenever she asks students a question.

Teachers can keep anecdotal records about students without help from peers. These records contain descriptions of incidents of a student’s behavior, the time and place the incident takes place, and a tentative interpretation of the incident. For example, the description of the incident might involve Joseph, a 2nd grade student, who fell asleep during the mathematics class on a Monday morning. A tentative interpretation could be the student did not get enough sleep over the weekend, but alternative explanations could be the student is sick or is on medications that make him drowsy. Obviously additional information is needed and the teacher could ask Joseph why he is so sleepy and also observe him to see if he looks tired and sleepy over the next couple of weeks.

Anecdotal records often provide important information--better than informal memories--but they take time to maintain, and are difficult to keep objective. For example, after seeing Joseph fall asleep the teacher may now look for any signs of Joseph’s sleepiness – ignoring the days he is not sleepy. Also, it is hard for teachers to sample a wide enough range of data for their observations to be highly reliable.

Teachers also conduct more formal observations especially for students with special needs who have IEP’s. An example of the importance of informal and formal observations in a preschool follows:

 * The class of the preschool in a suburban neighborhood of a large city has eight special needs students and four students - the peer models - who have been selected because of their well developed language and social skills. Some of the special needs students have been diagnosed with delayed language, some with behavior disorders, and several with autism. The students are sitting on the mat with the teacher who has a box with sets of three “cool” things of varying size (e.g. toy pandas) and the students are asked to put the things in order by size, big, medium and small. Students who are able are also requested to point to each item in turn and say “This is the big one,” This is the medium one,” and, “This is the little one.” For some students, only two choices (big and little) are offered because that is appropriate for their developmental level. The teacher informally observes that one of the boys is having trouble keeping his legs still so she quietly asks the aid for a weighted pad that she places on the boy’s legs to help him keep them still.  The activity continues and the aide carefully observes students behaviors and records on IEP progress cards whether a child meets specific objectives such as, “When given two picture or object choices, Mark will point to the appropriate object in 80% of the opportunities.”  The teacher and aides keep records of the relevant behavior of the special needs students during the half day they are in preschool.  The daily records are summarized weekly and if not enough observations have been recorded for a specific objective the teacher and aide focus their observations more on that child, and if necessary, try to create specific situations that relate to that objective. At end of each month the teacher calculates whether the special needs children are meeting their IEP objectives.

(back to Chapter 10...)


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Contemporary Educational Psychology/Chapter 10: Teacher-made Assessment Strategies/Selected Response Items

Teachers commonly assess students using questions and items that are multiple choice, matching, and true/false. In selected response items, students choose a response provided by the teacher or test developer, rather than construct one in their own words or by their own actions. Selected response items do not require that students recall information, but only that they recognize the correct answer. Tests with these items are called objective because the results are not influenced by scorers’ judgments or interpretations and so are often machine scored. Eliminating potential errors in scoring increases the reliability of tests but teachers who only use objective tests are liable to reduce the validity of their assessment because objective tests are not appropriate for all learning goals. Effective assessment for learning as well as assessment of learning must be based on aligning the assessment technique to the learning goals and outcomes. For example, if the goal is for students to conduct an experiment then they should be asked to do that rather that than being asked about conducting an experiment.

Common Problems
Selected response items are easy to score, but hard to devise. As a result, teachers often do not spend enough time constructing items. Common problems include these:

1. Unclear wording in the items
 * Example: "True or False: Although George Washington was born into a wealthy family, his father died when he was only 11, he worked as a youth as a surveyor of rural lands, and later stood on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York when he took his oath of office in 1789)."

2. Cues that are not related the content being examined.
 * A common clue is that all the true statements on a true/false test or the corrective alternatives on a multiple choice test are longer than the untrue statements or the incorrect alternatives.

3. Using negatives (or double negatives) the items.
 * Example: “True or False: None of the steps made by the student was unnecessary.”
 * A better item: "True or False:  All of the steps were necessary” Students often do not notice the negative terms or find them confusing so avoiding them is generally recommended. However, since standardized tests often use negative items, teachers sometimes deliberately include some negative items to give students practice in responding to that format.

4. Taking sentences directly from textbook or lecture notes.
 * Removing the words from their context often makes them ambiguous or can change the meaning. For example, a statement from Chapter 3, taken out of context, suggests all children are clumsy “Similarly with jumping, throwing and catching: the large majority of children can do these things, though often a bit clumsily.” The fuller quotation makes it clearer that this sentence refers to 5 year olds: "For some fives, running still looks a bit like a hurried walk, but usually it becomes more coordinated within a year or two. Similarly with jumping, throwing and catching: the large majority of children can do these things, though often a bit clumsily, by the time they start school, and most improve their skills noticeably during the early elementary years” If the abbreviated form was used as the stem in a true/false item, it would be misleading.

5. Avoid Trivial Questions
 * Example: "Jean Piaget was born in what year?"
 * a)	1896
 * b)	1900
 * c)	1880
 * d)	1903
 * While it important to know approximately when Piaget made his seminal contributions to the understanding of child development, the exact year of his birth (1880) is not important.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Selected Response Items
All types of selected response items have a number of strengths and weaknesses. True/false items are appropriate for measuring factual knowledge such as vocabulary, formulae, dates, proper names, and technical terms. They are very efficient as they use a simple structure that students can easily understand, and take little time to complete. They are also easier to construct than multiple choice and matching items. However, students have a 50% probability of getting the answer correct through guessing so it can be difficult to interpret how much students know from their test scores. Examples of common problems that arise when devising true/false items are in Table 10-3. In matching items, two parallel columns containing terms, phrases, symbols, or numbers are presented and the student is asked to match the items in the first column with those in the second column. Typically there are more items in the second column to make the task more difficult and to ensure that if a student makes one error they do not have to make another. Matching items most often are used to measure lower level knowledge such as persons and their achievements, dates and historical events, terms and definitions, symbols and concepts, plants or animals and classifications. An example with Spanish language words and their English equivalents is below:

 * Directions: On the line to the left of the Spanish word in Column A write the letter of the English word in Column B that has the same meaning.

Column A         Column B

___ 	1.	Casa          A.	Aunt

___	2.	Bebé         B.	Baby

___	3.	Gata         C.	Brother

___	4.	Perro        D.	Cat

___	5.	Hermano      E. 	Dog

F. 	Father

G. 	House

While matching items may seem easy to devise, it is actually hard to create homogenous lists--lists in which all items are truly comparable. Other problems with matching items and suggested remedies are in Table 10-3. Multiple-choice items are the most commonly used type of objective test items because they have a number of advantages over other objective test items. Most importantly, they can be adapted to assess "higher" levels of thinking such as application, and not simply to "lower" levels such as factual knowledge. The first example below assesses knowledge of a specific fact, whereas the second example assesses application of knowledge.

 * Who is best known for their work on the development of the morality of justice?
 * a)	Erikson
 * b)	Vygotsky
 * c)	Maslow
 * d)	Kohlberg

 * Which one of the following best illustrates the law of diminishing returns?
 * a)	A factory doubled its labor force and increased production by 50%
 * b)	The demand for an electronic product increased faster than the supply of the product
 * c)	The population of a country increased faster than agricultural self sufficiency
 * d)	A machine decreased in efficacy as its parts became worn out

There are several other advantages of multiple choice items.
 * Students have to recognize the correct answer not just know the incorrect answer as they do in true/false items.
 * The opportunity for guessing is reduced because four or five alternatives are usually provided whereas in true/false items students only have to choose between two choices.
 * Multiple choice items do not need homogeneous material as matching items do.

But creating good multiple choice test items is difficult and students (maybe including you) often become frustrated when taking a test with poor multiple choice items. Three steps have to be considered when constructing a multiple choice item: formulating a clearly stated problem, identifying plausible alternatives, and removing irrelevant clues to the answer. Common challenged faced in each of these steps are summarized in Table 10-3.

(back to Chapter 10...)


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Talk:Contemporary Educational Psychology/Chapter 10: Teacher-made Assessment Strategies/Selected Response Items

This page NEEDS TABLE(S) to handle the examples of test items that are cited. Perhaps it also needs a few appropriate references of source-citations, although this material is generally accepted as well-established ideas in ed psych circles and in assessment circles. 130.179.184.28 20:56, 29 August 2007 (UTC)


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User talk:80.42.81.153

Talk:Wikijunior
Urbane  (Talk)   (Contributions)  21:18, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:80.42.81.153


text:
Contemporary Educational Psychology/Chapter 10: Teacher-made Assessment Strategies/Constructed Response Items

Formal assessments sometimes also include constructed response items, in which students are asked to recall information and create an answer, not just recognize if the answer is correct. Constructed response items can be used to assess a wide variety of kinds of knowledge, but here we discuss just two major kinds: completion (or short answer or short response) and extended response.

Completion and Short Answer
Completion and short answer items ones that can be answered in a word, phrase, number, or symbol. These items essentially vary only in whether a problem is presented as a statement or a question. For example:
 * Completion: The first traffic light in the US was invented by…………….
 * Short Answer: Who invented the first traffic light in the U.S.?

Completion or short answer items are often used in mathematics tests. For example:
 * 3 + 10 = …………..?
 * If x = 6, what does  x(x-1) =……….
 * Draw the line of symmetry on the following shape...

A major advantage of such items is they that they are easy to construct. However, apart from their use in mathematics they are unsuitable for measuring complex learning outcomes and are often difficult to score. Completion and short answer tests are sometimes called objective, because they are intended to have only one correct answer and thereby reduce variability in scoring. Unless the question is phrased very carefully, however, there is often a variety of correct answers. For example, consider this item:
 * Where was President Lincoln born?....................

The teacher may expect the answer “In a log cabin,” but other correct answers are also “on Sinking Spring Farm,” “in Hardin County” or in “Kentucky.” Common errors in these items are summarized in Table 10 – 4.

Extended Response
Extended response items are used in many content areas and answers may vary in length from a paragraph to several pages. Questions that require longer responses are often called essay questions. Extended response items have several advantages, the most important of which is their adaptability for measuring complex learning outcomes. Because the items also require students to write, they also therefore give teachers a way to assess writing skills. A commonly cited advantage to these items is their ease in construction; however, carefully worded items that are related to learning outcomes and assess complex learning are hard to devise. Well-constructed items phrase the question so the task of the student is clear. Often this involves providing hints or planning notes. In the first example below the actual question is clear not only because of the wording but because of the format (i.e., it is placed in a box). In the second and third examples planning notes are provided:

 * ''Example 1: Grade 3 Mathematics
 * The owner of a bookstore gave 14 books to the school. The principal will give an equal number of books to each of three classrooms and the remaining books to the school library. How many books are left?''

 * Show all your work on the space below and on the next page. Explain in words how you found the answer. Tell why you took the steps you did to solve the problem.

 * Example 2:  5th grade science: The Grass is Always Greener
 * Jose and Maria noticed three different types of soil, black soil, sand, and clay, were found in their neighborhood. They decided to investigate the question, “How does the type of soil (black soil, sand, and clay) under grass sod affect the height of grass?”

 * Plan an investigation that could answer their new question. In your plan, be sure to include:
 * Prediction of the outcome of the investigation
 * Materials needed to do the investigation
 * Procedure that includes:
 * logical steps to do the investigation
 * one variable kept the same (controlled)
 * one variable changed (manipulated)
 * any variables being measure and recorded
 * how often measurements are taken and recorded

 * Example 3: Grades 9-11 English: Writing Prompt

 * Some people think that schools should teach students how to cook. Other people think that cooking is something that ought to be taught in the home. What do you think? Explain why you think as you do.
 * Planning notes: Chose One:
 * I think schools should teach students how to cook
 * I think cooking should l be taught in the home
 * I think cooking should be taught in ……………………………..because………

A major disadvantage of extended response items is the difficulty in reliable scoring. Not only do various teachers score the same response differently but also the same teacher may score the identical response differently on various occasions. A variety of steps can be taken to improve the reliability and validity of scoring:
 * 1) Teachers should begin by writing an outline of a model answer. This helps make it clear what students are expected to include.
 * 2) A sample of the answers should be read. This assists in determining what the students can do and if there are any common misconceptions arising from the question.
 * 3) Teachers have to decide what to do about irrelevant information that is included (e.g., is it ignored or are students penalized) and how to evaluate mechanical errors such as grammar and spelling.
 * 4) A point scoring or a scoring rubric should be used. In point scoring components of the answer are assigned points. For example, if students were asked:

 * What are the nature, symptoms, and risk factors of hyperthermia?
 * Point Scoring Guide:
 * Definition (natures) 			2 pts
 * Symptoms (1 pt for each) 		5 pts
 * Risk Factors (1 point for each)	5 pts
 * Writing 				3 pts

This system provides some guidance for evaluation and helps consistency but point scoring systems often lead the teacher to focus on facts (e.g., naming risk factors) rather than higher level thinking that may undermine the validity of the assessment if the teachers’ purposes include higher level thinking. A better approach is to use a scoring rubric that describes the quality of the answer or performance at each level.

Scoring Rubrics
Scoring rubrics can be holistic or analytical. In holistic scoring rubrics, general descriptions of performance are made and a single overall score is obtained. An example from grade 2 Language Arts in Los Angeles Unified School District classifies responses into four levels: not proficient, partially proficient, proficient and advanced (see Table 10–5).

Analytical rubrics provide descriptions of levels of student performance on a variety of characteristics. For example, six characteristics used for assessing writing developed by the NorthWest Regional Education Laboratory (NWREL) are: Holistic rubrics have the advantages that they can be developed more quickly than analytical rubrics. They are also faster to use as there is only one dimension to examine. However, they do not provide students feedback about which aspects of the response are strong and which aspects need improvement. This means they are less useful for assessment for learning. An important use of rubrics is to use them as teaching tools and provide them to students before the assessment so they know what knowledge and skills are expected.
 * Ideas and Content
 * Organization
 * Voice
 * Word Choice
 * Sentence Fluency
 * Conventions

Teachers can use scoring rubrics as part of instruction by giving students the rubric during instruction, providing several responses, and analyzing these responses in terms of the rubric. For example, use of accurate terminology is one dimension of the science rubric in Table 10-6. An elementary science teacher could discuss why it is important for scientists to use accurate terminology, give examples of inaccurate and accurate terminology, provide that component of the scoring rubric to students, distribute some examples of student responses (maybe from former students), and then discuss how these responses would be classified according to the rubric. This strategy of assessment for learning should be more effective if the teacher
 * 1) emphasizes to students why using accurate terminology is important when learning science rather than how to get a good grade on the test (we provide more details about this in the section on motivation later in this chapter);
 * 2) provides an exemplary response so students can see a model; and
 * 3) emphasizes that the goal is student improvement on this skill not ranking students.

(back to Chapter 10...)


text:
Talk:Contemporary Educational Psychology/Chapter 10: Teacher-made Assessment Strategies/Constructed Response Items

The anonymous IP address recorded in the editing history for this page was me. KelvinLeeSeifert 21:27, 29 August 2007 (UTC)