Constructivist learning theories consider deep understanding of the content to be the result of engagement in relevant learning activities with appropriate scaffolding that provides the learner with timely and substantive feedback. However, any group of students has a variety of levels of knowledge and cognitive development, which makes providing…

This article seeks to provide researchers and practitioners in laboratory education, particularly those involved in the curriculum design and implementation of teaching laboratories at university level, with a conceptual framework and a working model for an integrated assessment of learning domains, by attending to a more holistic approach to…

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of an intervention on students' achievement and motivation. The intervention was in the form of an instructional approach named Dual-Approach Instruction since it was designed to facilitate both the cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of students' learning. The intervention effects were…

As science teachers, we often show animations and videos in class but there is the potential for students to create their own animations to represent science concepts and thus make their conceptions visible for critique and refinement. This encourages students to be active in their own learning, creating animations rather than just viewing them.…

Our paper builds on the construct of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Vygotsky in Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1978) to analyze the relationship between students' answers and the help they receive as they construct them. We report on a secondary analysis of…

Organic chemistry education is one of the youngest research areas among all chemistry related research efforts, and its published scholarly work has become vibrant and diverse over the last 15 years. Research on problem-solving behavior, students' use of the arrow-pushing formalism, the investigation of students' conceptual knowledge and…

This chapter examines the various cognitive tools embedded in a multimedia-enriched PBL environment for middle school science known as "Alien Rescue" and shares the research findings of the use of these cognitive tools in assisting young learners' problem solving. The goal of this chapter is to illustrate strategies for designing…

Algebraic solving ability had been discussed by many educators and researchers. There exists no definite definition for algebraic solving ability as it can be viewed from different perspectives. In this paper, the nature of algebraic solving ability in terms of algebraic processes that demonstrate the ability in solving algebraic problem is…

Self-regulation is the controlling of a process or activity by the students who are involved in Problem solving in Physics rather than by an external agency (Johnson, 2011). Selfregulated learning consists of three main components: cognition, metacognition, and motivation. Cognition includes skills necessary to encode, memorise, and recall…

This study investigated the comprehension and effectiveness of teaching formal, probabilistic decision-making skills to middle school students. Two specific objectives were to determine (1) if middle school students can comprehend a probabilistic decision-making approach, and (2) if exposure to the modeling approaches improves middle school…

It has been shown previously that many students solve chemistry problems using only algorithmic strategies and do not understand the chemical concepts on which the problems are based. It is plausible to suggest that if the information is presented in differing formats the cognitive demand of a problem changes. The main objective of this study…

The relationship of cognitive development to learning science is considered. Views of thinking from both a psychological and a scientific standpoint are compared in order to shed light on current science teaching practice. Metacognition and problem solving are discussed. (Author/MT)

The Information Age has been shaping the conception of thinking in education through the capability of computerized problem solving, through the resulting application of the information processing model to human thinking, and through the theories emerging from other cognitive science research in metacognition, construction of knowledge, and…

The case for integrating the problem-solving approach to learning with traditional explanatory and demonstrative approaches, but not replacing them, when teaching biology is presented. (ND)

Reasons are provided that show the goal-directed study of subject material through the problem-solving approach which results in sounder learning. (Author/ND)