The purpose of the study was to update previous meta-analytic findings on the effectiveness of using similarities and differences as an instructional strategy. The strategy includes facilitating student comparison, classification, use of analogies, and use of metaphors. Previously, Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock reported a mean effect size of…

How do concrete objects that cue real-world knowledge affect students' performance on mathematics word problems? In Experiment 1, fourth- and sixth-grade students (N = 229) solved word problems involving money. Students in the experimental condition were given bills and coins to help them solve the problems, and students in the control condition…

It is often not apparent what people ought to do. Three experiments explored cues that children and adults may use to identify conventional obligations. Experiment 1 addressed the hypothesis that young children identify obligations with expected outcomes. Although preschool-aged (4-5 years) children often expected consistency, they and school-aged…

This study examines children's social responses to gender cues in synthesized speech in a computer-based instruction setting. Eighty 5th-grade elementary school children were randomly assigned to one of the conditions in a full-factorial 2 (participant gender) x 2 (voice gender) x 2 (content gender) experiment. Results show that children apply…