Hampshire College

About: Hampshire College is a education organization based out in Amherst Center, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Genetic programming & Population. The organization has 461 authors who have published 998 publications receiving 40827 citations.

Early developments in children's use of counting to solve quantitative problems.

Abstract: Two studies evaluated preschool children's use of counting to solve different kinds of quantitative problems. Three uses of counting were considered: (a) counting to quantify a single set, (b) counting to compare two sets, and (c) counting to generate a set of a specified numerosity. In Experiment 1, 3- and 3 1/2 year-olds tended not to count spontaneously when asked to compare two sets, even when they were able to count fairly well. In Experiment 2, 3 1/2 year-olds again tended not to count spontaneously on compare-sets and generate-set problems, although they did count readily on quantify-set problems; and the use of counting on the compare-sets and generate-set problems increased markedly between 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 years. These early developments may be important educationally because counting plays a major role in arithmetic learning.

Assessing Intellectual Development: Three Approaches, One Sequence

Abstract: In this paper, I compare three developmental assessment systems, employed to score a set of 152 interviews of engineering students: the Perry Scoring System (W. G. Perry, 1970), the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System (T. L. Dawson, 2004, 1/31/03), and the Lexical Abstraction Assessment System (LAAS; T. L. Dawson & M. Wilson, in press). Overall, the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System and Perry Scoring System agree with one another within the parameters of interrater agreement commonly reported for either one of the systems, and the Perry system and the LAAS agree with one another about as well as the LAAS and the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System, upon which the LAAS is based.

Cultural transmission of information in genetic programming

Abstract: This paper shows how the performance of a genetic programming system can be improved through the addition of mechanisms for nongenetic transmission of information between individuals (culture). Teller has previously shown how genetic programming systems can be enhanced through the addition of memory mechanisms for individual programs [Teller 1994]; in this paper we show how Teller's memory mechanism can be changed to allow for communication between individuals within and across generations. We show the effects of indexed memory and culture on the performance of a genetic programming system on a symbolic regression problem, on Koza's Lawnmower problem, and on Wumpus world agent problems. We show that culture can reduce the computational effort required to solve all of these problems. We conclude with a discussion of possible improvements to the technique.