This article examines the complexity of the affordances that mobile technologies offer in the K-12 educational context. It builds on an ecological perspective (Mercer, 2012; van Lier, 2008) informed by theories of dynamic systems and complexity (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron, 2008) to explore the concept of affordance as a complex and dynamic…

With the advent of touch-screen interfaces on the tablet computer, multisensory elements in reading instruction have taken on a new dimension. This computer assisted language learning research aimed to determine whether specific technology features of a tablet computer can add to the functionality of multisensory instruction in early reading…

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of three remedial techniques to improve the spelling ability of students with learning disability. The three techniques, namely, TAK/v, visual orthographic method and listen, speak, read and write (LSRW) method were administered to three experimental groups, each having 13 students with…

Teaching students to use and interpret representations in science is critically important if they are to become scientifically literate and learn how to communicate their understandings and learning in science. This study involved 248 students (119 boys and 129 girls) from 26 grade 6 teachers' classes in nine primary schools in Brisbane,…

This study of 48 children with congenital blindness who attended mainstream schools focused on the tactile and haptic skills they needed in typical academic and everyday tasks. The results showed that, in general, the children mastered such tactile tasks, but some items posed special problems. (Contains 4 tables.)

Typical college classrooms consist of auditory lectures with very little variety. Frequently, with large quantities of difficult material such as literature and writing assignments, undergraduate students become anxious about maintaining their grades. This problem is more prevalent with first-year students, who are still adjusting to the college…

Two studies used a new paradigm to examine preschool children's (i.e., 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds) word learning across multiple sense modalities. In Study 1 (n = 60), children heard a word for an object that they touched but did not see, while word learning was examined using objects that were seen but not touched. In Study 2 (n = 60), children…

We investigated the role of visual experience on the spatial representation and updating of haptic scenes by comparing recognition performance across sighted, congenitally and late blind participants. We first established that spatial updating occurs in sighted individuals to haptic scenes of novel objects. All participants were required to…

The study of infant communication during mother-infant interactions has largely focused on infants' distal behaviours, while neglecting their more proximal behaviours, such as touch. Yet, touch is an important modality through which infants and mothers communicate; it is also a vital means through which infants self-regulate and explore their…

This article analyzes the attraction of stimulation produced by a visuotactile sensory substitution device, which was designed to provide optical information to infants who are blind via a tactile modality. The device was first tested on sighted infants, to demonstrate that this type of stimulation on the abdomen is pleasant and rewarding in…

The assimilation and synthesis of knowledge is essential for students to be successful in chemistry, yet not all students synthesize knowledge as intended. The study used the Learning Preference Checklist to classify students into one of three learning modalities--visual, auditory, or kinesthetic (VAK). It also used the Kolb Learning Style…

These proceedings contain the papers of the 14th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA 2017), 18-20 October 2017, which has been organized by the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) and endorsed by the Japanese Society for Information and Systems in…

Surveys research on the differences between haptic and visual learners and describes a haptic testing program to help industrial arts teachers work with haptic students. (SK)

As human beings, we can interact with our environment through the sense of touch, which helps us to build an understanding of objects and events. The implications of touch for cognition are recognized by many educators who advocate the use of "hands-on" instruction. But is it possible to know something more completely by touching it? Does touch…