In research practice, it is common to measure cognitive load after learning using self-report scales. This approach can be considered risky because it is unclear on what basis learners assess cognitive load, particularly when the learning material contains varying levels of complexity. This raises questions that have yet to be answered by…

Mathematical word problem-solving skills are crucial for students across their lives, yet solving such tasks poses challenges for many. Therefore, understanding the characteristics of mathematical word problems that are associated with students' performance is important. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the…

For this systematic review, learning from multiple texts served as the specific context for investigating the constructs of higher-order (HOT), critical (CT), and critical-analytic (CAT) thinking. Examining the manifestations of HOT, CT, and CAT within the specific context of learning from multiple texts allowed us to clarify and disentangle these…

Cognitive load theory's incorporation of evolutionary perspectives has generated several instructional designs based on movement, including the tracing effect, occurring when learners benefit from explicit instructions to trace out specific elements of lesson materials with the index finger. Historical descriptions of children's tracing behaviours…

Arithmetic word problems are a staple in mathematical curricula yet give individuals of all ages difficulty. Successful word problem solving requires translating the problem into a symbolic arithmetic format. However, the linguistic component may make problem solving more complex and increase cognitive load, specifically the processes that…

It is well established in educational research that metacognitive monitoring of performance assessed by self-reports, for instance, asking students to report their confidence in provided answers, is based on heuristic cues rather than on actual success in the task. Subjective self-reports are also used in educational research on cognitive load,…

Problem-solving tasks form the backbone of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) curricula. Yet, how to improve self-monitoring and self-regulation when learning to solve problems has received relatively little attention in the self-regulated learning literature (as compared with, for instance, learning lists of items or…

Spaced and interleaved practices have been identified as effective learning strategies which sometimes are conflated as a single strategy and at other times treated as distinct. Learning sessions in which studying information or practicing problems are spaced in time with rest-from-deliberate-learning periods between sessions generally result in…

Self-explanation is a process by which learners generate inferences about causal connections or conceptual relationships. A meta-analysis was conducted on research that investigated learning outcomes for participants who received self-explanation prompts while studying or solving problems. Our systematic search of relevant bibliographic databases…

The concept of productive failure posits that a problem-solving phase prior to explicit instruction is more effective than explicit instruction followed by problem-solving. This prediction was tested with Year 5 primary school students learning about light energy efficiency. Two, fully randomised, controlled experiments were conducted. In the…

Based on cognitive load theory, this paper reports on two experiments investigating the variability effect that occurs when learners' exposure to highly variable tasks results in superior test performance. It was hypothesised that the effect was more likely to occur using high rather than low levels of guidance and testing more knowledgeable than…

In his 1973 article "The Structure of ill structured problems", Herbert Simon proposed that solving ill-structured problems could be modeled within the same information-processing framework developed for solving well-structured problems. This claim is reexamined within the context of over 40 years of subsequent research and theoretical…

Recently, there has been a growing interest in learning approaches that combine two phases: an initial problem-solving phase followed by an instruction phase (PS-I). Two often cited examples of instructional approaches following the PS-I scheme include Productive Failure and Invention. Despite the growing interest in PS-I approaches, to the best…

The testing effect occurs when learners who are tested rather than relearning material perform better on a final test than those who relearn. Based on cognitive load theory, it was predicted that the testing effect may not be obtained when the material being learned is high in element interactivity. Three experiments investigated conditions of the…

Mathematical discussions in which students compare alternative solutions to a problem can be powerful modes for students to engage and refine their misconceptions into conceptual understanding, as well as to develop understanding of the mathematics underlying common algorithms. At the same time, these discussions are challenging to lead…