Effective learning in chemistry education requires students to understand visual representations across multiple conceptual levels. Essential to this process are visuospatial skills which enable students to interpret and manipulate these representations effectively. These abilities allow students to construct mental models that support problem…

Mixed reality (MR) offers a way to visualize and manipulate complex digital objects in three dimensions, which is particularly beneficial for human anatomy. However, implementing MR effectively requires a deep understanding of its effects on cognitive processes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate cognitive markers of students' engagement…

In online education, the appropriate choice of means of knowledge visualization can reduce cognitive load and improve cognitive efficiency. However, no universal basis for selection can cause confusion in the pedagogical context. This study used the revised Bloom's taxonomy to combine the types of knowledge with cognitive goals. We used a course…

Visual imagery and mental reconstruction of scenes are considered core components of episodic memory retrieval. Individuals with absent visual imagery (aphantasia) score lower on tests of autobiographical memory, suggesting that aphantasia may be associated with differences in episodic and associative processing. In this online study, we tested…

Pre-recorded lectures have become a prevalent approach in online education due to the proliferation of MOOC platforms and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to the lack of real-time interactions between instructors and learners, learners have encountered various difficulties in understanding the lectures and actively engaging with the learning…

An association between spatial ability, particularly visualisation, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has been repeatedly demonstrated over the past four decades. Understanding this relationship is of critical importance as substantial evidence illustrates the malleability of spatial ability and that the…

Children begin to emulate writing and what they see around them at a very early age (Byington & Kim, 2017). The simple scribbles they begin to produce are representations of complex cognitive processes occurring. The constant cognitive scaffolding which medical students experience can be compared to the cognitive process children participate…

Undergraduate students may possess underdeveloped knowledge about water systems, particularly groundwater. The use of models and modeling have been employed in undergraduate classrooms to support students' learning about water. However, effective modeling requires spatial thinking skills, which undergraduate students may also need to develop.…

Project-based learning (PjBL) has been increasingly promoted and extended to online environments to enhance the quality of higher education. However, PjBL involves complex processes requiring higher-order thinking skills, which may pose challenges to many students especially in online settings with little prompt support from teachers. The problem…

Many researchers have reported that bridging analogies can productively support students' scientific meaning-making. How this can be understood semiotically is, however, not well understood. This research followed an ethnographic case study approach to investigate Year 11 students meaning-making through a process of transduction (Kress, 2000;…

STEM education (based on the integration of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines) has recently been an integral part of education system and curriculum in many countries aiming to be more technologically competitive in this age of innovation. While the importance of STEM education has gradually increasing in education…

Ancient as well as modern writers have promoted the idea that bizarre images enhance memory. Research has documented bizarreness effects, with one standard technique finding that sentences describing unusual, implausible, or bizarre scenarios are better remembered than sentences describing plausible, every day, or common scenarios. Not…

Immunology, a complex and rapidly evolving biological field, serves dual educational goals: training healthcare professionals and immunologists as well as promoting immune literacy among laypeople. This study conducted a scoping review of the literature to explore different aspects of immunology education, examining various contexts, levels, and…

This study was grounded in the spatial computational thinking model developed by the "3D Weather" project funded by the NSF STEM+C program. The model reflects a discipline-based perspective towards computational thinking and captures the spatial nature of computational thinking in meteorology and the reliance of computational thinking on…

Past work investigating spatial cognition suggests better mental rotation abilities for those who are fluent in a signed language. However, no prior work has assessed whether fluency is needed to achieve this performance benefit or what it may look like on the neurobiological level. We conducted an electroencephalography experiment and assessed…