Video instruction has been widely studied and is generally considered as effective as live instruction for teaching scientific concepts and procedures. However, there is limited research on the effectiveness of prerecorded videos for teaching more challenging content. This study conducted a controlled experiment on over 300 high school students to…

We studied the impact of metacognitive reflections on recently-completed work as a way to improve the retention of newly learned problem-solving techniques. Students video recorded themselves talking through problems immediately after finishing them, completed ongoing problem-solving strategy maps or problem-sorting exercises, and filled out…

Educational videos are increasingly used to let students prepare lesson material at home prior to in-class activities in flipped classrooms. The main challenge of this teaching strategy is to stimulate students to watch these videos attentively before going to class. This paper describes the use of questions that pop-up within relatively long…

Studies have shown the potential of explainer videos. An alternative is a written explanation, as found in science textbooks. Prior research suggests that instructional explanations sometimes lead to the belief that a topic has been fully understood, even though that is, not the case. This 'illusion of understanding' may be affected by the medium…

This dissertation was driven by a need to better understand how the growing movement of nature-based education, particularly nature-based preschools, compares to more conventional approaches. This dissertation analyzed videos of preschool teaching to describe nature-based teaching practices, particularly around the outdoors as a classroom and a…

The German National Education Standards (NES) for biology were introduced in 2005. The content part of the NES emphasizes fostering conceptual knowledge. However, there are hardly any indications of what such an instructional implementation could look like. We introduce a theoretical framework of an instructional approach to foster students'…

Even though it has been shown that retrieval practice could foster deeper learning and better long-term retention in other domains such as psychology, it is rarely studied in the context of physics learning where students need to solve more complicated problems. To an even lesser degree is comparing retrieval-based learning with other active…

Experts are more proficient in manipulating and translating between multiple representations (MRs) of a given concept than novices. Studies have shown that instruction using MR can increase student understanding of MR, and one model for MR instruction in chemistry is the chemistry triplet proposed by Johnstone. Concreteness fading theory suggests…

As China and the United States become the top two carbon emitters in the world, it is crucial for citizens in both countries to construct a sophisticated understanding of energy consumption issues. This interview study examines how U.S. and Chinese students compare in explaining and arguing about two critical energy consumption issues: burning…

This research investigates students' learning about the electron transport chain (ETC) process in photosynthesis by watching a video followed by playing a serious board game-Electron Chute- that models the ETC process. To accomplish this goal, several learning outcomes regarding the misconceptions students' hold about photosynthesis and the ETC…

Constructing and critiquing scientific arguments has become an increasingly important goal for science education. Yet, the differences in the ways students construct collaborative oral and individual written socioscientific arguments are not well established. Our research with one middle school class in an urban New England school district…

As China and the United States become the top two carbon emitters in the world, it is crucial for citizens in both countries to construct a sophisticated understanding of energy consumption issues. This interview study examines how U.S. and Chinese students compare in explaining and arguing about two critical energy consumption issues: burning…

Although interview formats support rich data collection in conceptual change studies, interview formats limit sample sizes. This study explores the possibility of using constructed-response formats as an alternative or supplement for collecting similarly rich data across larger pools of subjects in conceptual change studies. While research in…

Narrated animated solution videos were implemented in a clinical study that compared a mastery setting that employed repeated cycles of testing with instructional support to a group that had a single opportunity to experience the materials. The mastery setting students attempted sequential questions sets on a topic, with animated solutions between…

Students playing digital learning games in the classroom rarely play alone, even in digital games that are ostensibly "single-player" games. This study explores the patterns of physics reasoning that emerge in face-to-face and online forum collaboration while students play a physics-focused educational game in their classroom. We…