When learning new information, should students focus on studying 1 concept at a time or should they alternate studying between different concepts? Recent research shows that students should mix up or interleave the study of different concepts, particularly when the concepts are related or hard to discriminate (Carvalho & Goldstone, 2015). But…

Science students frequently struggle to apply crosscutting concepts such as scale or rates of change, and do not always effectively differentiate between linear and nonlinear processes. We approach this challenge from an embodied cognition perspective, which suggests learning can be facilitated by engaging students in physical activities that are…

In spite of its potential for learning, and in particular knowledge revision, argumentation on science concepts is neither easily elicited nor easily sustained. Students may feel uneasy critiquing and being critiqued, especially on complex science topics. We report on a controlled study that tested the role of 2 potential factors that may either…

A promising instructional approach corresponds to" learning by observing others learn" (i.e., by watching tutorial dialogue between a tutor and tutee). However, more work is needed to understand this approach's pedagogical utility. Thus, in 2 experiments we compared student learning from collaborative observation of dialogue with 2 other…