Researchers have identified patterns of intuitive thinking that are commonly used to understand and reason about the biological world. These "cognitive construals" (anthropic, teleological, and essentialist thinking), while useful in everyday life, have also been associated with misconceptions about biological science. Although…

Executing actions in a specific order is a critical component of many action sequences that children must acquire, the majority of which are learned through observation and imitation of others. Although a wealth of evidence indicates that children can process and represent temporal order in memory, relatively little is known about the development…

Massive open online courses are one of the most prominent trends in higher education in recent years. Instructional videos play a significant role in the massive open online courses platform. This study tested the impact of sending danmaku related to video content versus sending danmaku not related to video content versus not sending danmaku in…

A promising method to support game-based learning is to facilitate learners' externalization of cognitive and metacognitive processes. Externalizing Problem Representation (EPR) refers to a cognitive behaviour in which a learner constructs her own representations overtly. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether learning supports…

The segmenting effect states that people learn better when multimedia instructions are presented in (meaningful and coherent) learner-paced segments, rather than as continuous units. This meta-analysis contains 56 investigations including 88 pairwise comparisons and reveals a significant segmenting effect with small to medium effects for retention…

Adaptability refers to an individual's cognitive, behavioural, and emotional adjustment in the face of novel, changing, or uncertain situations. A growing literature has demonstrated the influence of adaptability on students' academic outcomes at primary, secondary level, and more recently, tertiary levels; however, its influence on students'…

Identifying characteristics of individuals who will be negatively impacted by interactive learning environments (ILE) was explored in a field study conducted among learners whose high-stakes performance depended upon grasping training scenarios quickly. Gauging the appropriateness of computer-based simulations for individuals became a pedagogical…

Adolescence is a period of rapid cognitive change, including an initial increase in speed of cognitive processing and a more gradual increase in efficiency of cognitive processing. This study examined how neurophysiological changes associated with adolescent development can inform the design of game-based executive function (EF) training. Two…

Computer-assisted concept map building from provided pieces by using Kit-build is an activity which can promote comprehension and retention. However, users are burdened with searching for pieces and organizing the layout, which are believed to increase the overall cognitive load of the activity. In this paper, we describe the Airmap interface,…

The main aim of the present investigation was to examine conditional reasoning skills in college students whose educational past had emphasized verbatim learning. A successive independent-samples design was utilized to explore the effects of instruction that explicitly targeted critical thinking principles in either freshman students or…

This exploratory study shows that the contributions of cognitive, metacognitive awareness, performance avoidance, test anxiety, and socioeconomic family background factors to SAT scores (i.e., overall SAT, SAT-V, SAT-M) may vary as a function of ethnicity (i.e., European-American, Hispanic). Four hundred and fifty-seven students, 282…

The overarching theme of this book can be simply stated: Building on a foundation of biologically based abilities, children construct number via sensorimotor and mental activity. In this chapter, we return to this theme, and we connect it to three additional themes that emerge across chapters: comparing competing models for conceptual change;…

Students become attentive, curious, and passionate about learning when they can see its relevance to their lives and when they're empowered to use that learning to solve problems that matter. Regardless of the subject or grade level you teach, you can infuse your instruction with the meaning students crave by implementing design thinking. Design…

Acquiring and retaining vocabulary knowledge are two of the most important aspects of second language (L2) learning. Some scholars (e.g. Hedrick, Harmom, & Linerode, 2004; Nation, 1999; Stone & Urquhart, 2008) advocate that we should re-think and explore in depth the importance of vocabulary. According to Wilkins (1972), "while…

The present study investigated the relationship between two major components of executive functioning (EF) and externalizing behavior problems (EBP) during the early elementary years. More specifically, Working Memory (WM) and Cognitive Flexibility (CF) measured in kindergarten through second grade were used to predict teacher ratings of EBP in…