Problem solving requires the application of critical reading and thinking skills and the use of relevant strategies to reach a solution. Independent learners are able to apply taught strategies across contexts and often complete challenging tasks unassisted. The purpose of this paper is to explain how a process of analysis of assignments and…

Children begin to emulate writing and what they see around them at a very early age (Byington & Kim, 2017). The simple scribbles they begin to produce are representations of complex cognitive processes occurring. The constant cognitive scaffolding which medical students experience can be compared to the cognitive process children participate…

Within the fields of learning design, instructional systems and educational psychology, cognitive load has been discussed and debated for a number of years. The impact of course designs on learning process is still questioned, and how we learn continues to be an intriguing question. The fields of working memory (WM) and cognitive load (CL) have…

The notion of "Micro-Learning" (ML) has been repeatedly accented as a successful learning approach in different learning phenomena. Despite these optimistic emphases, several studies lack a theoretical grounding in adoption of ML, thus missing a shared perspective of the education community. The scarce theoretical justification for…

Outcomes in education are complex and numerous. Seemingly simple instructional choices can have far reaching implications for a student's interest in a subject, their social network, and even their psychological well-being. These types of outcomes are rarely studied however. Interest in short-term instructional outcomes is far more prevalent, as…

Since formal mathematics is discussed in terms of abstract symbols, many students face difficulties to acquire a clear understanding of mathematical concepts and ideas. Transforming abstract or dis-embodied representations of mathematical concepts and ideas into embodied representations is a strategy to make mathematics more tangible and…

Based on our work teaching undergraduate Calculus courses, we offer insight into teaching the chain rule to reduce cognitive load for students. A particularly difficult topic for students to grasp, problems likely arise due to student struggles with the concept of function and, particularly, function composition relative to when they first…

Classroom assessment research in the United States has shifted away from the examination of teacher-made tests, but such tests are still widely used and have an enormous impact on students' educational experiences. Given the major shifts in educational policy in the United States, including the widespread adoption of the Common Core State…

When teaching statistics, educators sometimes overestimate their students' knowledge and abilities. This is due to the curse of knowledge, a cognitive bias that causes people--especially experts--to overestimate how likely others are to know and understand the same things as them. This can lead to various issues, including struggling to…

Although tests and assessments--such as those used to maintain a physician's Board certification--are often viewed merely as tools for decision-making about one's performance level, strong evidence now indicates that the experience of being tested is a powerful learning experience in its own right: The act of retrieving targeted information from…

Being able to understand, interpret, and critically evaluate data is necessary for all individuals in our society. Using the PreK-12 Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education-II (GAISE-II; Bargagliotti et al., 2020) curriculum framework, the current paper outlines five evidence-based recommendations that teachers can use to…

Decades of research has shown that example-based learning is an effective instructional strategy for learning new skills. The field of learning from examples is seeing a shift in focus towards more innovative and use-inspired research, in part because the use of examples for informal and formal learning purposes has mushroomed. This special issue…

Unconscious biases can be thought of as the shortcuts the brain takes to make life easier. Psychologists Daniel Kahneman (2011) and Amos Tversky explain that unconscious biases arise because humans have two thinking systems: a fast, automatic (unconscious) system and a slower more deliberative (conscious) system. The first system can be thought of…

The present study evaluates the updating of long-term memory for duration. After learning a temporal discrimination associating one lever with a standard duration (4 sec) and another lever with both a shorter (1-sec) and a longer (16-sec) duration, rats underwent a single session for learning a new standard duration. The temporal generalization…

Teaching is a selfless profession. Although many teachers find great satisfaction in their work, most educators would probably say they are driven by the desire to help and inspire students. Too often, educators sacrifice their own well-being to support students' social, emotional, and academic needs. Teacher wellness influences school culture and…