This article reviews content analysis studies aimed to assess critical thinking in computer-mediated communication. It also discusses theories and content analysis models that encourage critical thinking skills in asynchronous learning environments and reviews theories and factors that may foster critical thinking skills and new knowledge…

Academic advisors help students with the process of decision making, of making sense of their world, of understanding how they go about learning, and of understanding how to appreciate diversity in their world. If advisors are to help students in these areas, academic advisors should be aware of the cognitive processes of how they make sense of…

This study integrates the purposes of communication, i.e. in-class and on-line discussions, with problem solving skills in the process of learning professional knowledge of pre-service teachers. It attempts to foster both comprehension of professional knowledge and the attitude of contextualizing knowledge with situational factors. More…

This paper outlines Explanation Construction Theory, a psychological theory of how people come to comprehend scientific explanations. Explanation Construction Theory has three components: (1) a theory of how scientific knowledge is represented in memory; (2) a taxonomy of different representations that can be formed in response to an encounter…

This paper investigates metaphor in the language of economics, in particular, the way the vicissitudes of the Hong Kong financial markets are reported in the press. It analyzes the content from an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) perspective, probing for the significance in the negotiation of meaning in the subject area. Text samples were…

This paper explores a form of classroom discourse, organized around student argumentation, that brings into focus an alternative view of science and science education as socially and culturally constituted, meaning-making activities. To elaborate the differences between this emerging discourse practice and conventional practice, two examples are…

Sometimes multimedia presentations can provide an abundance of glamour without a clear vision of communicative content and direction. These may be called "show and show" displays. A presentation with a more apparent message or purpose could fall into either the "show and tell" or the "show and sell" category. Used…

A study examined the effects on early literacy learning of two dimensions of learning contexts: formality (peer writing and pretend play) and social relationships (friends and acquaintances). Same gender dyads of kindergarten friends were observed in peer writing and pretend play settings across the school year. A total of 33 males and 23 females…

Noting that understanding a child's brain and the way it develops is the key to understanding learning, this book explores the relationship between brain physiology and children's learning processes. The book first translates the most current scientific theories on nervous-system development into practical information for parents. It then details…

Piagetian and Vygotskian theories may be used as starting points to examine the role of play in development and learning from a constructivist perspective, including how children use play to deepen their understanding and skills, encounter new problems, and incorporate newly mastered skills into their play. Contemporary factors such as an emphasis…

How do good science students perceive the process of learning science? What occurs in the learning process that motivates students to accept the challenge of pursuing a career in science? This paper reports on panel discussions held by teams of medical students, research science doctoral students, science education students, and high school…

Calling for redoubled emphasis on the performative and political dimensions of rhetorical study, some scholars recommend an "activist turn" in rhetorical criticism. In the context of the study of social movements, an engaged and active stance can enable critics to become direct participants in the field of social action. The promise of a…

The Cartesian/Newtonian vision of human existence is outmoded because modern quantum physics has rendered it inaccurate. Quantum theory has demonstrated that the world cannot be reduced to independent and separate elements. The notion that there is an external, objective reality "out there," separate from the self, to be classified, measured,…

Two studies examined the impact of songs on students' verbatim recall and understanding of central story information. In a naturalistic study, students who had frequently viewed an educational television song about the Preamble to the Constitution later (as young adults) recalled the words verbatim better than did those who had been infrequent…

"Deep" approaches to learning, as defined by Biggs (1987) and others, would generally mean that a student is interested in the academic task, searches for meaning in the task, personalizes the task, integrates aspects of the task into a whole, sees relationships between this whole and previous knowledge, and tries to theorize about the…