Using the model of domain learning as a theoretical framework, the study was designed to examine the extent to which learners' initial learning profiles based on previously acquired knowledge, learning strategy application, and interest-based motivation were distinctive in learning softball. Participants were 177 sixth-graders from three middle…

The purpose of many animal studies at early grades is to build observation skills, develop a knowledge base, and practice age-appropriate science skills like comparing, describing, and drawing. While these are important learning experiences, the National Science Education Standards also recommend that students engage in scientific inquiry (NRC…

Possible selves and education are oriented toward future goals. This chapter surveys the literature that links possible selves achievement with motivation toward academic achievement.

Museum educators often think about what they want children to take away with them from museum visits. But at least as important is what children bring to these visits. Research in developmental psychology shows that children and adolescents progress through a sequence of ways of understanding knowledge and knowing--understanding that lies at the…

"Working Smarter, Not Harder: Reaching the Tough to Teach" is the topic of an exclusive four-part series by Sylvia Rockwell for the "Kappa Delta Pi Record." Part I describes the characteristics of students at risk of school failure, provides an overview of research-based principles found to be effective with all students and essential for students…

This study sought to improve students' comprehension of scientific graphs by adapting scaffolding techniques used to aid text comprehension. In 3 experiments involving 121 female and 88 male college students, some students were shown cognitive aids prior to viewing 4 geography graphs whereas others were not; all students were then asked to write a…

Abduction is a method of reasoning that people use under uncertainty in a context in order to come up with new ideas. The use of abduction in this exploratory study is twofold: (i) abduction is a cross-disciplinary analytic tool that can be used to explain certain key aspects of human-computer interaction in advanced Information Society Technology…

It is easy for intermediate students to get the wrong ideas about the purpose of reading. Educators pay so much attention to decoding and fluency in the early years that children sometimes come to believe that flawless and rapid word recognition is the point. As texts get more demanding or unfamiliar, some of the "good readers" in classes begin to…

These experiments explored the role of prior experience in 12- to 18-month-old infants' tool-directed actions. In Experiment 1, infants' use of a familiar tool (spoon) to accomplish a novel task (turning on lights inside a box) was examined. Infants tended to grasp the spoon by its handle even when doing so made solving the task impossible (the…

How do groups of 3 people establish common ground in problem-solving interactions differently from groups of 2? Do they do this differently when they are supported by videoconferencing technologies? The laboratory experiment reported here manipulated group size and video mediation for participants carrying out a laboratory map task that allowed…

Category-based inference is crucial for using past experiences to make sense of new ones. One challenge to inference of this kind is that most entities in the world belong to multiple categories (e.g., a jogger, a professor, and a vegetarian). We tested the hypothesis that the "degree of coherence" of a category-the degree to which category…

Experiential learning is a time-honored approach that can help to "...seal the bond between the learner and the learned." Such learning encourages the making of meaning from individual and shared experiences and helps abstract concepts to become relevant to the learner. The 20th century educational theorist, John Dewey, articulated a…

Considering the difficulties in understanding the global meaning of texts, this paper intends to give some suggestions on how to help students reach a deeper understanding of texts in intensive reading classroom within the framework of schema theory. The purpose of this paper is expressed in three ways. The first is to give a brief overview of…

Over the past four years a team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners in learning research across Northern Australia have identified many of the issues that underpin the implementation of training and investment through enterprise development to improve economic and community outcomes of Indigenous partners. This paper provides an overview of…

Even after repeated instruction, first year college chemistry students are often unable to apply stoichiometry knowledge to equilibrium and acid-base chemistry problems. The dynamic and interactive capabilities of online technology may facilitate stoichiometry instruction that promotes more meaningful learning. This study compares a…