This quantitative, correlational-predictive study applied standard multiple regression to determine if reflective-analytic cognitive style can predict media accuracy discernment in community college students recruited from two Pacific region colleges (N = 100). The Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT), and a Media…

This study examined online graduate students' perceived learning styles and perceptions of factors that influenced their overall academic achievement in online courses. The study explored relationships between the learning styles and the factors identified as influencing achievement. Previous research produced mixed results when evaluating the…

This dissertation will focus on the processing and learning of abstract, phrasal argument structure constructions. Chapter 1 provides the theoretical framework for abstract constructions, and illustrates the importance of such representations in speakers' linguistic knowledge. Chapter 2 reviews the evidence for meaning being associated with…

In this study 7th grade students were observed completing a series of lessons in an online science course to explore their thinking and strategies for using curriculum resources for learning, to explore their thinking and strategies for self-assessing their readiness for lesson assessment, and to explore the relationship between resource use and…

This study explores professional learning of teachers in a web-based Open-Ended Learning Environment (OELE). Adult learning theorists suggest that adults are self-directed, experience-based, personally- and socially-related, problem-oriented, and application-focused learners. Constructivists suggest that the OELE affords learners opportunities to…

The lack of academic success by American adolescents has been of grave concern for both researchers and practitioners for many decades. While many American adolescents struggle in school, some students are at a greater risk than their peers based on personal characteristics such as race, socioeconomic status, and motivation. The low levels of…

Academic advisors help students with the process of decision making, of making sense of their world, of understanding how they go about learning, and of understanding how to appreciate diversity in their world. If advisors are to help students in these areas, academic advisors should be aware of the cognitive processes of how they make sense of…