Much has been written by academics lamenting the lack of preparedness of students for entrance to the university (and, by employers, lamenting the additional training that students need after college to enter the workforce). Although such lamentations may be merited, students pick up the binary rhetoric of real world versus academic world that…

Sets of mathematics problems are generally arranged in 1 of 2 ways. With "blocked practice," all problems are drawn from the preceding lesson. With "mixed review," students encounter a mixture of problems drawn from different lessons. Mixed review has 2 features that distinguish it from blocked practice: Practice problems on…

Comparing and contrasting examples is a core cognitive process that supports learning in children and adults across a variety of topics. In this experimental study, we evaluated the benefits of supporting comparison in a classroom context for children learning about computational estimation. Fifth- and sixth-grade students (N = 157) learned about…

Since the early 1980's, the number of picture books that present Queer characters and themes has grown. Correspondingly, the number of challenges to these books has also increased. "And Tango Makes Three," the true story of two male penguins who hatch and raise a chick in New York City's Central Park Zoo, is one such picture book that has received…

This paper reports on two upper primary teachers' use of particular scaffolding practices, individual discussion and the use of manipulatives. The cognitive and affective impact on four low-attaining students in these classes is described. The teachers and students were observed during eight to ten sequential tasks. "Scaffolding…

Teaching students the most frequent sounds of the alphabet letters is the first crucial step in good phonics instruction. But beginning letter and sound lessons, especially if poorly taught or too rapidly paced, can be overwhelming and confusing for some young children and struggling readers. How can we simplify the cognitive task for such…

Work in category learning addresses how humans acquire knowledge and, thus, should inform classroom practices. In two experiments, we apply and evaluate intuitions garnered from laboratory-based research in category learning to learning tasks situated in an educational context. In Experiment 1, learning through predictive inference and…

Students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience serious academic deficits. One area that is particularly problematic is written expression. This study assesses the effectiveness of a persuasive essay-writing strategy taught by using the self-regulated strategy development model on the writing skills of 3 high school…

There is a large volume of literature that discusses the at-risk high school student. This literature tends to focus on the factors that create the at-risk student whether those are environmental factors or perhaps the failure of schools in general that create the at-risk problem in the United States. Although the causes are important to…

This study adds to the literature by introducing multimedia research in the psychomotor area. In this study, 87 freshman students in pedagogy used task cards to learn Basic Life Support (BLS), a psychomotor skill consisting of nine lifesaving actions to be performed in a specific order. Task cards are printed materials and are often implemented…

The increasing ubiquity of PowerPoint in the university classroom raises complex questions about pedagogy and the creation of dynamic and effective learning environments. Though much of the sociological teaching literature has focused on engagement and active learning, very little of this work has addressed the presence of PowerPoint in sociology…

We have devised a Web-based learning ecosystem (LECOS) that aligns marketing curriculum, course design, technology, instructors, students, as well as external stakeholders--a system that integrates traditional teaching methods with technological advancements in an attempt to enhance marketing students' motivation, engagement, and performance. A…

A large body of research has shown that for novice learners, instruction that relies more heavily on worked examples than on problem solving, is more effective for learning as shown by higher test performance. Moreover, this beneficial effect is often obtained with less acquisition time and lower cognitive load during acquisition and test phase.…

The purpose of this study was to explore a cognitive approach to analyzing students' written responses to mathematics performance assessments to inform learning, instruction, and assessment design and development. The existing data used in this study were seventh grade students' written responses to, and item scores on, four released mathematics…

Approximately 2.6 million students are diagnosed with a learning disability (LD) in the United States. There are many negative psychological and psychosocial consequences that can be attributed to having a LD, including a decrease in self- esteem. Low self-esteem has been shown to be liked to depression, suicidal ideation, and anxiety. Early…