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Evaluating Students’ Errors on Cognitive Tasks: Applications of Polytomous Item Response Theory and Log-Linear Modeling

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Cognitive Assessment

Part of the book series: Perspectives on Individual Differences ((PIDF))

Abstract

The adage, “We learn from our mistakes,” is a familiar one. Most of us recognize that some of our most meaningful learning experiences have come about as a result of saying or doing the wrong thing. The value of mistakes, however, is dependent upon our ability to recognize them as such and to gather information from them that points us in a more positive direction. The errors that students make in classrooms can also be instructive if we acknowledge that mistakes typically arise from thoughtful, albeit misguided or incomplete, processing and if there is a systematic way to identify these mistakes and to unlock the diagnostic information they hold (Alexander, 1989; Alexander, Pate, Kulikowich, Farrell, & Wright, 1989).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, 06269, USA

    Jonna M. Kulikowich

  2. Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, 77843, USA

    Patricia A. Alexander

Authors
  1. Jonna M. Kulikowich
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  2. Patricia A. Alexander
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

    Cecil R. Reynolds

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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Kulikowich, J.M., Alexander, P.A. (1994). Evaluating Students’ Errors on Cognitive Tasks: Applications of Polytomous Item Response Theory and Log-Linear Modeling. In: Reynolds, C.R. (eds) Cognitive Assessment. Perspectives on Individual Differences. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9730-5_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9730-5_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-9732-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-9730-5

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