Mathematics textbooks play an important role in providing learning opportunities for students, and connections have been emphasized in the curriculum reforms of many countries. However, few studies have conducted comparative research on mathematics textbooks from the perspective of connections, particularly with respect to the difficulty of the…

Coordinating meaning across sentences is crucial to reading comprehension, because sentences can take on quite different meanings depending on the surrounding context. The same need applies in a far more complex way when reading textbooks. Writers organize the material hierarchically, so readers often need to connect what they're reading now to…

When justifying a mathematical statement, textbooks often interweave several instances of justification, creating, what we term, "paths of justification." This study aims to characterize the paths of justification of mathematical statements that are offered in eight 7th grade Israeli mathematics textbooks. The study attended to context…

The study aimed to examine how emotional design and digitalization/mobilization of textbooks influence students' emotion, cognitive load, and cognitive performance. Research samples were 147 undergraduate students enrolling in the "Introduction to Internet" course at a university. They were randomly divided into three groups: 51 students…

This study aims to explore how e-textbooks with emotional design affect students' emotion, cognitive load and learning achievement. There were 147 freshman students in total: the experimental group I, II and control group consisted of 49, 47 and 51 students, using e-textbooks with emotional design, without emotional design and traditional paper…

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is widely used in the design of curricula and materials for Teaching Turkish as a Second Language (TTSL), yet concerns remain about the consistency of text difficulty across CEFR-labeled materials. This study examined 31 B1-level international learners of Turkish as they read four…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explain key aspects of teaching and learning relevant to sustaining literacy development beyond the early years of schooling, including effective teaching of more complex texts. The paper takes as its point of departure Touchstone 9 of the Foundation Touchstones promoted by the Foundation of Learning and…

Science textbooks often include text and diagrams to aid learner understanding. Yet traditional written instructions in textbooks often separate them, which can increase cognitive load and hinder effective learning. This research proposes and tests a novel presentational format for written instruction that incorporates spatial contiguity, numbered…

Despite increased research interest in improving students' scientific inquiry abilities, how to conduct scientific inquiry using science textbooks that are easily accessible to primary school students remains understudied. This study developed and verified an inquiry activity model (IAM) to improve the performance of primary school students in…

Studies on reasons accounting for the difficulties in learning public administration is relatively new in the public administration literature though many findings exist regarding students' difficulties in the study of different subject areas. This paper examines whether the perceived reasons in other subjects are real in the study of public…

This study reports a small part of a large-scale study. In this vein, trends in cognitive demand levels of mathematical tasks in the Algebra Learning Domain of 5 mathematics textbooks prepared according to four middle school mathematics curricula that have been updated since the beginning of the 2000s in Turkey were determined. This study is a…

Textbooks play an important role in teachers' instructional decisions (Jones & Tarr, 2007), which consequently affects students' learning. This paper reports on a comparison of the elementary mathematics textbooks used in Iran and the United States, the Go-Math textbook. I analyzed topic sequences, frequency of the tasks, and cognitive demands…

The Century of Turkey Education Model, introduced in 2024, emphasizes developing critical thinking and analytical skills, with the Mathematics Curriculum. This curriculum integrates literacy skills in learning objectives, particularly financial literacy, to empower students in making informed economic decisions and managing resources effectively.…

Complex problem solving is one of the skills desired in the 21st century workforce. Students can improve their problem-solving skills by working on homework problems, and creating new problems can be a stimulating and inventive exercise for student as well. Our previous studies explored the impacts of a novel homework pedagogy where students…

Rapid developments in educational technology in higher education are intended to make learning more engaging and effective. At the same time, cognitive load theory stresses limitations of human cognitive architecture and urges educational developers to design learning tools that optimise learners' mental capacities. In a 2-month study we…