The brain undergoes profound development across childhood and adolescence, including continuous changes in brain morphology, connectivity, and functioning that are, in part, dependent on one's experiences. These neurobiological changes are accompanied by significant changes in children's and adolescents' cognitive learning. By drawing from studies…

We explore new tools and methods for learning designers and researchers to characterize pedagogical approaches that are applied to the design of MOOCs. This paper makes three main contributions to literature on MOOC design and evaluation: (1) an Expanded Assessing MOOC Pedagogies instrument for use by learning designers and researchers within…

In human research, studies of return of fear (ROF) phenomena, and reinstatement in particular, began only a decade ago and recently are more widely used, e.g., as outcome measures for fear/extinction memory manipulations (e.g., reconsolidation). As reinstatement research in humans is still in its infancy, providing an overview of its stability and…

A major challenge for learning theories is to illuminate how particular kinds of learning experiences and environments promote the development of expertise. Research has been conducted into novice-expert differences in various domains, but few studies have examined the processes involved in learners' expertise development. In an attempt to…

Defines the functions of windows that are used as visual display techniques in computer software systems, reviews research on the effectiveness of window environments, discusses knowledge structures, and presents principles for designing windowed environments based on research findings and individual differences and screen design research. (10…

Effort on homework has a profound impact on student achievement. Researchers typically use an interindividual research design to explain homework effort. In this study with a total of 511 students from Grades 8 and 9, an interindividual perspective (focus on between-students differences) was combined with an intraindividual perspective (focus on…

Describes the use of repeated-measures designs in the study of whole families, specifically differences in perception between family members. Addresses the specific advantages and disadvantages of these designs; analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of variance applications; and practical issues of assumptions, multiple comparison,…

Presents arguments concerning the effectiveness of attributional counseling in light of possible deterioration effects. Discusses when attributional interpretations should be used, the amount of change such interpretations provided in research participants, and lack of a control condition in previous research design. (WAS)

Describes seven myths concerning reading-level-match designs, in which individual differences in reading acquisition are compared for groups of different ages matched on some aspect of reading performance. Gives examples from the reading literature to illustrate these myths and to suggest more realistic alternatives. Summarizes relevant…

Studies of autism typically adopt a factorial matched-groups design aimed at eliminating nonspecific factors such as mental retardation as explanations of performance on experimental tasks. This paper reviews the issues involved in designing such studies and interpreting their results and suggests that the best approach to matching may be to…

This report is the second of a two-part document which presents the results of research conducted during the first implementation of a leadership, psychology and management course at the U.S. Naval Academy. Details on learner variables and performance are cited and discussed. The first part of this document is EM 010 490, the final report appears…

Recent studies are examined for methodological adequacy in establishing dimensions of individual differences in information-processing abilities, and the theoretical problems involved in inferring psychological processes from individual difference dimensions. Methodological inadequacies include use of small samples, questionable procedures in…

Reviews and critiques research that has assessed the effect of infant temperament on caregiver behaviors and concludes that the relationship between temperament and caregiving behavior has not been adequately tested. Offers conceptual and methodological guidelines for future research. (HOD)

Using observational data on classroom teachers, statistical procedures are presented for studying two questions on the stability of teacher behavior over time: (1) Is the individual teacher's behavior consistent? and (2) Are individual differences among teachers consistent? Approaches and methods of previous temporal stability studies are…

This study investigated whether second, third, and fourth graders could recognize microcomputer-generated color graphics displayed on monochromatic monitors. It was found that subjects were unable to discern critical features of a color graphic displayed on a monochromatic screen unless it was designed to enhance figure/ground separation.…