In this study, we investigated how secondary students interpret algebraic expressions that contain literal symbols to stand for variables. We hypothesized that the natural number bias (i.e., the tendency to over-rely on knowledge and experiences based on natural numbers) would affect students to think that the literal symbols stand for natural…

Behavioral research demonstrates a critical transition in preschooler's mental-state understanding (i.e., theory of mind; ToM), revealed most starkly in performance on tasks about a character's false belief (e.g., about an object's location). Questions remain regarding the neural and cognitive processes differentiating children who pass versus…

Task understanding is theorized as a critical aspect of effective learning, but its role in self-regulated learning and overall academic performance has been understudied. Research to date indicates that students with adequate task understanding perform well. However, these studies have not demonstrated what practices are needed for developing…

The demands of learning in the twenty-first century require being skilled in the use and comprehension of multiple documents. Some individual factors such as the metacognitive skill of theory of mind (ToM) are related to this ability. This study investigated the relationship between university students' ability to comprehend multiple documents,…

In recent years, an increasing number of studies have examined the association between mathematical abilities and executive functions (EFs). However, it remains unknown via which mechanisms' mathematical performance is associated with EFs. The current study examined the associations of overall task proficiency, strategy selection, and strategy…

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of the Predict-Explain-Observe-Discuss-Explain (PEODE)-based laboratory on enhancing the verbal and figural creativity of gifted students. The quasi-experimental research design utilised a pre- and post-test approach with a non-equivalent control group, consisting of 60 sixth-grade gifted students.…

Mathematical problem solving remains a struggle for many students today (Celebioglu et al., 2010; Englard, 2010; Gavaz et al., 2021; N. H. Lee et al., 2014; Yeo, 2011). Though intervention studies have reported measured impact on improving students' problem-solving abilities (Gavaz et al., 2021; Gidalevich & Kramarski, 2019; N. H. Lee et al.,…

A growing consensus holds that preservice K-8 teachers (PSTs) need to experience the modeling process as learners to understand it and envision teaching modeling in their future classrooms. We examine this recommendation by exploring how PSTs construct models and how collaborative learning practices influence them in revising and refining their…

Prompting learners to generate examples has been proposed as an effective way of developing understanding of a new concept. However, empirical support for this approach is lacking. This article presents two empirical studies on the use of example-generation tasks in an online course in introductory university mathematics. The first study compares…

We tested whether second language (L2) learners rely more on explicit memory during structural priming at lower than at higher proficiency levels (Hartsuiker & Bernolet, 2017). We compared within-L2 priming with lexical overlap in 100 low and 100 high proficiency French L2 speakers under low versus high working memory load conditions induced…

Although stories for children often feature supernatural and fantastical events, children themselves often prefer realistic events when choosing what should happen in a story. In two experiments, we investigated whether 3- to 5-year-olds (total N = 240 from diverse backgrounds) might be more likely to include fantastical events in stories about…

Past work has shown that eye movements are affected by long-term memory across different tasks and instructional manipulations. In the current study, we tested whether these memory-based eye movements persist when memory retrieval is under intentional control. Participants encoded multiple scenes with six objects (three faces; three tools). Next,…

The development of proportional reasoning is crucial for higher-level mathematical skills. Various studies have demonstrated that the numerical structures of problems have an impact on the strategies used to solve direct proportional problems. This research was conducted to determine eighth grade students' strategies for solving inverse…

Jigsaw puzzles are ubiquitous developmental toys in Western societies, used here to examine the development of metarepresentation. For jigsaw puzzles this entails understanding that individual pieces, when assembled, produce a picture. In Experiment 1, 3- to 5-year-olds (N = 117) completed jigsaw puzzles that were normal, had no picture, or…

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can struggle with visual updating. In a previous picture morphing study (Burnett and Jellema 2012) adults with ASD recognized the second picture significantly later when seeing one picture gradually changing into another. The aim of the current study was to test whether this previously reported…