214 research outputs found
How demanding is the revealed preference approach to demand
A well known problem with revealed preference methods is that when data are found to satisfy their restrictions it is hard to know whether this should be viewed as a triumph for economic theory, or a warning that these conditions are so undemanding that almost anything goes. This paper allows researchers to make this distinction. Our approach builds on theoretical support in the form of an axiomatic cardinal characterisation of a measure of predictive success due to Selten(1991). We illustrate the idea using a large, nationally representative panel survey of Spanish consumers with broad commodity coverage. The results show that this approach to revealed preference methods can lead us radically to reassess our view of the empirical performance of economic theory.
Probing physics students' conceptual knowledge structures through term association
Traditional tests are not effective tools for diagnosing the content and
structure of students' knowledge of physics. As a possible alternative, a set
of term-association tasks (the "ConMap" tasks) was developed to probe the
interconnections within students' store of conceptual knowledge. The tasks have
students respond spontaneously to a term or problem or topic area with a
sequence of associated terms; the response terms and timeof- entry data are
captured. The tasks were tried on introductory physics students, and
preliminary investigations show that the tasks are capable of eliciting
information about the stucture of their knowledge. Specifically, data gathered
through the tasks is similar to that produced by a hand-drawn concept map task,
has measures that correlate with inclass exam performance, and is sensitive to
learning produced by topic coverage in class. Although the results are
preliminary and only suggestive, the tasks warrant further study as
student-knowledge assessment instruments and sources of experimental data for
cognitive modeling efforts.Comment: 31 pages plus 2 tables and 8 figure
Pwning Level Bosses in MATLAB: Student Reactions to a Game-Inspired Computational Physics Course
We investigated student reactions to two computational physics courses
incorporating several videogame-like aspects. These included use of gaming
terminology such as "levels," "weapons," and "bosses"; a game-style point
system linked to course grades; a self-paced schedule with no deadlines; a
mastery design in which only entirely correct attempts earn credit, but
students can retry until they succeed; immediate feedback via self-test code;
an assignment progression from "minions" (small, focused tasks) to "level
bosses" (integrative tasks); and believable, authentic assignment scenarios.
Through semi-structured interviews and course evaluations, we found that a
majority of students considered the courses effective and the game-like aspects
beneficial. In particular, many claimed that the point system increased their
motivation; the self-paced nature caused them to reflect on their
self-discipline; the possibility and necessity of repeating assignments until
perfect aided learning; and the authentic tasks helped them envision using
course skills in their professional futures.Comment: Accepted for publication in the proceedings of the 2014 Physics
Education Research Conference (PERC
- …