Interpreting a seemingly simple function word like "or," "behind," or "more" can require logical, numerical, and relational reasoning. How are such words learned by children? Prior acquisition theories have often relied on positing a foundation of innate knowledge. Yet recent neural-network-based visual question…

Background: Visual metaphors (VMs) have gained significant attention from cognitive linguists for their ability to help learners understand linguistic structure. However, few studies have explored how incorporating a VM-supported instructional design can help instructors elucidate the abstract concepts of the business model canvas (BMC) to enhance…

Molecular representations that show chemical bonding are ubiquitous in general and organic chemistry. These help in communicating chemistry concepts that are fundamental to understanding "how" and "why" molecules interact. The goal of this dissertation work is to offer an evidence-based report on the affordances and limitations…

Students' understanding of the electronic structure of the atom has been investigated by many authors. This study outlines students' conceptual and representational understanding of quantum concepts explored in lower and upper level chemistry courses, in three different chemistry majors, identifying learning obstacles and monitoring student…

The main aim of the present study is to assess whether the open learner model (OLM) is capable of promoting students' active thinking by enhancing their self-regulation in online higher education learning environments. To this aim, we systematically reviewed the literature of the last three decades and found 67 articles, of which only a sample of…

Instruction in many STEM domains heavily relies on visual representations, such as graphs, figures, and diagrams. However, students who lack representational competencies do not benefit from these visual representations. Therefore, students must learn not only content knowledge but also representational competencies. Further, as learning…

This paper discusses the significance of model-based teaching on the topic of ionic and metallic bonding in Year 12 Chemistry in a New Zealand secondary school. Based on the conceptualization of the sub-macro level understanding of the bonding structure and properties of ionic and metallic compounds, models and drawings were used as an effective…

In educational applications, "Knowledge Tracing" (KT) has been widely studied for decades as it is considered a fundamental task towards adaptive online learning. Among proposed KT methods, Deep Knowledge Tracing (DKT) and its variants are by far the most effective ones due to the high flexibility of the neural network. However, DKT…

A major goal of education is to help students retain as much meaningful information as possible for long periods of time. The learning process by which students acquire new knowledge and behaviors is closely related to memory, which is the core of cognition. In a previous study, we developed virtual reality visualization model (VRVM) that can be…

This paper reports on a study of learners' use of immersive spatial diagrams to make arguments about three-dimensional geometric figures. Immersive spatial diagrams allow learners to use the movement of their bodies to control their point of view, while immersed in three-dimensional digital renderings. We present analysis of two pairs of…

The use of technology as a facilitator in learning environments has become increasingly prevalent with the global pandemic caused by COVID-19. As such, computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) gains a wider adoption in contrast to traditional learning methods. At the same time, the need for automated tools capable of assessing and…

This study aims to explore an educational learning environment that supports students to learn conceptual modelling with the unified modelling language (UML). In this study, we call the describing models "UML programming." In this paper, we show an educational UML programming environment for science, technology, engineering, art, and…

Instilling an appreciation of nature in our youth is an important precursor to environmental protection and support for sustainability. Research has shown that involving students in environmental projects improves their motivation, skills, and achievement on standardized tests, This document contains images of the body parts of small mammals with…

This article presents a critical review and analysis of key studies that have been done in science education and other areas on the effects and effectiveness of using diagrams, graphs, photographs, illustrations, and concept maps as "adjunct visual aids" in the learning of scientific-technical content. It also summarizes and reviews those studies…

University education often suffers from a lack of an explicit and adaptable didactic design. Students complain about the insufficient adaptability to the learners' needs. Learning content and services need to reach their audience according to their different prerequisites, needs, and different learning styles and conditions. A way to overcome such…