Although the focus in the early grades is often on teaching young children how to read, the ultimate goal of reading is to understand the text--whether to learn new information or simply enjoy a story. Building the groundwork needed for this understanding starts right from the beginning of life--and it's essential from the beginning of school.…

Theoretical approaches within the cognitive-interactionist framework (Long, 2015) have identified various aspects of L2 input and characteristics of instruction that predict learners' L2 outcomes. Such strategies of L2 teaching relate to shaping characteristics of communicative activities in which the L2 is embedded and modifying L2 input, L2…

We present a question bank consisting of over 250 multiple-choice and true--false questions covering a broad range of material typically taught in an introductory undergraduate course in numerical analysis or computational science. The questions are ideal for polling students during lectures by means of a student response system that uses…

How can we make sense of what we learned today?" This is a question the author commonly poses to her algebra students in an effort to have them think about the connections between the new concept they are learning and concepts they have previously learned. For students who have a strong, expansive understanding of previously learned topics,…

This article describes a process called "Backing Up" which is a way to preassess student understanding of a topic and gauge student readiness to move forward in the learning process. This process of backing up begins with using responses to a word problem to identify categories of students' understandings in relation to the expectations…

Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) is different from the objectives that many teachers have previously experienced in their state frameworks. Although the mathematical topics of the two may be the same, the mathematical expectations within the Standards require a deeper understanding by teachers and students. In this article, the…

Computer analyses of text characteristics are often used by reading teachers, researchers, and policy makers when selecting texts for students. The authors of this article identify components of language, discourse, and cognition that underlie traditional automated metrics of text difficulty and their new Coh-Metrix system. Coh-Metrix analyzes…

This article presents 10 research-based principles of instruction, along with suggestions for classroom practice. The principles come from (a) research in cognitive science, (b) research on master teachers, and (c) research on cognitive supports. The instructional principles are: (1) Begin a lesson with a short review of previous learning to…

Research has shown that the use of pre-reading activities, such as graphic or advance organizers can positively affect student acquisition of vocabulary and meaning when reading new concepts presented in text. One particularly effective strategy, semantic mapping, can significantly impact students who previously had a lack of prior knowledge on…

Too often, the experiences that middle school students have in math do not connect to what they experience in elementary school. Although middle school teachers often have a sense of the content that students have learned in elementary school, the school structure and other factors can inhibit communication between elementary school and middle…

When children start school, they bring with them a variety of background skills and informal knowledge that can enrich their learning of new concepts and ideas. A major tenet of many learning theories is that the more children are able to connect a new concept with their existing knowledge and understandings, the more they feel confident and able…

Teacher read-alouds are planned oral readings of children's books. They are a vital part of literacy instruction in primary classrooms. Teachers can use read-alouds to develop children's background knowledge, stimulate their interest in high-quality literature, increase their comprehension skills, and foster critical thinking. While reading,…

This article provides support to college science instructors who wish to implement new strategies to probe student understanding, not to prescribe a single best way to conduct a college science course.

In most teacher education courses, instructional strategies are merely listed and explained. Students rarely have the opportunity to see these strategies in use until they become student teachers. What better way to teach secondary instructional strategies to pre-service teachers than by modeling these strategies using teacher education content?…

Plausibility has been implicated as playing a critical role in many cognitive phenomena from comprehension to problem solving. Yet, across cognitive science, plausibility is usually treated as an operationalized variable or metric rather than being explained or studied in itself. This article describes a new cognitive model of plausibility, the…