This study analysed the gradual emergence of the teaching/learning process by examining theory of mind (ToM) acquisition and age effects in the preschool period. We observed five dyads performing a jigsaw task drawn from a previous study. Three stages were identified. In the first one, the teacher focuses on the execution of her/his own task…

This study aimed to investigate the models that co-existed in students' cognitive structure to explain the interactions between electric charges and uniform magnetic fields. The sample consisted of 129 first-year civil engineering, geology and geophysics students from a large state university in western Turkey. The students answered five…

Ability and non-ability traits were examined as predictors of learning, operationalized as the development of knowledge structure accuracy, and exam performance in a semester-long course. As predicted by investment theories of intellectual development, both cognitive ability and non-ability traits were important determinants of learning and exam…

Radical constructivists advocate discovery-based pedagogical regimes that enable students to incrementally and continuously adapt their cognitive structures to the instrumented cultural environment. Some sociocultural theorists, however, maintain that learning implies discontinuity in conceptual development, because novices must appropriate expert…

Our research aims to identify domain-specific similarities and differences of externalized cognitive structures. Cognitive structure, also known as knowledge structure or structural knowledge, is conceived as the manner in which an individual organizes the relationships of concepts in memory. By diagnosing these structures precisely, even…

This paper presents a method of assessment on how Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and animation influence the psychological process of learning by comparing a traditional web design course and an e-learning web design course, based on the Change of Internal Mental Model of Learners. We constructed the e-learning course based on Gagne's learning…

A large body of research demonstrates the incredible power of initial conceptions, scripts, and stereotypes that result from our naive theories. Prior knowledge compatible with information introduced by instructors enhances encoding and retrieval, but hinders learning when in conflict with it. Theories and facts contradicting existing beliefs are…

Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006) suggest that unguided or minimally guided instructional approaches are less effective and efficient for novices than guided instructional approaches because they ignore the structures that constitute human cognitive architecture. While we concur with the authors on this point, we do not agree to their equation…

This paper draws attention to the literature in the areas of learning, specifically, constructivism, conceptual change and cognitive development. It emphasizes the contribution of such research to our understanding of the learning process. This literature provides guidelines for teachers, at all levels, in their attempt to have their students…

Children personally construct explanations of natural phenomena, some of which differ from currently accepted scientific explanations. The replacement of personal explanations with scientific explanations, as well as the development of concrete, formal, and post-formal reasoning patterns, requires self-regulation in which alternative explanations…

This study aims to be a contribution to a theoretical model that explains the effectiveness of the learning and decision-making processes by means of a feedback and mental models perspective. With appropriate mental models, managers should be able to improve their capacity to deal with dynamically complex contexts, in order to achieve long-term…

The main purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of 5E learning cycle model based instruction and traditionally designed chemistry instruction on 10th grade students' understanding of state of matter and solubility concepts. In this study, 119 tenth grade students from chemistry courses instructed by same teacher from an Anatolian…

Compared to other subjects, the typical introductory programming (CS1) course has higher than usual rates of both failing and high grades, creating a characteristic bimodal grade distribution. In this article, I explore two possible explanations. The conventional explanation has been that learners naturally fall into populations of programmers and…

This article emphasizes the need to encourage undergraduate students to develop arguments, which involves enhancing their analytical skills and capacity for critical thinking, across disciplines regardless of level. It argues that these skills, required by the Quality Assurance Agency's (QAA) benchmarks, are developed not by instruction, but by…

Knowledge partitioning is a theoretical construct holding that knowledge is not always integrated and homogeneous but may be separated into independent parcels containing mutually contradictory information. Knowledge partitioning has been observed in research on expertise, categorization, and function learning. This article presents a theory of…