The present study compared the impact of different categories of graphics used within a complex learning task. One hundred eighty five native English speaking undergraduates participated in a task that required learning 18 Chinese radicals and their English equivalent translations. A post-test only control group design compared performance…

This study proposes a new instrument to measure cognitive load types related to user interface and demonstrates theoretical assumptions about different load types. In reconsidering established cognitive load theory, the inadequacies of the theory are criticized in terms of the adaption of learning efficiency score and distinction of cognitive load…

The purpose of the following study was to examine the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Science classrooms of students with Learning Disabilities. Teachers were positive about the learning benefits and design of the Science curriculum. Students were more critical but still positive about these features. Learning Science…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cognitive load during practice on university wind students' learning. Cognitive load was manipulated through instrument family (woodwind or brass) and the amount of repetition used in practice (highly repetitive or random). University woodwind and valved-brass students (N = 46)…

Research on haptic feedback has demonstrated limited empirical evidence of its positive learning effects. This research contrasts supportive anecdotal evidence and reports of increased motivation. In an attempt to unify these contrasting results we attempted to identify empirical evidence supporting haptic feedback's effect on learning by…

Do girls have more competition anxiety and exogenous cognitive load than equally able boys during the playing of stressful competitive on-line games? This question led to the adoption of a technology acceptance model to compare the influence factors of competitors in sequential and synchronous games. Confirmatory factor analysis of the data on 220…

We designed activities for learning English as a foreign language in a mobile learning environment with familiar authentic support for this study. Students learned at school and then applied their newly gained knowledge to solve daily life problems by first using a tablet to take pictures of objects they wished to learn about, then describing them…

This study investigates problem-solving difficulties of novices in a classroom setting, using a German instructional tool, the Fischertechnik kit of approximately 400 parts. In order to analyse the students' thinking processes as they solved the problems, verbal protocol analysis (VPA) was used to record the students'' thinking processes and…

Solving new problems can be made easier if one can build on experiences with other problems one has already successfully solved. The ability to exploit earlier problem-solving experiences in solving new problems seems to require several cognitive sub-abilities. Minimally, one needs to be able to retrieve relevant knowledge of earlier solved…

This neuroimaging study examines the development of cognitive flexibility using the Change task in a sample of youths and adults. The Change task requires subjects to inhibit a prepotent response and substitute an alternative response, and the task incorporates an algorithm that adjusts task difficulty in response to subject performance. Data from…

Strategic recollection refers to control processes that allow the retrieval of information that is relevant for a specific situation. These processes can be studied in memory exclusion tasks, which require the retrieval of particular kinds of episodic information. In the current study, we investigated strategic recollection in reality monitoring…

Many current policy initiatives focus on teacher qualifications and high-stakes assessments for students as a means to improve mathematics education in the United States, but this approach ignores the actual practice of teaching through which students have opportunities to learn mathematics. The present study is an effort to answer scholars'…

In two experiments, we investigated whether 4- to 5-year-old children's ability to demonstrate their understanding of aspectuality was influenced by how the test question was phrased. In Experiment 1, 60 children chose whether to look or feel to gain information about a hidden object (identifiable by sight or touch). Test questions referred either…

Inhibition of return (IOR) is modulated by task set and appears later in discrimination tasks than in detection tasks. Several hypotheses have been suggested to account for this difference. We tested three of these hypotheses in two experiments by examining the influence of cue and target level of processing on the onset of IOR. In the first…

Segmentation of animations, that is presenting them in pieces rather than as a continuous stream of information, has been shown to have a beneficial effect on cognitive load and learning for novices. Two different explanations of this segmentation effect have been proposed. Firstly, pauses are usually inserted between the segments, which may give…