Project Publications

• Ranney, M., Rinne, L., Yarnall, L., Munnich, E., Miratrix, L., & Schank, P. (2008). Designing and assessing numeracy training for journalists: Toward improving quantitative reasoning among media consumers. Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of the Learning Sciences. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Munnich, E.L., Ranney, M.A., & Song, M. (2007). Surprise, surprise: The role of surprising numerical feedback in belief change. In D. McNamara & G. Trafton (Eds.) Proceedings of the Twenty-ninth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 503-508). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Rinne, L.F., Ranney, M.A., & Lurie, N.H. (2006). Estimation as a catalyst for numeracy: Micro-interventions that increase the use of numerical information in decision-making. In S. Barab, K. Hay, & D. Hickey (Eds.). Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp. 571-577). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Munnich, E., Ranney, M., & Bachman, M. L. N. (2005). The longevities of policy-shifts and memories due to single feedback numbers. In B.G. Bara, L. Barsalou, & M. Bucciarelli (Eds.) Proceedings of the Twenty-seventh Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1553-1558). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Garcia de Osuna, J., Ranney, M., & Nelson, J. (2004). Qualitative and quantitative effects of surprise: (Mis)estimates, rationales, and feedback-induced preference changes while considering abortion. In K. Forbus, D. Gentner, & T. Regier (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 422-427). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Garcia de Osuna, J., Ranney, M., Nelson, J., & Germine, L. (2004). Numerically Driven Inferencing about abortion: Estimation and rate feedbackÕs diverse effects on personal policies and justifications. In Y.B. Kafai, N. Enyedy, & W. Sandoval (Eds), Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the Learning Sciences, 600. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Munnich, E., Ranney, M., & Appel, D. (2004). Numerically-Driven Inferencing in instruction: The relatively broad transfer of estimation skills. In K. Forbus, D. Gentner, & T. Regier (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 987-992). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Munnich, E., Ranney, M., Nelson, J., Garcia de Osuna, J., & Brazil, N. (2003). Policy shift through Numerically-Driven Inferencing: An EPIC experiment about when base rates matter. In R. Alterman & D. Kirsh (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 834-839). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Related Publications

• Adams, S. (2003). Investigation of the "Convince Me" computer environment as a tool for critical argumentation about public policy issues. Journal of Interactive Learning Reseach 14(3), 263-283.
• Siegel, M., & Ranney, M. (2003). Developing the Changes in Attitude about the Relevance of Science (CARS) questionnaire and assessing two high school science classes. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40(8), 757-775.
• Diehl, C., Ranney, M., & Schank, P. (2001). Model-based feedback supports reflective activity in collaborative argumentation. In P. Dillenbourg, A. Eurelings, & K. Hakkarainen (Eds.), European perspectives on computer-supported collaborative learning (pp. 189-196) [Proceedings of the First European Conference on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning], Netherlands: Universiteit Maastricht.
• Diehl, C. (2001). Computers and students as instructional partners: The role of simulation feedback in collaborative argumentation. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 2001). Dissertation Abstracts International. [Won the 2001 Outstanding Dissertation Award from UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education.]
• Siegel, M. (1999). Teaching science for public understanding: Developing decision-making abilities. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1999). Dissertation Abstracts International.
• Adams, S. (1998). What is "good reasoning" about global warming? A comparison of high school students and specialists. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1998). Dissertation Abstracts International.
• Ranney, M. & Schank, P. (1998). Toward an integration of the social and the scientific: Observing, modeling, and promoting the explanatory coherence of reasoning. In S. Read and L. Miller (Eds.), Connectionist models of social reasoning and social behavior (pp. 245-274). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Weidner, J., Ranney, M., & Steinbach, A. (1998). Using Convince Me to assess medical reasoning skills (and vice versa). Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS 98; pp. 284-290). Charlottesville, VA: AACE.
• Ranney, M. (1996). Individual-centered vs. model-centered approaches to consistency: A dimension for considering human rationality. Vivek, A Quarterly in Artificial Intelligence, 9 (2), 35-43.
• Diehl, C., Ranney, M., & Schank, P. (1995). Multiple representations for improving scientific thinking. Report No. TP-024-671, ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 392 842; pp. 1-36.
• Schank, P. (1995). Computational tools for modeling and aiding reasoning: Assessing and applying the Theory of Explanatory Coherence. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1995). Dissertation Abstracts International. [Won the 1995 Outstanding Dissertation Award from UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education.]
• Schank, P, & Ranney, M. (1995). Improved reasoning with Convince Me. Human Factors in Computing Systems CHI '95 Conference Companion, 276-277. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery.
• Ranney, M., & Schank, P. (1995). Protocol modeling, bifurcation/bootstrapping, and Convince Me: Computer-based methods for studying beliefs and their revision. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers, 27, 239-243.
• Ranney, M., Schank, P., & Diehl, C. (1995). Competence Versus Performance in Critical Reasoning: Reducing the Gap by Using Convince Me. Psychology Teaching Review, 4, 2, 151-164.
• Schank, P., Ranney, M., & Hoadley, C. (1994, 1995, in press). Convince Me [Computer program and manual]. In J.R. Jungck, N. Peterson, & J.N. Calley (Eds.), The BioQUEST Library. College Park, MD: Academic Software Development Group, University of Maryland.
• Hoadley, C., Ranney, M., & Schank, P. (1994). WanderECHO: A connectionist simulation of limited coherence. Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 421-426, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Ranney,M., Schank, P., & Diehl, C. (1994). Reducing the competence/performance gap with Convince Me, the reasoner's workbench. In A. Trapp & N. Hammond (Eds.), Computers in Psychology Handbook, 54-56. York, England: CTI Centre For Psychology, University of York. [Also to appear in Psychology Software News.]
• Ranney, M., Schank, P., Hoadley, C., & Neff, J. (1994). "I know one when I see one": How (much) do hypotheses differ from evidence? In the Proceedings of the Fifth Annual American Society for Information Science Workshop on Classification Research , 139-156. [An updated version will appear in B.H. Kwasnik (Ed.) (in press), Advances in classification research (ASIS Monograph Series), Medford, NJ: Learned Information]
• Schank, P., Ranney, M., Hoadley, C., Diehl, C., & Neff, J. (1994). A reasoner's workbench for improving scientific thinking: Assessing Convince Me. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Mathematics/Science Education and Technology. Charlottesville, VA: AACE.
• Ranney, M., Schank, P., Mosmann, A., & Montoya, G. (1993). Dynamic explanatory coherence with competing beliefs: Locally coherent reasoning and a proposed treatment. In T.-W. Chan (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Computers in Education: Applications of Intelligent Computer Technologies (pp. 101-106).
• Schank, P. & Ranney, M. (1993). Can reasoning be taught? Educator, 7 (1), 16-21. [Special issue on Cognitive Science and Education].
• Schank, P., and Ranney, M. (1992). Assessing explanatory coherence: A new method for integrating verbal data with models of on-line belief revision. Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 599-604. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. [David Marr Memorial Prize was awarded to the first author for this article.]
• Schank, P., and Ranney, M. (1991). The psychological fidelity of ECHO: Modeling an experimental study of explanatory coherence. Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 892-897. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Ranney, M., & Thagard, P. (1988). Explanatory coherence and belief revision in naive physics. Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 426-432). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. (Also appears as Report No. SE-050-095, ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 301 407; pp. 1-15.)

Project Presentations

• Ranney, M.A., Rinne, L., Yarnall, L., Johnson, T., Schank, P. (2007, September). A Way to Boost Reasoning Skills for All? The "Numbers, News, and Evidence" Numeracy Module for Journalists. Invited talk at the School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
• Ranney, M.A., Rinne, L., Crain, M. Miratrix, L., & Galpern, A. (2007, March). Designing and Analyzing the "Numbers, News, and Evidence" Journalism Curriculum. Paper presented at the GSE Research Day, Berkeley, CA.
• Ranney, M.A., Rinne, L., Munnich, E., Yarnall, L., Johnson, T., & Schank, P. (2007, February). The "Numbers, News, and Evidence Journalism Curriculum: Might It Boost EveryoneÕs Reasoning?". Invited talk at the Learning and Teaching Workshop, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.