Today's scientific texts are complex and multimodal. Due to new technology, the number of images is increasing, as is their diversity and complexity. Interaction with complex texts and visualizations becomes a challenge. How can we help readers and learners achieve multimodal literacy? We use data from the audio description of a popular scientific…

A growing body of research has examined the experiential grounding of scientific thought and the role of experiential intuitive knowledge in science learning. Meanwhile, research in cognitive linguistics has identified many "conceptual metaphors" (CMs), metaphorical mappings between abstract concepts and experiential source domains,…

This study explored whether adding a haptic interface (that provides users with somatosensory information about virtual objects by force and tactile feedback) to a three-dimensional (3D) chemical model enhanced students' understanding of complex molecular interactions. Two modes of the model were compared in a between-groups pre- and posttest…

Drawings are often used to obtain an idea of children's conceptions. Doing so takes for granted an unambiguous relation between conceptions and their representations in drawings. This study was undertaken to gain knowledge of the relation between children's conceptions and their representation of these conceptions in drawings. A theory of…

Visual representations play an important role in science teaching. The way in which visual representations may help children to acquire scientific concepts is a crucial test in the debate between constructivist and socio-cultural oriented researchers. In this paper, the question is addressed as a problem of how to contextualize conceptions and…

This study of 60 Swedish university students examined whether or not acute alcohol intoxication inhibits or facilitates the incubation phase of the creative process. Results found that the participants in the alcohol group produced significantly more incubations in their diaries and significantly higher levels of originality. (Author/CR)

Two kinds of research groups have evolved in higher education: one devoted to student learning and the other to teacher training. Both groups share a common interest in the development of student thinking and appear to be proceeding along parallel paths, which may be to their disadvantage. At the same time, some researchers in teacher training are…

A study was conducted to describe conceptions of the usefulness of reading (the function or "why" of reading) and conceptions of the reading process (the form or "how" of reading) among preschool and first grade children in Sweden. The research paradigm used--based on the work of Vygotsky and Piaget--was called the "second…

The development of psychological methods for assessing the abilities of deaf students could aid in the formation of educational programs and the provision of vocational guidance. A battery of tests designed to measure a wide range of functions was administered to all eighth grade students, average age 15, in schools for the deaf in Sweden. All…