Cognitive control (also referred to as executive functions) corresponds to a set of cognitive processes that support the goal-directed regulation of thoughts and actions. It plays a major role in complex activities and predicts later academic achievement. Importantly, while growing up, children are progressively transitioning from engaging…

This study aimed to analyze the abstraction process of twelve-grade students' continuity knowledge through the RBC+C abstraction model. With this aim, a semi-constructed interview was conducted with two twelfth-grade students and recorded with a video camera. Two different research problems were addressed in the interview, and the students were…

History teaching and learning make intellectual demands on both teachers and students, requiring them to travel back in time and engage with complex issues and distant lifestyles. History education research advocates the use of approaches that portray History as an intellectually engaging subject but the application of cognitive research to…

This dissertation describes an experiment to investigate how learners with different levels of background in computer science learn core concepts of computer science, in particular, algorithms. We designed a study to focus on cognitive task analysis for eliciting the empirical mental elements of learning two graph algorithms. Cognitive workload…

First-year architecture students are expected to utilise visuospatial abilities to generate/construct, retain, rotate and manipulate space mentally and physically through physical and digital representations. This study of 57 female and 23 male participants was conducted to investigate first-year architecture students' visuospatial abilities by…

Researchers suggest that musical training prepares the mind for learning; however, there are many obstacles to the implementation of research to practice in music education. The purpose of this article is to apply key principles of mind brain education to music education and to evaluate how music prepares the mind for learning. Practical teaching…

How does perceptual learning take place early in life? Traditionally, researchers have focused on how infants make use of information within displays to organize it, but recently, increasing attention has been paid to the question of how infants perceive objects differently depending upon their recent interactions with the objects. This experiment…

This study investigates children's metarepresentational competence (MRC) with regard to listening to and making sense of simple sonic stimuli. Using diSessa's (2002) seminal work on MRC in mathematics and sciences as background, it aims to assess the relative importance children attribute to several criteria for representational adequacy…

Research on cognitive load theory (CLT) has not yet provided facet-specific measures of cognitive load. The lack of valid methods to measure intrinsic, extraneous and germane cognitive load makes it difficult to empirically test theoretical explanations of effects caused by manipulations of instructional designs. This situation also imposes…

A longstanding and fundamental debate in developmental science is whether knowledge is acquired through domain-specific or domain-general mechanisms. To date, there exists no tool to determine whether experimental data support one theoretical approach or the other. In this article, we argue that the U- and N-shaped curves found in a number of…

A cognitive model of human learning with understanding is introduced. Empirical research supporting the model, which is called the generative model, is summarized. The model is used to suggest a way to integrate some of the research in cognitive development, human learning, human abilities, information processing, and aptitude-treatment…

Research to date has demonstrated that networking can be an effective strategy for supporting meaningful learning. However, studies have shown that learners encounter difficulties using it. In an attempt to understand and thus reduce these difficulties, this study examined learners' underlying cognitive processes and activities while networking.…

Introduces the time window, a construct that characterizes when and how the integration of knowledge occurs, which is fundamental to the development of cognition. Describes the characteristics of time windows, evidence supporting them, factors that affect them, research illustrating their generality, and theoretical and applied implications. (ET)

To examine the link between analytic and holistic modes of processing and the amount of domain knowledge, 2 category-learning studies were conducted with 5-year-old children. In the first study, 26 kindergarten children were classified according to their verbal knowledge about plants and their familiarity with flowers. They then performed a…

Tests children for the effects of prior knowledge on the amount of learning that occurs after a training period focusing on either number skills or logical operations. No relationship existed between the amount children learned and their pretraining knowledge or the amount learned and their developmental level. (Author/BB)