Contextual features of assessments can influence the ideas students draw from and the ways they assemble knowledge. We used a mixed-methods approach to explore how surface-level item context impacts student reasoning. In study 1, we developed an isomorphic survey to capture student reasoning about fluid dynamics, a crosscutting phenomenon, in two…

An understanding of human embryology is essential for students to better understand the subjects of human anatomy and physiology. However, human embryology is a challenging subject for many, since they must learn how anatomic structures and physiological processes develop over a period of time. Embryology texts typically use static,…

The pedagogical approach for both didactic and laboratory teaching of anatomy has changed in the last 25 years and continues to evolve; however, assessment of student anatomical knowledge has not changed despite the awareness of Bloom's taxonomy. For economic reasons most schools rely on multiple choice questions (MCQ) that test knowledge mastered…

Instructional interventions based on stimulus equivalence provide learners with the opportunity to acquire skills that are not directly taught, thereby improving the efficiency of instructional efforts. The present report describes a study in which equivalence-based instruction was used to teach college students facts regarding brain anatomy and…

Researchers often use measures of the frequency of self-regulated learning (SRL; Zimmerman, "American Educational Research Journal," 45(1), 166-183, 2000) processing as a predictor of learning gains. These frequency data, which are really counts of SRL processing events, are often non-normally distributed, and the accurate analysis of these data…

The objectives of this study were to: examine the potential interaction between students' epistemological beliefs and placement in a simulation condition (constructivist versus non-constructivist) on conceptual development; and to assess whether a constructivist computer simulation experience would result in a greater degree of conceptual change…