Exactly what is a pre-assessment, and how are they best used? In this article, Thomas R. Guskey explores the theoretical underpinnings of pre-assessments and provides an overview of the research. He also details the three forms that pre-assessments take: prerequisite, present, and preview.

The financial and public health crises that have impacted the global economy in the past two decades have heightened awareness of the importance of financial literacy for consumers, businesses, and governments. This study uses secondary school teacher and student pretest and posttest scores on the Test of Financial Literacy to identify persistence…

College professors have adopted numerous strategies for teaching undergraduates, yet few researchers provide empirical evidence students' learning actually increased because of the instructional innovation. Assessment of pedagogy is frequently subjective and based on comments from students or faculty. Consequently, evaluating the effectiveness of…

Over the past few decades, many studies conducted in the field of learning science have described that scaffolding plays an important role in human learning. To scaffold a learner efficiently, a teacher should predict how much support a learner must have to complete tasks and then decide the optimal degree of assistance to support the learner's…

Agency refers to the level of control the student has over learning. Most studies on agency in computer-based learning environments have been conducted in the context of educational games and multimedia learning, while there is little research done in the context of learning with Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs). We conducted a study in the…

To improve teaching in higher education, teachers in psychology are encouraged to use evidence-based teaching, that is, to apply empirical findings regarding learning and teaching, when designing learning opportunities. This report illustrates the combination of evidence-based teaching and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in teaching…

Maintaining current, relevant curriculum in undergraduate Food Microbiology courses is essential for training future experts in food quality and safety. Having an understanding of the fundamental techniques (for example, polymerase chain reaction [PCR]) that are used in the food industry and regulatory agencies is critical for students entering…

This study explored the use of self-assessments, journaling, and peer sharing in an online computer programming course. We conducted an experiment using a pretest-intervention-posttest design in which 64 undergraduate first-year students participated. We aimed to investigate whether self-assessment, journaling, and peer sharing can facilitate…

As online courses become more common, practitioners are in need of clear guidance on how to translate best educational practices into web-based instruction. Moreover, student engagement is a pressing concern in online courses, which often have high levels of dropout. Our goals in this work were to experimentally study routine instructional design…

Science presents many challenging topics, and incorrect prior knowledge of them often interferes with learning. Research has demonstrated that refutation texts promote conceptual change learning by helping readers abandon scientific misconceptions. Little is known about the factors that influence knowledge enrichment, the learning that ensues when…

There were two primary goals of the research conducted for this dissertation study. Firstly, to fill a gap in the research literature and begin a discussion around secondary pre-service teachers Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) as it pertains to geometry. Although a multitude of studies exist for elementary teachers' MKT, few exist at the…

This research investigates the effect of a web-based model, named "Practicing, Reflecting, and Revising with Web-based Assessment and Test Analysis system (P2R-WATA) Assessment Literacy Development Model," on enhancing assessment knowledge and perspectives of secondary in-service teachers, and adopts a single group experimental research…

This paper reports the use of quantitative and qualitative measures of university student learning during teaching in psychiatry. Concept mapping, pre-and post test scores and performance in written assignments were used to measure the quality of change in personal understanding and to show the ways that the knowledge-targets of the course were…

This study investigates the interaction of a group of freshmen enrolled in a Pre Service Physics Teacher Training Course with a mechanics hypermedia program. Data were obtained to discuss hypertextual navigation guided by the following questions: (i) How can the students' navigation in this hypermedia program be characterized? (ii) How does this…

Determining students' knowledge structure is important for assessing what a learner knows about a domain of knowledge. Traditional assessment methods are not always appropriate for exploring students' knowledge structure and changes during the learning period. This study investigates how the existing knowledge structure of the learners interacts…