This dissertation seeks to investigate how digital gestures connect to students' mathematical understanding when playing "From Here to There!" (FH2T). This investigation explores the intersection of three fields, game-based learning, embodied cognition, and mathematics education. I used three studies which break down the different…

Conspiracy thinking among college students is an under-investigated phenomenon. People who work with college students may seek to reduce conspiracy thinking among students or consider ways to work with those students better. This study provides insight into how well various personality factors predict conspiracy thinking among college students.…

Spatial thinking is important in predicting students' success in STEM fields. However, there is limited knowledge about "how" students learn spatial skills during classroom instruction by using strategies that support their cognition. This dissertation addresses this gap as I explored "spatial sensemaking practices" that…

Teacher noticing requires listening to student sense-making, interpreting the mathematical understandings teachers hear, and deciding how to respond based on what they notice in a specific interaction. Teachers manage what they notice about students in instructional interactions to both make key teaching decisions and adjust their interactions…

Problem solving is one of the most essential aspects of human life. Every day, people engage in problem solving any time they attempt to resolve uncertain issues or questions. Of utmost importance, in order to resolve problems effectively, people must "build them" by interacting with situations. In other words, people must actively…

Teacher knowledge of students' mathematical thinking has been a growing research area in mathematics education. Although researchers have made substantial progress in understanding students' mathematical thinking and created research programs and curricula tailored to the research findings, teacher education programs have, by and large, not been…

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 study looked at the potential relationship that may exist between students' intelligence strengths, in particular their spatial and kinesthetic strengths, and their combined cognitive and metacognitive levels of interaction with a CD-ROM storybook. The multiple intelligence strengths of a sample of students, measured via the MIDAS/My…

Early language research has revealed important insights into the building blocks of language, such as morphosyntactic features and rules and truth-conditions of sentences. Once we situate language in real-life use, however, a wide range of factors come into play. Language interacts not only with the surrounding linguistic context but also with the…

Assessing people's understanding of the causal relationships found in large-scale complex systems may be necessary for addressing many critical social concerns, such as environmental sustainability. Existing methods for assessing systems thinking and causal understanding frequently use the technique of cognitive causal mapping. However, the…

While interactivity is regarded as a distinguishing characteristic of computer technology, the explanation on its impact remains in its infancy. The present research investigates what it means to provide a more (or less) interactive computer interface design by attempting to uncover its cognitive influences on the user's expectation of outcome and…

When the members of a group work collaboratively using a group support system (GSS), they often "brainstorm" a list of ideas in response to a question or challenge that faces the group. The satisfaction levels of group members are usually high following this activity. However, satisfaction levels with the process almost always drop…

Various formats of online discussion have proven valuable for enhancing learning and collaboration in distance and blended learning contexts. However, despite their capacity to reveal essential processes in collaborative inquiry, current mainstream analytical frameworks, such as the cognitive presence framework (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer,…

Systems that can detect cognitive decline or harmful levels of stress could assist users in managing their stress and health. However, current assessments are often obtrusive or require specialized equipment, and not suited to continuous monitoring of cognitive status. This research leverages attributes of everyday keyboard interactions to…

Students' learning in inquiry-based investigations has drawn considerable attention of the science education community. Inquiry activities can be viewed as knowledge construction processes in which students are expected to develop conceptual understanding and critical thinking abilities. Our study aimed to explore the effect of experiments…