In the context of instructional design and self-regulated learning research, the notion of mental effort allocation, monitoring, and control has gained increasing attention. Bringing together a cognitive perspective, focusing on Cognitive Load Theory, and a motivational perspective, merging central accounts from Situated Expectancy Value Theory…

The notion of "Micro-Learning" (ML) has been repeatedly accented as a successful learning approach in different learning phenomena. Despite these optimistic emphases, several studies lack a theoretical grounding in adoption of ML, thus missing a shared perspective of the education community. The scarce theoretical justification for…

We propose the self-regulation view in writing-to-learn as a promising theoretical perspective that draws on models of self-regulated learning theory and cognitive load theory. According to this theoretical perspective, writing has the potential to scaffold self-regulated learning due to the cognitive offloading written text generally offers as an…

It's all too easy for teachers to focus on building students' knowledge and skills without paying attention to the mental habits that students need to be effective learners. Guy Claxton discusses the need for teachers to design their instruction in a way that promotes resilience, curiosity, independence, and a positive disposition toward learning.

Transfer of knowledge from one context to another is one of the paramount goals of education. Educators want their students to transfer what they are learning from one topic to the next, between courses, and into the "real world." However, it is also notoriously difficult to get students to successfully transfer concepts. This issue is…

Instructional tasks and assignments can often generate severe and high rates of problem behaviors for some students in special and general education. These daily instructional assignments or tasks often pose an aversive condition, thus favoring behaviors that effectively escape such a condition as functional. The author asks the rhetorical…

This article examines different approaches to motivation and effective motivational strategies to engage students to learn. It discusses major perspectives on motivation and classroom applications. It analyses the teacher's role in creating motivational atmosphere. It suggests various motivational strategies for creating effective learning…

Aging professionals have not always effectively communicated about aging to the general public (Feather, 2015). Due at least in part to this, the public often holds inaccurate, ageist beliefs about older adults and aging services/gerontology has been difficult to promote as a desirable career option (Feather, 2015). The authors address this…

We synthesize ideas from the foregoing articles in this special issue and from the broader literature on transfer to explore several themes. In many ordinary life circumstances, transfer proceeds easily, but formal learning often shows much less transfer than educators would like, making failure to transfer a focus of investigation. Transfer, like…

Research on memory functions and their applications is a vast field that has unfolded for decades; some important studies are sixty years old. However, the research has remained a well-kept secret of cognitive psychologists. Education faculties rarely teach memory specifics, so people working in education typically do not know about the above…

Competency education is attracting significant interest as a promising way to help meet our national priority of ensuring that all young people are ready for college and careers. In competency-based schools, students advance at different rates, based on their ability to demonstrate mastery of learning objectives. Teachers provide customized…

This paper focuses on the premise that within the instruction process of higher education, the classroom context needs to create an atmosphere of motivational learning that is founded in part on a relationship between the students and professor that is formatted on the concept of mutual sharing of personal experiences, values, beliefs, and…

Animations have become a ubiquitous component of computer-based instruction. Despite their widespread use, however, the evidence concerning their effects on learning is rather ambiguous, suggesting that one needs to have a closer look at the conditions under which animations will aid learning. Accordingly, three sets of moderating variables were…

Schools are a central interface between evolution and culture. They are the contexts in which children learn the evolutionarily novel abilities and knowledge needed to function as adults in modern societies. Evolutionary educational psychology is the study of how an evolved bias in children's learning and motivational systems influences their…

Discusses the problems of the adult second language learner. The decline in interest among adolescents in language learning is reflected by the number of adult language learners. Problems ensue, however, from the unique classroom situation, which is not conducive to the development of communicative competence. (PJM)