Despite holding wide-ranging experiences with constant velocity and non-zero acceleration, students wrestling with physical science concepts struggle to demarcate the two distinct characteristics of motion. In fact, this prior experience and loose familiarity with associated terminology often act as an obstacle toward a deep and robust…

Teachers who are knowledgeable about the basic structure of the English language incorporate this knowledge into their instruction. In this study, the authors explored a similar relation between knowledge of print exposure and planning for a grade 5 classroom. The personal reading experience (print exposure) of 106 preservice teachers was measured…

Word learning can build the high-quality word representations that support skilled reading and language comprehension. According to the partial knowledge hypothesis, words that are partially known, a.k.a. "frontier words" (Durso & Shore, 1991), may be good targets for instruction precisely because they are already familiar. However,…

Work in category learning addresses how humans acquire knowledge and, thus, should inform classroom practices. In two experiments, we apply and evaluate intuitions garnered from laboratory-based research in category learning to learning tasks situated in an educational context. In Experiment 1, learning through predictive inference and…

In this study we investigated popularity and perceived non-cooperativeness in multiethnic elementary schools. A sample of 94 pupils aged 10-12 years, from five multiethnic elementary schools, were divided into 26 teams and participated in a structured cooperative learning (SCL) curriculum of 11 lessons. Neither teachers nor pupils had prior SCL…

Field-based learning experiences are often used to increase the effectiveness of science curricula. However, time and financial limitations in public schools often hinder a teacher's ability to bring their students into the field for learning, despite increased demands to incorporate more science content into their curricula. In addition, federal…