More and more, people are abandoning the active pursuit of news, assuming instead that important information will be pushed to them via their social media networks. This approach to news makes people susceptible to the vast amounts of misinformation online, yet research on the effects of this kind of engagement is mixed. More research is needed on…

Recent studies have shown that interim testing of previously studied material facilitates the learning of new material. Such forward testing effect occurs, in part, because interim testing provides learners with an opportunity to evaluate their learning strategies and allows them to use more effective strategies in their subsequent learning. We…

We investigated the effects of a learning analytics-driven prediction modeling platform and a brief digital self-regulated learning skill training program targeted to support undergraduate biology students identified as likely to perform poorly in the course. A prediction model comprising prior knowledge scores and learning management system log…

The goal of the present set of experiments was to identify the conditions under which readers evoked prepotent-response inhibition to prevent interference from reactivated misconceptions. In Experiment 1, participants with varying inhibition ability read refutation texts that addressed common misconceptions and control texts. Overall, participants…

Retrieval practice typically benefits later memory more than restudy (i.e., the testing effect). The benefits of retrieval-based learning generalize across a range of materials and contexts, leading many cognitive scientists to advocate for broad educational implementation. However, educators and practitioners call for more research on factors…

Research demonstrates that seductive details negatively impact learning from instructional materials such as textbooks and learning modules. Yet, anecdotally, teachers and students consider seductive details an enhancement to classroom lectures. We examined this apparent disconnect by exploring the impact of seductive details in mathematics…

Past research has suggested that there may be benefits in learning from expository science text when students study with the expectation that they will need to teach another student. The present experiments were designed to extend prior work by testing whether an effect would be seen on both immediate tests (similar to those used in most prior…

Making connections among multiple visual representations is key to students' learning. This article considers two learning processes involved in connection making: explicit sense making of connections and implicit perceptual induction of connections. Instructional interventions support these processes via different problem types: sense-making…

Both accurate monitoring and adequate control are crucial for effective self-regulation when learning from problem-solving tasks. Prior research has shown that self-regulated learning is especially harmful for low prior knowledge students, given their difficulties with accurate monitoring and control decisions. Although many studies have indicated…

Students who drop out of their science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors commonly report that they lack skills critical to STEM learning and career pursuits. Many training programs exist to develop students' learning skills and they typically achieve small to medium effects on behaviors and performance. However, these programs…

Interim testing of studied information, compared with restudying or no treatment, facilitates subsequent learning and retention of new information--"the forward testing effect." Previous research exploring this effect has shown that interim testing of studied information from a given domain enhances subsequent learning and retention of…

Three experiments examined conceptual change from reading refutational texts and how such learning interacted with prior knowledge organization. Prior to reading, 3 groups of learners were identified on the basis of their prior knowledge of the targeted concept: 2 groups held misconceptions; 1 group was generally accurate. Experiment 1 tested…

The present study tested the "interference hypothesis"-that learning and using more advanced representations and strategies requires the inhibition of prior, less advanced ones. Specifically, it examined the relation between inhibitory control and number line estimation performance. Experiment 1 compared the accuracy of adults' (N = 53)…

We investigated the effects of feedback and collaboration on undergraduates' transfer performance when using a computer networking training simulation. In Experiment 1, 65 computer science "novices" worked through an instructional protocol individually (control), individually with feedback, or collaboratively with feedback. Unexpectedly,…

The differences among elaborative-interrogation, reading-to-understand, and no-exposure control conditions with familiar domain material in contrast to unfamiliar domain material were studied for 50 Canadian and 50 west German undergraduates. Results provide evidence of effects of both elaborative interrogation and prior knowledge on learning.…