This article brings together, summarizes, and comments on several threads of research that have contributed to our understanding of the challenges that novice programmers face when learning about the runtime dynamics of programs and the role of the computer in program execution. More specifically, the review covers the literature on programming…

In this reply to commentaries on the Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006) paper, we not only reemphasize the importance of randomized, controlled experimental tests of competing instructional procedures, but also indicate that altering one variable at a time is an essential feature of a properly controlled experiment. Furthermore, we also…

George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's theory of metaphor (1980, 1999) provides a basis for describing everyday cognitive structures using linguistic models and thus, making it possible to uncover both individual and collective patterns of thought and action. Lakoff and Johnson have not, however, developed a workable system for carrying out qualitative…

This study of college undergraduates had two purposes: (1) to determine whether cognitive structure, as assessed by psychometric measures of concept interrelatedness, can be developed; and (2) to apply those measures to a learning situation that has produced a nonspecific transfer effect--the facilitative effect of concrete examples on learning…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…