Prior knowledge is often strongly related to students' learning. In the present research, we explored the relationship between prior knowledge and the accuracy of students' predictive monitoring judgments (judgments of learning; JOLs) and postdictive monitoring judgments (confidence judgments). In four experiments, students completed prior…

When students learn, they activate, use, revise, and acquire knowledge. As such, knowledge is a fundamental asset. We advocate for an asset-based approach which capitalizes on students' knowledge through prompts and activities that invite learners to leverage what they already know. Considering knowledge as an asset means that educators must…

When learning new information, students' prior knowledge related to that information will often vary. Prior research has not systematically explored how prior knowledge relates to learning of new, previously unknown information. Accordingly, the goal of the present research was to explore this relationship. In three experiments, students first…

This study answers two research questions: (1) How do 12- and 13-year-old students respond to metacognitive questions posed during a complex task in mathematics or in science and (2) Do these responses differ by discipline? Content analysis was applied to responses collected from 92 students from a French-speaking Belgian school. The results…

Self-regulated learning (SRL) has been linked to improved learning and corresponding learning outcomes. However, there is a need for more precise insights into how SRL during learning contributes to specific learning outcomes. We operationalised four learning outcomes that varied on two dimensions: structure/connectedness and level/deepness of…

The research described here examined the sources of knowledge of astronomy of children (age 3-18) in China and New Zealand, together with the development of their awareness of competing sources, ranging from everyday language, childhood literature and folklore to the scientific accounts prevalent in schools. The authors cite examples of the…

This study examines the influence of design-based learning on 25 eighth-grade students' design-thinking mindsets, that is, on the mental outlook that they adopt habitually when they engage in design thinking. It also compares changes in design-thinking mindsets across individuals of different genders and different levels of experience in design.…

Individual learning strategies evoke (meta-)cognitive processes that enable effective goal-directed learning. Peer-directed academic help-seeking may provide new information, but related interaction processes are challenging. Applying learning strategies during help-seeking may enhance academic success. Competence in using social resources…

We examined the role of epistemic cognition in calibration to task complexity before and during learning. Sixty-six undergraduate students were presented with two learning tasks--a simple task and a more complex task--in random order. Prior to learning, offline measures of learners' epistemic beliefs about climate change were taken. An open-ended…

Reasoning skills have been clearly related to achievement in introductory undergraduate biology, a course with a high failure rate that may contribute to dropout from undergraduate STEM majors. Existing measures are focused on the experimental method, such as generating hypotheses, choosing a research method, how to control variables other than…

Like many museums, the Missouri Historical Society wants to empower students to engage with history on their own terms. In our quest to create museum literate learners and push the student-centered field trip model to its maximum, we've internalized the crucial role of metacognition, or how we facilitate opportunities for students to think about…

A key highlight of this study is generating evidence of children "making aware the unaware", making tacit knowledge explicit. The research explores the levels of awareness in thinking used by eight 7-8 year-old children when engaged in school-based genre writing tasks. The focus is on analysing children's awareness of their thought…

Background: Research on prior knowledge activation has consistently shown that activating learners' prior knowledge has beneficial effects on learning. If learners activate their prior knowledge, this activated knowledge serves as a framework for establishing relationships between the knowledge they already possess and new information provided to…

The concept of mathematical problem solving is an important mathematical process in mathematics curricula of education systems worldwide. These math curricula demand that learners are exposed to authentic problems that foster successful problem solving. To attain this very important goal, there must be mathematics teachers well versed in content…

This study demonstrates the generalization of previous laboratory results showing the benefits of Self-Explanation Reading Training (SERT) to college students' course exam performance. The participants were 265 students enrolled in an Introductory Biology course, 59 of whom were provided with SERT. The results showed that SERT benefited students…