The quasi-experimental, two-group (treatment and comparison), pretest--posttest study of metacognition, epistemological beliefs, and science content achievement explored the effectiveness of argument-based inquiry (ABI) instruction as opposed to traditional teacher-directed lectures and structured activities. Participants included 60 eight-grade…

This case study highlights three processes in conducting a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research on comparative curricular and professional experiential outcomes in an online curriculum development course. In the original study, I compared the results of expected learning outcomes, as defined in a curriculum course syllabus, with…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cueing and prior knowledge on learning and mental effort of students studying an animation with narration. This study employed a 2 (no cueing vs. visual cueing) × 2 (low vs. high prior knowledge) between-subjects factorial design. The results revealed a significant interaction effect…

Interaction is critical for successful teaching and learning in a virtual learning environment (VLE). This paper presents a web-based interaction-aware VLE--WebIntera-classroom--which aims to augment learning interactions by increasing the learner-to-content and learner-to-instructor interactions. We design a ubiquitous interactive interface that…

Mathematics curricula are frequently rich with visuals, but these visuals are often not designed for optimal use of students' limited cognitive resources. The authors of this study revised the visuals in a mathematics lesson based on instructional design principles. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of these revised visuals on…

An important, but as yet unresolved pedagogical question is whether discovery-oriented or direct instruction methods lead to greater learning and transfer. We address this issue in a study with 101 fourth and fifth grade students that contrasts two distinct instructional methods. One is a blend of discovery and direct instruction called…

Facing students' decreasing motivation to pursue scientific study, schools and educators need to coordinate new technologies with pedagogical agents to effectively sustain or promote students' scientific learning and motivation to learn. Although the provision of pedagogical agents in student learning has been studied previously, it is not clear…

I advance a theoretically and empirically-grounded case for designing for and learning from failure, and instantiate it in a learning design called Productive Failure (PF). I describe the key mechanisms and the design principles of PF. The PF learning design comprises a generation and exploration phase followed by a consolidation and knowledge…

Web-based learning tools (WBLTs), also known as learning objects, have been evaluated with a wide range of metrics, but rarely with respect to pedagogical design. The current study evaluated the impact of instructional architecture (direct instruction vs. constructive-based) on middle (n = 333) and secondary (n = 389) school student attitudes…

Washback has been defined as an effect of assessment on teaching and learning which may be negative or positive. This study investigated the washback effect of multiple choice question (MCQ) format of assessment on learning of concepts in physical sciences (chemistry) as compared to constructed response tests (CRTs). This study collected…

Faculty members from five years of an annual Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) development program were invited to participate in a study about the impact of SoTL on their teaching, scholarship, and career trajectory. During semi-structured interviews, many expressed feeling discomfort during their journey into SoTL. A qualitative…

ePortfolio has become a popular pedagogical tool on the higher educational landscape, often referred to as a "high impact practice" that has the potential to generate transformative learning experiences. After reflecting on our educational development consultations and undergraduate teaching practices with ePortfolio, we identified areas…

The current study considered young students' (7 and 8 years old) experiences and perceptions of mathematics lessons involving challenging (i.e. cognitively demanding) tasks. We used the Constant Comparative Method to analyse the interview responses (n = 73) regarding what work artefacts students were most proud of creating and why. Five themes…

The past century has yielded a plethora of advancements in the science of learning, from expansions in the theoretical frames that undergird education research to cultural and contextual considerations in educational practice. The overarching purpose of this chapter is to explore and document the growth and development of the science of learning…

Educational research indicates that error reflection, especially reflection on incorrect examples, has a positive effect on knowledge acquisition. The benefit of error reflections might be explained by the extended knowledge of incorrect strategies and concepts (negative knowledge) which fosters the learning of new content. In a field experiment…