Explains an educational framegame called Information Basketball for adult or teen players that can be used as a review or informal group testing of previously learned materials. Includes a question set example and discusses debriefing, including sample debriefing questions. (LRW)

The facilitative effect of expertise in hypertext information retrieval (IR) tasks has been widely reported in related literature. However, recent theories of human expertise question the robustness of this result, since previous works have not fully considered the interaction between user and system characteristics. In this study, the constraint…

Students bring a variety of experiences and prior learning with media to the classroom. And, when learning is described from a number of different theories of learning, it is these experiences on which students will construct their new learning. For today's learners, these experiences, although varied, are very likely to include experiences…

This study examined the effects of providing reading strategy instruction to improve the effectiveness of self-explanation (i.e., explaining the meaning of information to oneself while reading). The effects of the reading strategy instruction, called Self-Explanation Reading Training (SERT), were examined both in terms of comprehension scores and…

Prior knowledge has a marked effect on learning outcomes. Researchers typically rely on a number of methodologies to control for that factor in learning research, including the use of fictional stimuli and domain-novice subjects. The experiments reported here demonstrate that such methodological controls may be insufficient. In Experiment 1,…

This study investigated the effect of providing students with the objectives of a lesson before the lesson delivery on their achievement at the end of the lesson. Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The quasi-experimental pretest-posttest-control group design was used, with a total of 4 groups. All four groups were taught the same…

Students attending a lecture usually have a wide range of prior knowledge about the topic in question. Rather than seeing this as a problem, lecturers can take advantage of such differences. This article shows how students' misconceptions about old age were used to inform a lecture on the topic. Prior knowledge can thus be used to aid teaching and…

In this article, the author describes integrated science and mathematics activities developed for fourth-grade students to explore and investigate three-dimensional geometric shapes, Bernoulli's principle, estimation, and art with and through bubbles. Students were engaged in thinking and reflection on the questions their teachers asked and were…

Purpose: The purpose of this exploratory study is to identify trainee attributes relevant for development of skills in 3D computer-aided design (CAD). Design/methodology/approach: Participants were trained to perform cognitive tasks of comparable complexity over time. Performance data were collected on the time needed to construct test models, and…

Biostatistics is not universally available in colleges/universities and is thus an attractive course to offer via distance education. However, evaluation of the impact of distance education on course enrollment and student success is lacking. We evaluated an "Introduction to Biostatistics" course at Harvard University that offered the distance…

In this paper we describe Expanding Textual Repertoires (ETR) as a framework for enhancing Singaporean secondary school teachers' understanding of the nature and effective teaching of the increasingly specialized language and literacy competencies required of their students for skilled participation in the curriculum areas at the secondary grade…

Prior research has established that peer tutors can benefit academically from their tutoring experiences. However, although tutor learning has been observed across diverse settings, the magnitude of these gains is often underwhelming. In this review, the authors consider how analyses of tutors' actual behaviors may help to account for variation in…

Effectively targeting a heterogeneous student population is a common challenge in academic courses. Most traditional learning material targets the "average student," and is suboptimal for students who lack certain prior knowledge, or students who have already attained some of the course objectives. Student-activating learning material supports…

Background: Research on the presentation of information in narrative versus expository text genres is inconclusive with respect to the question of which is more beneficial for student learning. Aims: We examine the effect of presenting factual content in either narrative or expository genres on student learning. We also consider relevant prior…

During the past decade three different bridging mathematics courses have been offered at the University of Auckland. A case study approach was used to investigate the effectiveness of these courses: two larger courses and one individual study programme. A different teaching approach, by committed experienced teachers, was used in each course. The…