The past two decades have provided extraordinary progress in our understanding of the nature of learning. Never before have neuroscience and classroom instruction been so closely linked. Now, educators can find evidence-based neuroimaging and brain-mapping studies to determine the most effective ways to teach, as advances in technology enable…

Metacognition is a concept in psychology that refers to a variety of self-awareness process that help learners learn better. It grew out of the developments over the past few decades of cognitive models of learning. This paper presents a brief overview of these models and discusses their main features. It begins with a discussion of behavioristic…

Two studies investigated the advantage and instructional effectiveness of the spatial graphic representation of an English sentence with coordinators over a linear sentential representation in English as a foreign language (EFL) reading settings. Experiment 1, Study 1, examined whether readers studying EFL could better comprehend the sentence--in…

Students with strong executive function skills hold the keys to school and social success--from attention and impulse control to time management and organization. Now K-12 teachers have a practical, highly readable guide to enhancing these critical skills for "all" students, with and without learning disabilities. Through the author's memorable…

With contributions from leading scholars, this compelling volume offers fresh insights into literacy teaching and learning--and the changing nature of literacy itself--in today's K-12 classrooms. The focus is on varied technologies and literacies such as social networking sites, text messaging, and online communities. Cutting-edge approaches to…

By following their wonderful ideas or critical exploration, three eighth graders learned how to do traditional Chinese painting, which is taught by copying old masters' work from the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. The standard manual, which most learners have been using for these three hundred years, is the "Mustard Seed Garden Manual of…

Over the past 30 years, researchers at the Freudenthal Institute in The Netherlands have developed a mathematics curriculum and a theory of pedagogy known as Realistic Maths Education (RME). This curriculum uses "imaginable" contexts to help pupils to develop mathematically, with a strong emphasis on pupils "making sense" of…

Nearly 20 years after the release of The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics' video, "A Private Universe", much research has been done in relation to students' understanding of space-science concepts and how to effectively change these ideas. However, student difficulties with basic space-science concepts still persist. This article will…

Four types of analogies were described and offered as examples of ways to teach critical thinking skills. (RK)

Instructional or teaching behaviors can be conceptualized as involving four distinct modes: the questioning mode, the oral mode, the support mode, and the critical mode. Each mode contains specific behavioral elements, and each mode contributes a particular or "selected" element to the quadrilateral structures (called quadrograms) in a given…

Outlines ways a teacher can promote and inhibit thinking in children, and provides a worksheet for self evaluation. (SB)

This study investigates algebraic reasoning and self-regulation skills among elementary school teachers who participated in a professional development program either with IMPROVE metacognitive questioning (PD + Meta) or with no metacognitive guidance (PD). Sixty-four Israeli teachers participated in a 3-year program designed to enhance…

The present paper reports the design process and the experimentation of a teaching-learning sequence about the concept of mechanical wave propagation and the role played by media where waves are propagating. The sequence focuses on the central issue of the relationships between observable phenomena, like macroscopic behaviours of waves, and their…