This article is concerned with how computer science, and more exactly computational complexity theory, can inform cognitive science. In particular, we suggest factors to be taken into account when investigating how people deal with computational hardness. This discussion will address the two upper levels of Marr's Level Theory: the computational…

Advanced three-dimensional virtual environment technology, similar to that used by the film and computer games industry, can allow educational developers to rapidly create realistic online vir-tual environments. This technology has been used to generate a range of interactive Virtual Real-ity (VR) learning environments across a spectrum of…

This fascinating and inventive book surveys the UDL research field in comprehensive detail while pointing in--imaginative and necessary ways--to crucial research undertakings yet to come. In recent years there has been heightened interest in Universal Design for Learning (UDL), particularly within the worlds of education policy and practice. As a…

We examine whether the array representation can support children's understanding and reasoning in multiplication. To begin, we define what we mean by understanding and reasoning. We adopt a "representational-reasoning" model of understanding, where understanding is seen as connections being made between mental representations of concepts, with…

This article addresses the application of the assessment triangle developed by the National Research Council (Pellegrino, Chudowsky, & Glaser, 2001), most specifically the cognition vertex of that triangle, to the unique learning characteristics of students with significant cognitive disabilities in developing and demonstrating academic…

In this paper we focus on some of the findings of the science education research community in the area of representations and problem solving. Problem solving depends on the construction and manipulation of mental models (internal representations) in the mind. A large knowledge base (declarative, procedural, strategic, situational, and schematic…

The authors present 2 experiments that establish the presence of knowledge partitioning in perceptual categorization. Many participants learned to rely on a context cue, which did not predict category membership but identified partial boundaries, to gate independent partial categorization strategies. When participants partitioned their knowledge,…

This paper presents the Featural and Unitary Semantic Space (FUSS) hypothesis of the meanings of object and action words. The hypothesis, implemented in a statistical model, is based on the following assumptions: First, it is assumed that the meanings of words are grounded in conceptual featural representations, some of which are organized…

An empirically-based theory is proposed that relates media's most essential modes of presentation--their symbol systems--to modes of cognitive representation and to the acquisition of knowledge. This book draws upon scholarship in such areas as the study of symbol systems, cognition, cognitive development, psycholinguistics, and mass…

What kind of influence does the structure of an educational hypermedia system have on the way its users understand its contents and organize the knowledge they acquire through its browsing? In this article, this already much discussed question, situated at the boundary between semiotics and cognitive science, is revisited in the light of results…

Readers construct at least 2 interrelated mental representations when they comprehend a text: a textbase and a situation model. Two experiments were conducted with recognition memory to examine how domain knowledge and text coherence influence readers' textbase and situation-model representations. In Experiment 1, participants made remember-know…

In our investigation of preservice secondary teachers' understanding of irrational numbers we focus on how different representations influence participants' responses with respect to irrationality. As a theoretical perspective we use the distinction between transparent and opaque representations, that is, representations that "show"…

Describes the difference between mediation and "mediatisation." Suggests the need for a paradigm shift away from the computational model of knowledge as pure information processing and task-centered problem solving to a more contextualist, sociointeractional, constructivist, user-centered model of cognition. (Author/AEF)

Task analyses have traditionally been framed in terms of overt behaviors performed in accomplishing tasks and goals. Pioneering work at the Learning Research and Development Center looked at what contribution a cognitive analysis might make to current task analysis procedures, since traditional task analysis methods neither elicit nor capture…

A model is proposed for the general abstracting process (using disciplines such as linguistics, logic, and psychology) that is based on a system of combined strategies with four stages: reading-understanding; selection; interpretation; synthesis. (Author/JKP)