School-based learning experiences are often designed with the "typical" student in mind. However, this may not be an optimal approach, given the variability of prior learning that exists in most classrooms. We investigated the variance in achievement within U.S. fourth- and eighth-grade mathematics classrooms using Trends in…

Informed by reading comprehension and comprehension strategies research, this study explores the Scripture-reading practices of four Methodist youths. Several rounds of inductive thematic analyses of Scripture-reading protocols revealed a set of five strategic reading practices youths used to understand Scripture. They drew inferences about the…

Introduction: This paper presents the results of research focused on identification of preschool teachers' progress in relation to the use of children's preconceptions in formal pre-elementary education. It represents the theoretical concepts that are applied in the work with children's preconceptions in schools. It analyses them and creates a…

How students perceive group work is closely correlated with the benefits of group work experience. However, a great variety of influences affect student perceptions of group work. This study quantifies the impact of various influences on the effective working, learning assistance and enjoyment of group work. This is done by analysing 206 responses…

How can we make sense of what we learned today?" This is a question the author commonly poses to her algebra students in an effort to have them think about the connections between the new concept they are learning and concepts they have previously learned. For students who have a strong, expansive understanding of previously learned topics,…

Three experiments investigate how self-generated explanation influences children's causal learning. Five-year-olds (N = 114) observed data consistent with two hypotheses and were prompted to explain or to report each observation. In Study 1, when making novel generalizations, explainers were more likely to favor the hypothesis that accounted for…

This article examines the backgrounds and pedagogical evolution of twelve community college (CC) human anatomy and physiology faculty participating in a larger study known as the Community College Anatomy and Physiology Education Research (CAPER) project. Using qualitative analysis of interviews based on Luft & Roehrig's (2007) Teacher Belief…

This article explores the experiences of seven elementary teacher candidates and their participation in varied field experiences during the last year of their teacher preparation program in response to the question: In what ways does a one-on-one tutoring practicum with an English Learner (EL) and a semester-long student teaching experience in a…

For people who have experienced forced migration, postsecondary education provides a way to look forward instead of backward. Despite a high prevalence of college aspirations, refugee-background students are often considered not college-ready. The goal of this study was to understand the literacy practices that refugee-background students used to…

It has recently been suggested that pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has a concept-specific nature, beyond the topic-specific level of PCK. This paper reports a case study of three pre-service teachers' reported PCK about three fundamental concepts within the topic of electrostatics, namely electrostatic force, electric field and electric field…

Mathematics is of major importance in science subjects. Unfortunately, students struggle with applying mathematics in science subjects, especially physics. In this qualitative study we demonstrate that transfer of algebraic skills from mathematics in physics class can be improved by using pre-knowledge effectively. We designed shift-problems…

This quasi-experimental study investigated the role of prior psychology knowledge and in-class retrieval activity in the testing effect. Undergraduate introductory psychology students (N = 53) from two classes at a small liberal arts college practiced retrieving information in class with multiple-choice quizzing and concept mapping. Prior…

Although studies have demonstrated a relationship between working memory and achievement in math and reading, it is still unclear why working memory might be related to these abilities. In the present article, we examined the viability of several possible theories in 2 separate analyses of math and reading. In each case, we contrasted the…

We examined the role of epistemic cognition in calibration to task complexity before and during learning. Sixty-six undergraduate students were presented with two learning tasks--a simple task and a more complex task--in random order. Prior to learning, offline measures of learners' epistemic beliefs about climate change were taken. An open-ended…

This qualitative research examines the types of metacognitive assessments used by teachers to describe d/Dhh students' metacognitive strategies. In other words, this study investigates three main points: first, teachers' perceptions regarding the use of metacognitive strategies during reading instruction; second, the types of metacognitive…