Spatial thinking has roles to facilitate learners to remember, understand, reason, and communicate objects and the connections among objects that are represented in space. This research aims to analyze the spatial thinking process of students in constructing new knowledge seen from the field-independent cognitive style learners based on…

Purpose: Approaches to learning have the ability to influence knowledge acquisition, comprehension, retention and even motivation to learn. Previous work indicates that despite age, experience, or prior knowledge, students have a tendency to approach learning differently as a function of the presented content. The purpose of this study is to…

Video is increasingly used as an instructional tool. It is therefore becoming more important to improve learning of students from video. We investigated whether student learning effects are influenced through an instruction about other viewing behaviours, and whether these learning effects depend on their prior knowledge. In a controlled…

In this article, we discuss what it means to learn troublesome "threshold concepts" about writing that cannot be adequately grappled with in a single course or assignment. Here, two faculty members and a graduate of a writing major reflect on elements of the writing curriculum, the writing center practicum, and the learning dispositions…

Continuing engineering education (CEE) is important to ensure engineers maintain proficiency over the life of their careers. However, relatively few studies have examined designing effective training for working engineers. Research has indicated that both learner instructional preferences and prior knowledge can impact the learning process, but it…

This qualitative study examines the experience of Saudi students in the process of learning English while studying in an anglophone country. Through the lens of progressive educational theory and passive learning style, specific factors such as the students' linguistic background and their current experience were explored. This study sought to…

This paper reports the findings of a quasi-experiment that aims to investigate the role of metacognitive teaching-learning (MTL) and mathematical prior knowledge (MPK) on students' mathematical logical thinking ability (MLTA) and self-regulated learning (SRL). The subject of the study was 70 tenth-grade students inSumedang, Indonesia. One…

This study utilizes theory from situated cognition to investigate faculty beliefs about student learning and their influence on teaching decisions. Results of interviews with and observations of 56 science and math faculty found that the two most common beliefs are: (a) students learn best through repeated practice, and (b) students have different…

Problem Statement: Learners can access and participate in online learning environments regardless of time and geographical barriers. This brings up the umbrella concept of learner autonomy that contains self-directed learning, self-regulated learning and the studying process. Motivation and learning strategies are also part of this umbrella…

Based on a cognitive motivational process model of learning, the impact of studying behavior on learning outcome is investigated. First-year students (N = 488) participated in the study. Two research questions were addressed: (1) Can cognitive-motivational variables and objective study behavior predict individual learning? (2) Which factors drive…

Revolutions of all kinds are a mainstay of social studies and history classes across Canada. While revolution as subject matter is prevalent in Canadian social studies classrooms, it is unclear the degree to which what Howard Gardner calls the "cognitive revolution" has found its way into those same classrooms. This is the revolution in…

Today with teacher cutbacks looming, and more integration units, general teachers might be required to teach the visual arts. Therefore, teachers need a clear definition of the discipline of art and personal exposure to aesthetic experiences. Many references are made to classic art education research. When lesson plan formats are generic it…

The central place of the learning environment and the personal characteristics of the learner in influencing whether students adopt deep or surface approaches to learning is well evidenced in the literature (for example, Marton & Saljo, 1976; Biggs, 1987; Entwhistle, 2001; Ramsden, 2003). For this reason, tertiary educators are constantly…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare the cognitive styles of trainee teachers with their notions of differentiation and perceptions of its place/location within their teaching and learning during a PGCE programme of ITE. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 80 trainee teachers completed the Cognitive Style Index (CSI) at the…

Compared to other subjects, the typical introductory programming (CS1) course has higher than usual rates of both failing and high grades, creating a characteristic bimodal grade distribution. In this article, I explore two possible explanations. The conventional explanation has been that learners naturally fall into populations of programmers and…