The aim of the present study was to test the replicability of the text generation effect for learning with expository texts while systematically varying contextual factors that--based on extant literature--can be assumed to affect the occurrence and magnitude of the text generation effect. Seven experiments were conducted in which participants…

Divergent thinking (DT) ability is widely regarded as a central cognitive capacity underlying creativity, but its assessment is challenged by the fact that DT tasks yield a variable number of responses. Various approaches for the scoring of DT tasks have been proposed, which differ in how responses are evaluated and aggregated within a task. The…

Socioeconomic status (SES) influences school success. Students with lower SES may face challenges that this study aims to address through instructional scaffolding. To be effective, such support needs to consider students' individual strengths and weaknesses. In this study, 321 sixth-grade students used an e-textbook about fractions. They were…

In research practice, it is common to measure cognitive load after learning using self-report scales. This approach can be considered risky because it is unclear on what basis learners assess cognitive load, particularly when the learning material contains varying levels of complexity. This raises questions that have yet to be answered by…

Using masculine forms in surveys is still common practice, with researchers presumably assuming they operate in a generic way. However, the generic masculine has been found to lead to male-biased representations in various contexts. This article studies the effects of alternative gendered linguistic forms in surveys. The language forms are…

Training of self-regulated learning is most effective if it supports learning strategies in combination with metacognitive regulation, and learners can transfer their acquired metacognitive regulation skills to different tasks that require the use of the same learning strategy (near transfer). However, whether learners can transfer metacognitive…

Oral explanations (OE) by teachers are one of the most common forms of communication in the classroom to support students' comprehension of subject-specific content. Thus, students have to deal with the language the teachers use in explanations. Research indicates that linguistic features (LF) of texts can influence students' comprehension as they…

Cognitive load studies are mostly centered on information on perceived cognitive load. Single-item subjective rating scales are the dominant measurement practice to investigate overall cognitive load. Usually, either invested mental effort or perceived task difficulty is used as an overall cognitive load measure. However, the extent to which the…

Interleaved practice combined with comparison prompts can better foster students' adaptive use of subtraction strategies compared to blocked practice. It has not been previously investigated whether all students benefit equally from these teaching approaches. While interleaving subtraction tasks prompts students' attention to the different task…

The possible dependency of criterion validity on item formulation in a multicomponent measuring instrument is examined. The discussion is concerned with evaluation of the differences in criterion validity between two or more groups (populations/subpopulations) that have been administered instruments with items having differently formulated item…

The intricate relationship between representational competence and content knowledge in organic chemistry has been widely debated, and the ways in which representations contribute to task difficulty, particularly in assessment, remain unclear. This paper presents a multiple-choice test instrument for assessing individuals' knowledge of fundamental…

Color has been investigated as a signaling cue in multimedia learning environments, guiding the learner's attention and as an emotional design element, increasing the learner's motivation and, thus, improving learning outcomes. Retrieval cues (e.g., visual cues, odor, sound) facilitating memory retrieval have been primarily investigated in…

The linguistic characteristics of text productions depend on various factors, including individual language proficiency as well as the tasks used to elicit the production. To date, little attention has been paid to whether some writing tasks are more suitable than others to represent and differentiate students' proficiency levels. This issue is…

The present study analyzed the structural and the content complexity of 76 preservice science teachers' socioscientific argumentation in the context of a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination. Data were analyzed within the methodological frame of qualitative content analysis. Concerning the structural complexity, the participants' socioscientific…

Knowledge questions frequently are used in survey research to measure respondents' topic-related cognitive ability and memory. However, in self-administered surveys, respondents can search external sources for additional information to answer a knowledge question correctly. In this case, the knowledge question measures accessible and procedural…