We introduce a template to (i) scaffold the problem solving process for students in the physics 1 course, and (ii) serve as a generic rubric for measuring how expertlike students are in their problem solving. This template is based on empirical studies of the problem solving practices of expert scientists and engineers, unlike most existing…

Personal tutoring provides professional skills development and support to students as they matriculate through their respective university programmes. Recently, there has been a growing trend of students facing academic difficulties in their first year of undergraduate study at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) which have impacted on…

Four studies explored the abilities of 80 adults and 180 children (4-9 years), from predominantly middle-class families in the Northeastern United States, to use information about machines' observable functional capacities to infer their internal, "hidden" mechanistic complexity. Children as young as 4 and 5 years old used machines'…

Background: Although verbal imitation can provide a valuable window into the developing language abilities of toddlers, some toddlers find verbal imitation challenging and will not comply with tests that involve elicited verbal imitation. The characteristics of stimuli that are offered to toddlers for imitation may influence how easy or hard it is…

Cognitive load theory (CLT) distinguishes three types of cognitive loads: intrinsic, extraneous, and germane, of which the latter is generally imposed in learning activities. To examine the nature of germane cognitive load, the participants engaged in 8-by-8 Reversi games against computerized opponents. The experimental results indicated that…

This study aims to explore undergraduate mathematics students' difficulties in their initial encounter with the subgroup test, and in particular in the proof of closure under operation. Subgroup test is one of the first results in an introductory course of Group Theory where students need to cope with the characteristic, for novice students, high…

Many children and adults have difficulty gaining a comprehensive understanding of rational numbers. Although fractions are taught before decimals and percentages in many countries, including the USA, a number of researchers have argued that decimals are easier to learn than fractions and therefore teaching them first might mitigate children's…

The twenty-first-century economy necessitates, and rewards, higher education credentials and skill development. Earning a high school diploma is a necessary step toward entering the workplace, a fact not lost on education leaders and policymakers. This fact sheet introduces a collection of resources that focus in depth on instructional models and…

This study was designed to examine how three different organizational structures (time, topic, and tool) of a course in an LMS affected learners. The signal available relevant accessible (SARA) theory provided a framework to clearly describe the signals (headers) used to differentiate the three organizational structures. Cognitive load theory…

This classroom experiment investigates the effects of adding representational pictures to multiple-choice and constructed-response test items to understand the role of the response format for the multimedia effect in testing. Participants were 575 fifth- and sixth-graders who answered 28 science test items--seven items in each of four experimental…

In spite of the existence of writing courses for postgraduate students in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) contexts, their academic writing proficiency remains low. Therefore, EFL students' academic experiences and expectations need to be explored to identify their needs. To this end, a dynamic narrative approach was adopted to examine the…

We study the automatic identification of educational items worthy of content authors' attention. Based on the results of such analysis, content authors can revise and improve the content of learning environments. We provide an overview of item properties relevant to this task, including difficulty and complexity measures, item discrimination, and…

Reading Comprehension is the ability to define word by word and create a profound idea from the talks were given or read. It plays a significant role in the total functioning of a community. It is also one of the pillars of reading. This paper aims to assess the Reading Comprehension level of the Senior High School in their Core Science Subjects…

This convergent mixed method study investigates learner engagement during a blended, transmedia curriculum called CryptoComics, which is designed to teach 3rd-5th graders about cryptology and cybersecurity. Curriculum design is presented through the lens of four engagement facilitators: (1) anchoring the curriculum with a comic book, (2) blending…

The purpose of the study was to assess the volume of academic vocabulary in elementary grades disciplinary textbooks. Academic vocabulary was examined in a corpus of best-selling elementary grades textbooks in three disciplinary areas--science, mathematics, and social studies. Academic words in texts were determined through automated procedures…