Based on the findings of a larger study on middle school students' problem solving behaviors, we identified three sub-components for understanding the iteration of unit area in this paper: the mechanism of iteration, an identical unit, and the specificity of the identical unit. A three-stage progression on the acquisition of these components is…

This study aims to reveal the fragmentation of thinking structure's students in solving the problems of application definite integral in area. Fragmentation is a term on the computer (storage) that is highly relevant correlated with theoretical constructions that occur in the human brain (memory). Almost every student has a different way to…

Appreciation of problem structure is critical to successful learning. Two experiments investigated effective ways of communicating problem structure in a computer-based learning environment and tested whether verbal instruction is necessary to specify solution steps, when deep structure is already embellished by instructional examples.…

Students often struggle with solving mechanism problems in organic chemistry courses. They frequently focus on surface features, have difficulty attributing meaning to symbols, and do not recognize tasks that are different from the exact tasks practiced. To be more successful, students need to be able to extract salient features, map similarities…

This paper analyses the tasks allotted to students, featuring two thematic units in the 6th grade Geography textbook published in 2018 by the Didactic and Pedagogic Publishing House Ltd., Bucharest and used in the schools in Romania during the 2018-2019 school year. After a brief analysis of the textbook and its lesson structure, we studied the…

This study tested the hypothesis that exploratory learning, with and without analogous problems, would improve students' ability to make connections between conceptually-related topics. In this randomized experiment, undergraduates in introductory physics (N = 171) studied a new topic under three different instructional conditions. Order and type…

Why do people change their strategies for solving problems? In this research, we tested whether negative feedback and the context in which learners encounter a strategy influence their likelihood of adopting that strategy. In particular, we examined whether strategy adoption varied when learners were exposed to a target strategy in isolation, in…

Subjective cognitive load (CL) rating scales are widely used in educational research. However, there are still some open questions regarding the point of time at which such scales should be applied. Whereas some studies apply rating scales directly after each step or task and use an average of these ratings, others assess CL only once after the…

The testing effect occurs when learners who are tested rather than relearning material perform better on a final test than those who relearn. Based on cognitive load theory, it was predicted that the testing effect may not be obtained when the material being learned is high in element interactivity. Three experiments investigated conditions of the…

Physics educators today face two major challenges: supporting the acquisition of a solid base of conceptual knowledge and reducing the persisting gender gap. In the present quasi-experimental study, we investigated the potential of physics instruction that is enriched with evidence-based cognitively activating methods, such as inventing with…

The aim of the research was to explore the levels of cognitive loading induced by certain tenets of constructivist pedagogy namely self-directed learning complex questions and zone of proximal development. The study also sought to investigate the associations between these constructs and with cognitive loading and complex questions. Data for the…

This article revisits the cognitive load theory to explore the use of worked examples to teach a selected topic in a higher level undergraduate physics course for distance learners at the School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia. With a break of several years from receiving formal education and having only minimum science…

According to cognitive load theory, using worked examples is an effective and efficient instructional strategy for initial cognitive skill acquisition for novice learners, as it reduces cognitive load and frees up cognitive resources to build task competence. Contrary to this, productive failure (as well as invention learning, desirable…

Textbooks in applied mathematics often use graphs to explain the meaning of formulae, even though their benefit is still not fully explored. To test processes underlying this assumed multimedia effect we collected performance scores, eye movements, and think-aloud protocols from students solving problems in vector calculus with and without graphs.…

This aim of this study is to describe the process of local conjecturing in generalizing patterns based on Action, Process, Object, Schema (APOS) theory. The subjects were 16 grade 8 students from a junior high school. Data collection used Pattern Generalization Problem (PGP) and interviews. In the first stage, students completed PGP; in the second…