Students often have misconceptions about learning gleaned from their experiences, the media, or even their parents and teachers. Unfortunately, students' misconceptions about learning are reinforced by traditional classroom instruction. Sometimes when students encounter more robust learning experiences in research-based classrooms, their…

Spaced practice is a recognized effective study approach that fosters mastery of learning and retention of information. In this paper, we share one instructor's experience in introducing a spaced practice intervention in a large general chemistry course and in encouraging students to continue the strategy in the next semester organic chemistry…

Care must be given to align curricular goal and instructional methods, materials, and assessments. Student effort, student interest in science and pupil perseverance are key factors that impact the learning process. Educators must be aware of the interactions among these critical concepts to assist students in attaining desired outcomes.

Systematic changes to higher education curriculum typically occur within the extended timeframes of formal curriculum review processes. Programmes need to be reviewed periodically for internal and external accountability or to determine whether the curriculum has lost its coherence due to the accumulative effect of continual small-scale changes.…

Digital systems and digital technologies are globally investigated for their potential to transform learning, teaching and assessment towards offering unique learning experiences to the twenty-first century learners. This Special Issue on "Digital systems supporting cognition and exploratory learning in twenty-first century" aims to…

Students' abilities to complete and learn from each learning task successfully depend on more than their content knowledge. Success depends on how well they can identify, select, evaluate, adjust, and implement appropriate strategies for applying what they know in tackling the task at hand. Their success is influenced by their perception of…

The handyman has a tool for everything, but the admissions dean is not so lucky: He must make do with just a few. Every year, presidents and professors expect freshmen who are curious, determined, and hungry for challenges. The traditional metrics of merit, however, can't reveal such qualities. Standardized-test scores may or may not predict a…

Learners who have struggled along the way can provide many lessons for everyone and for schools that are supposed to help all students learn. Based on interviews with hundreds of "great learners," the author identifies seven characteristics that describe what sets great learners apart from other learners. These are: (1) Great learners see learning…

American higher education is being asked to do more with less at a time when more students with different backgrounds, experiences, and expectations are seeking the support they need to improve their personal, professional, and civic lives. Learning communities (LCs) support the success of diverse learners, and learning community literature argues…

Although a basic premise of higher education is that students must take the primary responsibility for their own learning, problems arise when the focus throughout elementary and secondary schooling is on passive, rote learning with the student totally dependent on the teacher and text, as in Islamic schools. The educational shock experienced in…