Material artifacts play an important role in many learning environments. Such artifacts can include sketches, manipulatives, 3D models, toys and games, or the scrap materials found in makerspaces. Some theorists have argued that material artifacts, even though they do not move or talk, should be considered to have autonomous agency and to interact…

Creating explanations is an important process for students, not only to make connections between novel information and background knowledge, but also to be able to communicate their understanding of any given topic. This article explores students' explanations in the context of computational science and engineering, an important interdisciplinary…

This study investigated how varying the lexical encodings of technical terms in multiple texts influences learners' dyadic processing of scientific-related information. Fifty-seven pairs of college students read journalistic texts on depression. Each partner in a dyad received one text; for half of the dyads the partner's text contained different…

The concept of framing from anthropology and sociolinguistics is useful for understanding student reasoning. For example, a student may frame a learning activity as an opportunity for sensemaking or as an assignment to fill out a worksheet. The student's framing affects what she notices, what knowledge she accesses, and how she thinks to act. We…

To study the role of spatial concepts in science learning, 125 college students with high, medium, or low scores on a horizontality (water-level) spatial task were given information about geological strike and dip using existing educational materials. Participants mapped an outcrop's strike and dip, a rod's orientation, pointed to a distant…

Investigated the effects of structured and unstructured overviews on learning basic physics concepts from electronic texts by undergraduates, finding that both overviews produced better memory for text topics and better breadth of recall compared with traditional texts. (MDM)

Describes two studies of mathematical problem solving using an episode from "The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury," a set of curriculum materials that afford complex problem-solving opportunities. Discussion focuses on characteristics of problems that make solutions difficult, kinds of reasoning that dyadic interactions support, and…

Three studies evaluated a method for developing prior-knowledge structures that prepares students to learn from a text or lecture. Findings indicate that there is a place for lectures and readings in the classroom if students have sufficiently differentiated domain knowledge to use the expository materials in a generative manner. (TJQ)

Examined the effects of tutoring on college students' ability to learn a computer programming language in order to characterize effective tutor behaviors. Found that successful tutors took a very active role in leading problem-solving by offering confirmatory feedback and additional guidance while students were on profitable paths and error…

Compared tutoring episodes where tutoring did and did not cause learning in university physics students to inform design of intelligent tutoring systems. Found that when students were not at an impasse, learning was uncommon regardless of the tutorial explanations employed. When students were at an impasse, tutorial explanations were sometimes…

Examined two cross-aged tutoring corpora to show how conversational rules and politeness strategies can potentially enhance or inhibit effective tutoring. Suggests that politeness strategies are more prevalent in less constrained domains, even though their use may inhibit effective tutoring. Tutors should be cognizant of these costs and benefits,…