Purpose: Vocabulary intervention can improve comprehension of texts containing taught words, but it is unclear if all middle school readers get this benefit. This study tests 2 hypotheses about variables that predict response to vocabulary treatment on text comprehension: gains in vocabulary knowledge due to treatment and pretreatment reading…

Although there is considerable research on and knowledge about students' conceptualizations of learning or academic practices and skills, the variability of these conceptualizations has been consistently neglected. In the present study, we address this variability in the field of academic reading with the help of a novel approach. Drawing on…

Purpose: The aim of this study is to extend previous research on conceptions of price by highlighting variation in students' understanding of causality. It also aims to offer a new way of using 'dimensions of variation' in phenomenographic research to analyse the structure of conceptions of complex phenomena. Method: The study uses data from 94…

The goal of this research was to examine fifth graders' understanding of fractions on the number line. This case-study design focused on the various ways that students represented fractions on number lines. Students responded to task-based interview questions by identifying fractions as a number on the number line as well as equivalency and…

Response times have often been used as ancillary information to improve parameter estimation. Under the dual processing theory, assuming reading comprehension requires an automatic process, a fast, correct response is an indicator of effective automatic processing. A skilled, automatic comprehender should be high in response accuracy and low in…

Comprehension of physiology is essential for development of clinical reasoning. However, medical students often struggle to understand physiological concepts. Interactive learning through Peer instruction (PI) is known to stimulate students' comprehension, but its relative efficacy and working mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In this study, we…

The ability to comprehend informal arguments is essential for scientific literacy but students often lack structural knowledge about these arguments, especially when the arguments are more complex. This study used a pre-post-test design with a follow-up 4 weeks later to investigate whether a computerised training in identifying structural…

The act of explaining can help students to develop new understandings of mathematical ideas, construct rules for solving problems, become aware of misunderstandings or a lack of understanding and develop their mathematical communication. Their explanations can also offer opportunities for a teacher to understand more fully what the students are…

Current science education reforms highlight the importance of students making sense of scientific ideas. While research has studied how to support sensemaking in classrooms, we still know very little about what drives students to pursue and persist in it on their own. In this article, we use a set of parallel case studies of undergraduate students…

Grades in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses are distributed under the assumption that high-performing students have a strong understanding of the material. Similarly, the STEM education literature often presents exam performance as equivalent to understanding. Despite these assumptions, we have little…

There is a dearth of appropriate reading material for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDDs). Often, a book's content is relevant to younger audiences, or its reading level is inaccessible. In this pilot study, we determined which factors facilitate reading accuracy and comprehension for this population. We wrote and tested…

Two experiments investigated the extent to which the concreteness of titles affects metacognitive text expectations, study motivation, and comprehension test performance. Sixty-three American and 61 German students were presented with three titles (either concrete or abstract), based upon which the students estimated their expected…

Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students tend to experience delayed development of grammatical skills in written language. However, much remains unknown about the mechanism behind this phenomenon. In the present study, the researchers used a self-paced moving-window reading task to investigate DHH students' understanding of causal and adversative…

This article uses the construct of "racial code word" to advance theory about unspoken, racialized expectations that accompany seemingly neutral historical concepts. Critical race ethnographic methods were used to examine how eight black teenagers made sense of the term "civil rights leader" and the assumptions that supported…

The educational technology (EdTech) is being viewed as one of the hopes for failing government schools in India. Huge investments are being made in EdTech by the market, philanthropies and the government, and several organisations are partnering in order to improve student learning outcomes and teachers' instruction. This article is an attempt to…