The present study compared learning gains at both form recall and meaning recall levels across three learning conditions: viewing without note-taking, viewing with conventional note-taking, and viewing with guided note-taking. A total of 134 Chinese learners of English were assigned to three experimental groups and a no-treatment control group.…

There are three unique cognitive mechanisms during note taking: generative processing, summarization, and sustained attention. Generative processing is active construction of associations between novel information and prior knowledge and experiences. Summarization forces identification of the most pertinent information to create a coherent…

Background and purpose of the study: STEM learning often involves a multitude of complex and abstract concepts and ideas that can be challenging for students to comprehend. Research suggests that the oral and visual representations in video lectures can maximize students' cognitive infrastructure, helping them to organize knowledge more…

Little evidence is available regarding the differential impact of reading versus reading and writing on multiple source comprehension. The present study aims to: (1) compare the inferential comprehension performance of students in reading versus reading/synthesis conditions; (2) explore the impact of performing the tasks on paper versus on screen…

Statistics anxiety is a reality among many students that may affect their academic and professional lives. Although there are instructional strategies proven to demonstrate advanced statistical concepts, a method to mitigate statistics anxiety in introductory courses is lacking. This research examines the effectiveness of three interventions used…

Background: Processing and comprehending information from multiple sources have been a primary means of learning and are essential 21st-century skills to construct knowledge for a deeper understanding. Objectives This study examined students' individual differences in search strategies and internet epistemic beliefs as well as the effect of…

There is concern over international students' low academic achievement at the college level. Due to language challenges and cultural differences, international students' academic achievement is not satisfactory that resulting in a decrease in the retention rate. Note-taking strategies such as the concept-mapping method may enhance international…

We introduce the Integrated Framework of Multiple Texts to understand how students use and form connections between multiple texts to accomplish personal or task goals. The Integrated Framework of Multiple Texts conceptualizes students' multiple text use as unfolding over the course of three stages--preparation, execution, and production. In the…

When learners highlight or tag content, they metacognitively monitor information to select and mark it. From a levels-of-processing framework, standards used in metacognitive monitoring could affect learning. We examined effects on recall and transfer of different metacognitive standards -- free highlighting expressing a generic…

Although the seductive details effect, a phenomenon where interesting but irrelevant pictures impede comprehension, is well documented, studies examining ways of moderating its detrimental impact on learning remain few. The present study examined the effect of note-taking on the seductive details effect. Chinese undergraduate participants (N = 91)…

Hypermedia learning environments (HLE) unevenly present new challenges and opportunities to learning processes and outcomes depending on learner characteristics and instructional supports. In this experimental study, we examined how one such HLE--MetaTutor, an intelligent, multi-agent tutoring system designed to scaffold cognitive and…

This study examined how differing instructional scaffolding influenced the actual use of evaluation skills to improve argumentation quality during college science inquiry. Source representation scaffolds supported multi-faceted reflection of complex source properties while managing cognitive load. Students were given an online annotation tool…

This article examines memory and distributed cognition involved in the writing practices of emergency medical services (EMS) professionals. Results from a 16-month study indicate that EMS professionals rely on distributed cognition and three kinds of memory: individual, collaborative, and professional. Distributed cognition and the three types of…

Undergraduate biology education is often viewed as being focused on memorization rather than development of students' critical-thinking abilities. We speculated that open-note testing would be an easily implemented change that would emphasize higher-order thinking. As open-note testing is not commonly used in the biological sciences and the…

Theories on learning with Multiple External Representations (MER) claim that low prior knowledge learners in science have difficulties using MER, which are seen as necessary to achieve a conceptual understanding. In two experiments, we analyze the mechanisms underlying the learning of chemistry with MER. Our first experiment focuses on how MER can…