Teachers' use of everyday cognitive heuristics can lead to biases in information processing and, thus, to unfair assessments of student characteristics. This problem can be addressed by a core aspect of research-based learning, i.e., by making use of principles and methods of empirical research in order to systematically collect information.…

We draw on theories of policy enactment to explore the ways in which the situated, material and external contexts and professional cultures in adult literacy in the UK have influenced practitioners. Our analysis of the transnational (OECD, EU) and UK external policy contexts found that skills-related education is prioritised, with a focus on…

The purpose of this research is to better understand the uses and potential of triadic dialogue (initiation-response-feedback) as a dominant discourse pattern in test-driven environments. We used a Bakhtinian dialogic perspective to analyze interactions among high-stakes tests and triadic dialogue. Specifically, the study investigated (a) the…

Studies show that how students think of mathematics is related to their approach to learning and course performance; views that fall into one of two categories, fragmented or cohesive conceptions of math. Students who view mathematics as a complex system that can be used to explain the world around them (cohesive), often adopt deeper approaches to…

Recursion is one of the most difficult programming topics for students. In this paper, an instructional method is proposed to enhance students' understanding of recursion tracing. The proposal is based on the use of rules to translate linear recursion algorithms into equivalent, iterative ones. The paper has two main contributions: the…

One of the main challenges for teachers during teaching in class is the diagnosis of students' learning and thinking processes. For this purpose, teachers must perceive relevant information, they need to interpret this information and finally, they need to respond and select suitable opportunities to learn. In this paper, diagnostic processes in…

Recently, there has been increasing pedagogical interest in the qualities and characteristics of movement. This article examines these qualities and characteristics in terms of John Dewey's distinction between abstract, linguistic "significant" meanings and concrete, embodied "imminent" meanings. Imminent meanings are comprised…

In universities, as in mainstream education more widely, cognitive approaches to poetry are often dominant. Far from being irrelevant to the serious study of literature, we argue that eliciting students' affective responses to poetry can deepen their cognitive understanding and analytical skills. Drawing on recent research in psychology on the…

A study of the interactions between mathematics and cognitive science, carried out within a historical perspective, is important for a better understanding of mathematics education in the present. This is evident when analysing the contribution made by the epistemological theories of Ernst Mach. On the basis of such theories, a didactic method was…

To deepen our understanding of those aspects of problems that cause the most difficulty for solvers, this study integrated eye-tracking with handwriting devices to investigate problem solvers' online processes while solving geometry problems. We are interested in whether the difference between successful and unsuccessful solvers can be identified…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore students' perceptions to changes to the learning environment of their undergraduate physics laboratories, in which their scientific inquiry processes were stimulated. Design/methodology/approach: The activities students engaged in were redesigned to reflect a guided inquiry approach and to…

Engineering design activities offer the promise of enhanced learning and teaching in pre-college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) settings. The wide variation and lack of coherence in research and practice concerning pre-college engineering design challenges necessitates an investigation of the literature. The overarching…

Vygotsky (in: Rieber, Carton (eds) The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky, vol 1, Pleneum Press, Newyork, pp 167-241, Retrieved from http://images.lib.monash.edu.au/edf5411/04118997.pdf, 1987) stated that academic or scientific concepts require a level of conscious awareness on the part of the child within everyday situations. Academic concepts can…

The purpose of education is to actualise meaningful learning. Therefore, researching the issues on how students process information and how they configure it is important for meaningful learning. The issue of protein synthesis contains a number of abstract topics and concepts. Hence, it is important in biology teaching to be informed of students'…

This article introduces an approach that middle-school teachers can follow to help their students carry out linguistic-based literary analyses. As an example, it draws on Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) to show how J.K. Rowling used language to characterize Hermione as an intelligent female in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."…