People often have difficulty in understanding processes of biological change, and they typically reject drastic life cycle changes such as metamorphosis, except for animals with which they are familiar. Even after a lesson about metamorphosis, people often do not generalize to animals not seen during the lesson. This might be partially due to the…

People often have difficulty understanding processes of biological change, and they typically reject drastic life cycle changes such as metamorphosis, except for animals with which they are familiar. Even after a lesson about metamorphosis, people often do not generalize to animals not seen during the lesson. This might be partially due to the…

Research has shown that tape diagrams are beneficial for algebra learning. However, it is unclear whether certain visual features of tape diagrams have implications for learning. We investigated, with undergraduate students and math teachers, whether tape diagrams with different visual features (color, presence of outer lines, and position of the…

When designing an instructional tool and using it in pedagogical activities, it is essential that designers and users understand what pedagogical affordances and constraints the tool provides to support its successful integration into targeted pedagogical activities. Toward this end, we developed "Pedagogical Affordance Analysis (PAA)."…

Two foundational concepts in biology education are 1) offspring are not identical to their parents, and 2) organisms undergo changes throughout their lives. These concepts are included in both international and U.S. curricular standards. Research in psychology has shown that children often have difficulty understanding these concepts, as they are…

How do diagrams and illustrations affect mathematical problem solving? Past research suggests that diagrams should promote correct performance. However, illustrations may provide a supportive context for problem solving, or they may distract students with seductive details. Moreover, effects may not be uniform across student subgroups. This study…

Prior research shows that self-explanation promotes understanding by helping learners connect new knowledge with prior knowledge. However, despite ample evidence supporting the effectiveness of self-explanation, an instructional design challenge emerges in how best to scaffold self-explanation. In particular, it is an open challenge to design…

Many studies have shown that visual representations can enhance student understanding of STEM concepts. However, prior research suggests that visual representations alone are not necessarily effective across a broad range of students. To address this problem, we created a novel, scaffolded form of diagrammatic self-explanation in which students…

To learn from a text, students must make meaningful connections among related ideas in that text. This study examined the effectiveness of two methods of improving connections--elaborative interrogation and diagrams--in written lessons about posterior probability. Undergraduate students (N = 198) read a lesson in one of three questioning…

This study examined the effectiveness of two methods of increasing student learning from posterior probability lessons: diagrams and questioning while reading. Undergraduate students (N = 245) read a lesson in one of three diagram conditions and one of three questioning-while-reading conditions (embedded questions, elaboration interrogations, and…

Many types of visual representations are used in math textbooks but not all of them contain mathematically relevant information. Little research directly addresses the effects of different types of representations on mathematics performance. Theories offer differing perspectives about how visual representations such as illustrations influence…