There is plenty of evidence in many fields of knowledge that storytelling is a bona fide human activity for problem-solving. We believe that a storytelling model for problem-solving can be constructed to organize this discourse. To that end, we carried out a qualitative study using the Grounded Theory tradition to build such a model always mindful…

This paper examines article use in the L2-English of adult and child speakers of Russian, an article-less language. In earlier work on articles in adult L2-English, Ionin, Ko and Wexler (2004) proposed that speakers of article-less L1s fluctuate between dividing English articles on the basis of definiteness vs. specificity, as a result of direct…

Offering help functions is a standard feature of computer-based interactive learning environments (ILE). Nevertheless, a number of recent studies indicate that learners are not using such help facilities effectively. We compared the effects of different metacognitive supports to foster learners' help-seeking behavior in an ILE for plant…

School tasks interact with student motivation, cognition, and instruction to influence learning and achievement. Heeding calls for additional research linking motivational and cognitive factors in learning and instruction on specific tasks within authentic classroom settings we quantitatively and qualitatively track 90 tenth-grade science…

This study investigated the effectiveness of a web-based learning environment in enhancing 10th grade high-school students' understanding of the concept of "chemical bonding". Two groups participated in this study: an experimental group (N = 161) and a comparison one (N = 93). The teachers in the experimental group were asked to implement four…

Metacognitive knowledge--what students know about themselves, the tasks they complete and their learning strategies--is essential for successful self-directed learning. It follows that those who work in self-directed learning settings need to stimulate their students' metacognitive development. Previous research in metacognition has defined its…

In Singapore, 6-12 year-old students are taught to solve algebra word problems with a mix of arithmetic and pre-algebraic strategies; 13-17 year-olds are typically encouraged to replace these strategies with letter-symbolic algebra. We examined whether algebra problem-solving proficiency amongst beginning learners of letter-symbolic algebra is…

As teachers struggle to meet the needs of a highly diverse student body, technology holds out the promise of a solution. However, first the nature and scope of differences between students has to be identified. This study (n = 1811) takes a comprehensive approach, selecting differences from each stage in the learning process. These were termed…

This article explores the evolving relationship between curriculum design, teacher perceptions, and the lived experience of students participating in an international programme of study within a U.K. university business school. The article illustrates the challenges inherent in supporting cross-cultural learning within diverse cohorts and explores…

This study focuses on an examination of the learning-to-learn strategies of seventh-grade students as they highlight, take notes, plan, organize, and write expository texts. Participants consist of 125 students, 41 with disabilities and 84 without disabilities. The results reveal that the students with disabilities have more difficulties in using…

This study aimed at analysing traditionally taught children's acquisition and use of shortcut strategies in the number domain 20-100. One-hundred-ninety-five second, third, and fourth graders of different mathematical achievement levels participated in the study. They were administered two tasks, both consisting of a series of two-digit additions…

As educators increasingly focus on increasing the level of rigor in their schools, it is important to first agree on what rigor is. Rigor is more than just the content of the lesson or even what teachers expect students to do. Too often, teachers simply raise expectations without providing appropriate support for students to succeed. True rigor…

This applied paper is a report of a naturalistic observation in a mathematics classroom focusing on two second-graders. Following an exploratory visit to understand the setting and develop more specific questions for the study, the purpose of this empirical investigation was to describe the behavior of two children in the particular classroom…

Students need tools, thinking skills, to help them think actively and in depth about biological phenomena. They need to know what kind of questions to ask and how to find answers to those questions. In this article we present a toolkit with 12 "thinking tools" for asking and answering questions about biological phenomena from different…

Meaningful learning is the fundamental process that underlies the acquisition of useful information and the construction of new knowledge. By creating meaningful relations, learners are able to organize the information in bigger and more organized chunks of information; an organization that reduces memory overload and increases processing…