The design of interactions among peers plays a key role in collaborative learning. Various strategies have been applied to assist learners in collaborating and creating a continuous effort to construct and maintain shared knowledge, such as utilizing a concept map as a representational tool during discourse. Some previous studies have revealed its…

The use of visualisation techniques in teaching has enabled students to improve their memory and comprehension of written narratives. Psychological research reveals how various factors can influence visualisation and learning, including; adopting a character's perspective; constructing self-related images; multi-sensory text representing episodic…

We have developed a metabolic pathways visualization skill test (MPVST) to gain greater insight into our students' abilities to comprehend the visual information presented in metabolic pathways diagrams. The test is able to discriminate students' visualization ability with respect to six specific visualization skills that we identified as key to…

This study adds momentum to the ongoing discussion clarifying the merits of visualization and analysis in mathematical thinking. Our goal was to gain understanding of three calculus students' mental processes and images used to create meaning for derivative graphs. We contrast the thinking processes of these three students as they attempted to…

This study investigates the strategies and assumptions that college students entering an introductory physical geology laboratory use to interpret topographic maps, and follows the progress of the students during the laboratory to analyze changes in those strategies and assumptions. To elicit students' strategies and assumptions, we created and…

Interviewed students about their experiences preparing for final university examinations. Analyzed processes of learning used during review, and in particular, the ways in which understanding and memorizing were described. Found that one recurring aspect of the review process involved the creation of "knowledge objects"--tightly structured,…

Suggestions are offered for applying learning techniques for a variety of learning situations. The approaches are applicable to learning medical school content as well as other advanced educational content. Ways to control external distractors are suggested, including a systematic approach to completing large tasks, such as writing a research…

Describes a novel modeling and simulation package and assesses its impact on students' understanding of chemistry. Connected Chemistry was implemented inside the NetLogo modeling environment. Using Connected Chemistry, students employed problem -solving techniques characterized by stronger attempts at conceptual understanding and logical…