Understanding student cognitive states is essential for assessing human learning. The deep neural networks (DNN)-inspired cognitive state prediction method improved prediction performance significantly; however, the lack of explainability with DNNs and the unitary scoring approach fail to reveal the factors influencing human learning. Identifying…

Recent laboratory experiments have shown that both infant and adult learners can acquire word-referent mappings using cross-situational statistics. The vast majority of the work on this topic has used unfamiliar objects presented on neutral backgrounds as the visual contexts for word learning. However, these laboratory contexts are much different…

Structure building refers to the way in which people construct meaning from incoming information by creating a foundation of mental nodes, mapping incoming information to the foundational structure, and shifting to a new structure when necessary. Structure building ability has been shown to moderate learning both in laboratory-based and…

In an English Foreign Language learning context, where access to native like use of metaphorical language is limited, gaining this ability becomes challenging. For many years, foreign language educators didn't pay much attention to idiomatic language and assumed that idioms could only be taught through rote learning. For this reason, they face…

Research on the existence of cognitive maps and on the cognitive processes that support effective navigation has often focused on functioning across individuals. However, there are pronounced individual differences in navigation proficiency, which need to be explained and which can illuminate our understanding of cognitive maps and effective…

To perform well on any challenging task, it is necessary to evaluate your performance so that you can learn from errors. Recent theoretical and experimental work suggests that the neural sequellae of error commission in a dorsal anterior cingulate circuit index a type of contingency- or reinforcement-based learning, while activation in a rostral…

Although exploring students' thought processes can be rewarding, most teachers rely heavily on reponses to tests and assignments that fail to disclose learners' thinking patterns. Concept maps grouping interrelated ideas can encourage students to demonstrate effective and meaningful assimilation of organized study areas. Includes five footnotes.…

Explores the utility of mental models as learning outcomes in using complex and situated learning environments. Describes two studies: one aimed at eliciting mental models in the heads of novice refrigeration technicians, and the other an ethnographic study eliciting knowledge and models within the community of experienced refrigeration…

Focusing on techniques for teaching students to integrate diverse ideas at a deep level of cognitive processing, a study evaluated an idea integration package for teaching writing in the college classroom. Subjects, 29 college students from an introductory psychology class at a Utah university, were divided into two groups. The integration group…

Investigated use of concept and Vee-mapping strategies with regular seventh- and eighth-grade science students (N=155), focusing on changes in student acquisition of science knowledge and problem-solving performance. Includes methods of teaching Vee mapping, evaluating the maps, anectdotal records of Piagetian clinical interviews, findings, and…

Emphasizes that it is learning processes, rather than learning outcomes, which allow individuals to tackle new tasks, solve new problems, and learn new skills. Discusses the importance of metacognitive knowledge and skills in cognitive processing and life-long learning. (RAE)

Styles of thinking and learning are relevant for understanding and testing foreign-language aptitude. This article emphasizes one particular theory of styles, the theory of self-government, and discusses the nature of styles, gives some history of the concept of styles, describes styles in theory, describes measures of styles, and discusses the…

The theoretical landscape in which scholars of comparative education work has become increasingly diverse and fragmented in recent years. This paper contends that cognitive maps can enable scholars to see better this shifting landscape. Mapping also is offered as a rationale by which social and intellectual worlds may be uttered and constructed in…

Presents the results of an experiment that evaluated the efficiency of analogy in the conceptual restructuring of a science topic. The experiment involved a fifth-grade class studying water and heat flow. Discovered that analogy can act as an effective trigger for restructuring knowledge. (MJP)

Reviews the current literature concerning prior knowledge in an attempt to clarify problems with the terminology. Identifies the three main problems: lack of definition or vagueness, nominal versus real definitions, and different names/same constructs or same name/different constructs. Includes a conceptual map of prior knowledge terminology. (MJP)