Most current statistics courses include some instruction relevant to causal inference. Whether this instruction is incorporated as material on randomized experiments or as an interpretation of associations measured by correlation or regression coefficients, the way in which this material is presented may have important implications for…

David Stephens, a 4th grade teacher in Washington State, was preparing a lesson plan about desert wildlife (all names are pseudonyms). He was planning on assigning his students the chapter book, "Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus." The students had divergent knowledge about the topic. For example, Maryam had grown up in…

Understanding fraction magnitudes is foundational for later math achievement. To represent a fraction "x/y," children are often taught to use "partitioning": break the whole into "y" parts, and shade in "x" parts. Past research has shown that partitioning on number lines supports children's fraction…

Analogies between old and new concepts are common during classroom instruction. Previous transfer studies focused on how features of initial learning guide later, spontaneous transfer to new problem solving. We argue for a shift in the focus of analogical-transfer research toward understanding how to best support analogical transfer from previous…

Most educators think of professional development (PD) as a way to influence the uptake of evidence- based practices. However, PD can also play an important role in sustaining the practices over time--a critical ingredient for improving outcomes for all students. A number of studies have identified key features of PD that support both the long-term…

We investigated the effects of proximal grouping of numbers, problem-solving goals to make 100, and prior knowledge on students' solution strategies in an online mathematics game. Logistic regression on 857 problem-level data points from 227 middle-school students showed that students were more likely to use productive solution strategies on…

Instruction in most STEM domains uses visuals to illustrate complex problems. During problem solving, students often manipulate and construct visuals. Traditionally, students draw visuals on paper and receive delayed feedback from an instructor. Educational technologies have the advantage that they can provide immediate feedback on students'…

Past research has suggested that there may be benefits in learning from expository science text when students study with the expectation that they will need to teach another student. The present experiments were designed to extend prior work by testing if an effect would be seen on both immediate tests (similar to those used in most prior studies)…

Understanding equivalence is fundamental to STEM disciplines, yet misunderstandings and misconceptions inhibit students from fully appreciating or leveraging the concept. Using the game-based algebraic notation system, From Here to There! (FH2T), students explore ideas of equivalence by dynamically transforming expressions or equations among…

We present an embodied theory of transfer as applied to mathematical ideas. Project-based learning (PBL) offers important sites for investigating transfer because students and teachers must track mathematical invariant relations that are embedded in complex settings where knowledge and information is distributed and extended across various…

Prior research shows that self-explanation promotes understanding by helping learners connect new knowledge with prior knowledge. However, despite ample evidence supporting the effectiveness of self-explanation, an instructional design challenge emerges in how best to scaffold self-explanation. In particular, it is an open challenge to design…

Previous research has shown that providing video recommendations to students in virtual learning environments implemented at scale positively affects student achievement. However, it is also critical to evaluate whether the treatment effects are heterogeneous, and whether they depend on contextual variables such as disadvantaged student status and…

Many studies investigating inquiry learning in science domains have appeared over the years. Throughout this period, inquiry learning has been regularly criticized by scholars who favor direct instruction over inquiry learning. In this vein, Zhang, Kirschner, Cobern, and Sweller (2022) recently asserted that direct instruction is overall superior…

Many studies have shown that visual representations can enhance student understanding of STEM concepts. However, prior research suggests that visual representations alone are not necessarily effective across a broad range of students. To address this problem, we created a novel, scaffolded form of diagrammatic self-explanation in which students…

Students' success in undergraduate STEM courses requires effective studying behavior, but also the motivation to enact it. Promoting students' achievement in STEM has commonly focused on either study strategies (cognitive) or motivational interventions; we hypothesized that combinations of these would be more effective. Using a Learning Management…