In the present study, the assumption was tested that expectancy-incongruent feedback in conjunction with explicit self-affirmation directs attention away from the task and to the self. As a result, performance should decrease in resource-sensitive text/picture comprehension tasks as compared to resource-insensitive tasks. Three hundred and…

Worked examples and collaborative learning have both been shown to facilitate learning. However, the testing of both strategies almost exclusively has been conducted independently of each other. The main aim of the current study was to examine interactions between these 2 strategies. Two experiments (N = 182 and N = 122) were conducted with…

Within mathematics teaching, ways to help students resolve proportional reasoning problems remains a topical issue. This study sought to investigate how a simple innovative procedure could be introduced to enhance skill acquisition. In two classroom-based experiments, 12-year-old students were asked to solve proportional reasoning mathematics…

We examined the use of balance and inverse methods in equation solving. The main difference between the balance and inverse methods lies in the operational line (e.g. +2 on both sides vs -2 becomes +2). Differential element interactivity favours the inverse method because the interaction between elements occurs on both sides of the equation for…

The main purpose of this study was to examine possible gender differences in how junior high school students integrate printed texts and diagrams while solving science problems. We proposed the response style hypothesis and the spatial working memory hypothesis to explain possible gender differences in the integration process. Eye-tracking…

Solving mathematics story problems requires text comprehension skills. However, previous studies have found few connections between traditional measures of text readability and performance on story problems. We hypothesized that recently developed measures of readability and topic incidence measured by text-mining tools may illuminate associations…

Changes in the demands posed by increasingly complex workplaces in the 21st century have raised the importance of nonroutine skills such as complex problem solving (CPS). However, little is known about the antecedents and outcomes of CPS, especially with regard to malleable external factors such as classroom climate. To investigate the relations…

Learning algebra is difficult for many students in part because of an emphasis on the memorization of abstract rules. Algebraic reasoners across expertise levels often rely on perceptual-motor strategies to make these rules meaningful and memorable. However, in many cases, rules are provided as patterns to be memorized verbally, with little overt…

Educational games intend to make learning more enjoyable, but carry the potential cost of compromising learning efficiency by consuming both instructional time and student cognitive resources. Therefore, instead of creating an educational game, the authors create a learning environment with game-like elements, the aspects of games that are…

Assigning difficulty level indicators to the knowledge units helps the learners plan their learning activities more efficiently. This paper focuses on how to use the topology of a knowledge map to compute and rank the difficulty levels of knowledge units. Firstly, the authors present the hierarchical structure and properties of the knowledge map.…

Previously, a small scale, interview-based, 3-year longitudinal study (ages 11-14) in one school had suggested a learning progression related to the concept of a substance. This article presents the results of a large-scale, cross-sectional study which used Rasch modeling to test the hypothesis of the learning progression. Data were collected from…

The present study illuminates and diagnoses the learning problems of the rural learners in English Grammar at standard VI. Present study may be useful to ameliorate the rural learners for acquiring competencies in English and eliminates the problems of the learners. It paves way to the teachers to diagnose the learning hurdles of the learners and…