The usage of "passe compose" and "imparfait" is one of the most challenging topics in French grammar for anglophone learners. Based on the aspect hypothesis formulated by Andersen and Shirai (1994), this study explored the patterns of errors made by higher-ability as opposed to average-ability students and male vs. female students with different…

Many students lack problem-solving skills. As teenagers, they tend to blame external forces or other people when something goes wrong, instead of trying to understand the root cause to prevent it from happening again. This article discusses the Lean Six Sigma methodology for problem solving, which the Board of Cooperative Educational Services in…

In 2010, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's Education Program has established the Deeper Learning Initiative, which focuses on students' development of deeper learning skills (i.e., the mastery of core academic content, critical-thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, communication, and "learn-how-to-learn" skills). Two test…

We tested the effects of teaching reading skills through U.S. history content for 38 eighth-grade poor readers whose reading ability ranged from second-to fourth-grade levels. Half of the students received special education services, and half of the students were English language learners. Students were taught to decode multisyllabic words, learn…

The Dimensional Change Card Sorting task frequently is used to measure extradimensional shifting abilities in preschool children. In two studies, we investigated what makes this extradimensional shifting task difficult. In Study 1 with 61 2- to 4-year-olds, we showed that extradimensional shifts from one dimension to another are more difficult…

The learning of English tenses and verbs is obviously the major and challenging part of second language learning and acquisition for Chinese students. The paper analyzes the features of simple present tense, simple past tense and verbs in them from the aspect of Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk's student grammar book as an instructive example.…

The purpose of the study was to determine to what extent online instructors make use of synchronous tools, and whether use of synchronous tools is correlated with retention. Between April and September of 2010 a confidential web survey was e-mailed to 120 randomly selected higher education instructors across the country who taught either 3- or…

In this commentary, the author discusses two recent replications (Santelices & Wilson, 2010; Scherbaum & Goldstein, 2008) of some of his earlier work on SAT items using the differential item functioning (DIF) statistic wherein he contrasted the test performance of African American examinees with White examinees (Freedle, 2003). In this…

According to classical theories, automatic processes are autonomous and independent of higher level cognitive influence. In contrast, the authors propose that automatic processing depends on attentional sensitization of task-congruent processing pathways. In 3 experiments, the authors tested this hypothesis with a modified masked semantic priming…

The main challenge for theories of multitasking is to predict when and how tasks interfere. Here, we focus on interference related to the problem state, a directly accessible intermediate representation of the current state of a task. On the basis of Salvucci and Taatgen's (2008) threaded cognition theory, we predict interference if 2 or more…

Cognitive load is a theoretical notion with an increasingly central role in the educational research literature. The basic idea of cognitive load theory is that cognitive capacity in working memory is limited, so that if a learning task requires too much capacity, learning will be hampered. The recommended remedy is to design instructional systems…

Gestalt psychologists proposed two distinct learning mechanisms. Associative learning occurs gradually through the repeated co-occurrence of external stimuli or memories. Insight learning occurs suddenly when people discover new relationships within their prior knowledge as a result of reasoning or problem solving processes that re-organize or…

Embedding support devices in educational computer games has been asserted to positively affect learning outcomes. However, there is only limited direct empirical evidence on which design variations of support provision influence learning. In order to better understand the impact of support design on novices' learning, the current study…

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the effects of prompting students to monitor their use of learning strategies and comprehension while completing self-paced, work-related training in a computer-based learning environment. Study participants included 94 enlisted military volunteers, randomly assigned to one of three groups in the…

In this study, I investigated how proficiently seventh-grade students enrolled in two Southwestern schools solve algebra word problems. I analyzed various factors that could affect this proficiency and explored the differences between English Learners (ELs) and native English Primary students (EPs). I collected the data as part of the Animal Watch…