Learning theory suggests that student learning can be improved if students are required to articulate and reflect about work that they have done. This process helps students think more clearly about their work and such articulation also enables tutors to better assess student knowledge and mental models. There are various electronic tools…

This paper describes a method for analysing the learning processes that take place in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. The approach is based on tracking the interactions between learners and tutors. Keeping track of meaningful events serves three main purposes: evaluation of the quality of the process, monitoring…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to suggest a conceptual model of formal mentoring as a leadership development initiative including "learning goal orientation", "mentoring functions", and "leadership competencies" as key constructs of the model. Design/methodology/approach: Some empirical studies, though there are not many, will provide…

The acquisition of new skills over a life span is a remarkable human ability. This ability, however, is constrained by age of acquisition (AoA); that is, the age at which learning occurs significantly affects the outcome. This is most clearly reflected in domains such as language, music, and athletics. This article provides a perspective on the…

When teaching geography to students in the primary grades, teachers should provide firsthand experiences that young children need to make meaningful sense of their world. David Sobel, author of "Mapmaking with Children: Sense of Place Education for the Elementary Years," suggests that teachers in the early grades adopt a small-world approach to…

The advantages of emphasizing discrete trials "teaching" over discrete trials "training" are presented first, followed by a discussion of discrete trials as a method of teaching that emerged historically--and as a matter of necessity for difficult learners such as those with autism--from discrete trials as a method for laboratory research. The…

In a significant work, "Metaphor in educational discourse", Cameron has suggested that we study metaphor as "prosaics" (i.e. as a feature of mundane talk). In this paper, by means of some brief examples, we point to instances of such talk in the setting of preschool. We also discuss opportunities for learning that such talk could offer children,…

This paper introduces various visual models for the analysis and description of learning processes. The models analyse learning on two levels: the dynamic level (as a process over time) and the functional level. Two types of model for dynamic modelling are proposed: the session trace, which documents a specific learner in a particular learning…

The most fundamental problem of colleges is that, in some respects, the people within them don't learn very well. Most faculty, staff, and administrators in higher education genuinely believe in the importance of undergraduate learning and want to improve it. And many colleges innovate a lot, frequently in an effort to make those improvements. But…

The science teachers at New Hampshire's Concord High School are no longer satisfied with what Wiggins and McTighe call the "teach, test, and hope for the best" learning cycle (2005). These teachers have been stepping up to the professional responsibility that demands more of them and their students--the responsibility to teach for…

Vocabulary knowledge has long been considered critical to children's successful reading comprehension. When children increase their reserves of word meaning, they also broaden their thinking and become aware of new semantic and conceptual relationships. Their broadened awareness, in turn, increases reading comprehension and writing abilities. Many…

Education is universally acknowledged to benefit individuals and promote national development. Educating females and males produces similar increases in their subsequent earnings and expands future opportunities and choices for both boys and girls. However, educating girls produces many additional socio-economic gains that benefit entire…

Recent international policy literature on Education for Sustainable Development puts forward utopian concepts of sustainable development and transformed learning as objects for educational thinking and practice. This paper, drawing on three illustrative educational investigations with youth in a South African context, critically examines how we…

In this paper, we describe a design experiment aimed at helping students to explore and develop concepts of infinite processes and objects. Our approach is based on the design and development of a computational microworld, which afforded students the means to construct a range of representational models (symbolic, visual and numeric) of…

Resurgence refers to the recovery of previously extinguished responding when a recently reinforced response is extinguished. Although the topic of resurgence has received limited experimental attention, there recently have been an increased number of investigations involving the topic. This increased experimental attention also has been…