We report on mixed methods research that explored pre-service teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in basic musical methods for teaching and learning of basic fractions within the framework of Vygotsky's Theory of Scaffolding. Vygotsky's use of scaffolding opines that knowledge, skills and prior experiences, create the foundation for potential…

We report on mixed methods research that explored pre-service teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in basic musical methods for teaching and learning of basic fractions within the framework of Vygotsky's Theory of Scaffolding. Vygotsky's use of scaffolding opines that knowledge, skills and prior experiences, create the foundation for potential…

The variability effect occurs when learners' exposure to highly variable tasks results in better learning. It was hypothesised that learners who studied high variability worked examples would obtain higher post-test scores compared to learners who studied low variability examples, and learners who self-generated problem solutions for the same high…

This study sought to investigate the link between preferred learning styles, performance, and cognitive load. After determining learning styles (visual or auditory), undergraduate students were assigned to three instructional formats, namely: Listen Only, Read Only, and Read + Listen. A pretest was administered to assess students' prior knowledge…

This research study, grounded in experiential learning theory, utilized a draw-and-explain assessment to measure change in secondary students' knowledge before and after an experiential field trip. Our results indicated that the secondary students (aged 15-18 years) had pre-existing knowledge of the local delta area that included both abiotic and…

This study investigates the potential of five factors that may be predictive of success in college general chemistry courses: prior knowledge of common alternate conceptions, intelligence, scientific reasoning ability, proportional reasoning ability, and attitude toward chemistry. We found that both prior knowledge and scientific reasoning ability…

Although the study of the Synoptic Problem has been the focus of scholarly attention for over two hundred years, the social learning theory known as Communities of Practice is a relatively recent phenomenon. This article describes a communities of practice approach to the study of the Synoptic Problem in an upper-division undergraduate course at a…

The study investigates the use of different multimedia instructional design formats on learning. Undergraduate students from the College of Education at a public university in the United Arab Emirates were randomly assigned to groups corresponding to six instructional design formats, namely; Listen Only, Read Only, Read+ Listen, Listen + Graphics,…

Providing exploratory activities prior to explicit instruction can facilitate learning. However, the level of guidance provided during the exploration has largely gone unstudied. In this study, we examined the effects of 1 form of guidance, feedback, during exploratory mathematics problem solving for children with varying levels of prior domain…

In spite of increased interest in game-based learning, relatively little is known about the learning process in games. The aim of this article is to study the process of conceptual change in the context of game-based learning in order to reveal playing behavior that triggers and facilitates it. Primary school pupils (N = 401) played a game of…

Background: Advance organizers are instructional materials that help students use previous knowledge to make links with new information. Short animation movies are a possible format and are well suited for physics, as they can portray dynamic phenomena and represent abstract concepts. Purpose: The study aimed to determine guidelines for the…

This paper reports the use of quantitative and qualitative measures of university student learning during teaching in psychiatry. Concept mapping, pre-and post test scores and performance in written assignments were used to measure the quality of change in personal understanding and to show the ways that the knowledge-targets of the course were…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of visual representations and time-compressed instruction on learning and learners' perceptions of cognitive load. Time-compressed instruction refers to instruction that has been increased in speed without sacrificing quality. It was anticipated that learners would be able to gain a conceptual…

The purpose of this study was to document the design and development of an adaptive system which individualizes instruction such as content, interfaces, instructional strategies, and resources dependent on two factors, namely student motivation and prior knowledge levels. Combining adaptive hypermedia methods with strategies proposed by…

The purpose of this Executive Position Paper (EPP) is to develop a model for improving the online training modules utilized by a mid-Atlantic Residence Life department. The complexity of the Residence Life staff positions, coupled with demands from other university departments and the need to provide as much information as possible, resulted in an…