Interleaving examples of to-be-learned categories, rather than blocking examples by category, frequently enhances category induction. The presently dominant theory is that interleaving promotes discriminative-contrast, and suggests that category similarity structure modulates this interleaving benefit: that blocking should benefit learning when…

Within current interfaith dialogue scholarship, perspective transformation towards the religious other is one of the most desired outcomes. However, exactly how such transformed perspectives come about and the characteristics of this transformation have not been adequately researched. In this study, we examine transformative learning within…

Taken together, the Coherence Principle of Multimedia Learning Theory and the Integrated Systems Hypothesis propose that co-occurring and semantically congruent verbal and visual information should be integrated into one mental representation that enhances memory. The purpose of this paper was to examine how learning pseudowords with matching…

As societies become more aware of the importance of early socio-emotional skills for children's later success, teachers report that they are ill-equipped to support and enhance these skills within their 'traditional' teacher role. This paper turns to the contributions that Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky and his adherents have made to our…

Fostering adult learners' competence to adapt appropriately to our ever-changing world is a primary concern of adult education. The purpose of the present article is novel and examines whether the consideration of "modes of learning" (instruction, performance, and inquiry) could assist in the design of adult education that facilitates…

This paper reports a critical comparative analysis of two popular and significant theories of adult learning: the transformation and the deep approach theories of learning. These theories are operative in different educational sectors, are significant, respectively, in each, and they may be seen as both touching on similar concerns with learning…

We report a study of incremental learning of new word meanings over multiple episodes. A new method called MESA (Markov Estimation of Semantic Association) tracked this learning through the automated assessment of learner-generated definitions. The multiple word learning episodes varied in the strength of contextual constraint provided by…

Using a grounded theory method, this dissertation seeks to discover how relationships impact organizational generative learning. An organization is a socially constructed reality and organizational learning is situated in the process of co-participation. To discover the link between relationships and generative learning this study considers the…

This article explores the unique and personal experience of learning within a broader framework of development called skill theory. The framework offers a perspective for recognizing within a diversity of experiences a stable order of increasing complexity in skills that individuals display as they execute or demonstrate changes in their…

Relational thinking plays a central role in human cognition. However, it is not known how children and adults acquire relational concepts and come to represent them in a form that is useful for the purposes of relational thinking (i.e., as structures that can be dynamically bound to arguments). The authors present a theory of how a psychologically…

A complete theory of adult learning must take into consideration the learner, learning process, and context. Andragogy, self-directed learning, consciousness, critical theory, feminism, transformational learning, and situated cognition contribute to understanding of this complex phenomenon. (SK)

Engestrom examines activity theory and expansive learning by describing Who are the subjects of learning? Why do they learn? What do they learn? and How do they learn? Presents five principles: activity system as the unit of analysis, multiple voices, historicity, contradictions as sources of change, and expansive transformation. Young provides…

Adult learning potential refers to our total learning capacities. It includes cognitive and affective learning as well as intuitive and reflective learning. It does not refer just to formal education (which accounts for only a small portion of our learning), but rather all learning for living, especially learning how we manage our lives. Adult…

Two studies were performed to evaluate the extent to which response patterns and sustained attentiveness is a function of the demands of a secondary task, primary task difficulty, and feedback arrangements. The first study varied primary task stimulus difficulty level, feedback arrangements on the primary task, and presence of the secondary task.…

Pedagogy assumes that the education of children and adults is essentially the same. Andragogy takes the view that adults and children learn in different ways. In lieu of these polarized concepts, educators need to approach human learning as a matter of degree, not kind, recognizing the similarities as well as the differences between learning…