The aim of this study is to apply the jigsaw technique in Social Sciences teaching and to unroll the effects of this technique on learning. The unit "Science within Time" in the secondary 7th grade Social Sciences text book was chosen for the research. It is aimed to compare the jigsaw technique with the traditional teaching method in…

Training and learning are the personal process in which individuals interact with social and cultural contexts. Immigrant trainees bring their early educational and life experiences into training classrooms, and their learning is strongly affected by their prior socialization and socio-cultural experiences. Therefore, it is necessary to provide…

The psychometric measures of accuracy, reliability and validity of peer assessment are critical qualities for its use as a supplement to instructor grading. In this study, we seek to determine which factors related to peer review are the most influential on these psychometric measures, with a primary focus on the accuracy of peer assessment or how…

An eye-tracking study with 60 native Swedish speakers (18-30 years) was conducted to investigate the positive effects on learning outcomes predicted by the disfluency effect. Subtle low-pass filtering was used as a disfluency manipulation and compared with a control condition using regular text. The text was presented on four separate text…

Learning outcomes have become an integral part of the global trend in higher education reform and are employed in three interconnected areas: (1) quality assurance, (2) teaching and learning, and (3) transfer credit. The article touches briefly on the first two areas, but focuses discussion on employing learning outcomes in transfer credit. Using…

In the comprehension of multiple controversial scientific texts, readers with strong prior beliefs tend to construct a one-sided mental representation that is biased towards belief-consistent information. In the present study, we examined whether an argument in contrast to a summary task instruction can increase the resource allocation to and…

This paper is focused on an innovation which involved students being assessed on short written responses to an issue to be addressed in the following classroom session. The innovation was evaluated through a student survey, individual and focus-group interviews with participants, and the analysis of a critical friend. Positive findings included…

Generalist teacher educators in Australia are struggling with an impossible expectation in the area of arts education. This is due to a cascading trio of systemic issues. Firstly generalist teachers are entering their teacher education courses with variable and often minimal personal arts training. Secondly they are ill supported to improve their…

Evolutionary theory is the central unifying theory of the life sciences. However, acceptance and understanding of the theory have been found to be lacking in the general public, high school, and university populations. Prior research has linked low acceptance of the theory to a poor knowledge base in evolution, to the nature of science, and to…

Previous qualitative research on educational practices designed to improve critical thinking has relied on anecdotal or student self-reports of gains in critical thinking. Unfortunately, student self-report data have been found to be unreliable proxies for measuring critical thinking gains. Therefore, in the current interpretivist study, five…

Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) is the evaluation and assessment of learning gained outside a traditional academic environment for college credit, certification, or advanced standing toward further education or training. The term PLA encompasses a wide spectrum of assessment methods, including, but not limited to, credit by examination, challenge…

In an effort to support a solid grounding in educational theory within the field of museum education, three texts considered essential reading for museum educators were surveyed for correlations with Merrill's First Principles of Instruction, an influential work in the field of instructional design. Each of five First Principles were found to be…

As teachers working with students in entry-level algebra classes, authors Amy Nebesniak and A. Aaron Burgoa realized that their instruction was a major factor in how their students viewed mathematics. They often presented students with abstract formulas that seemed to appear out of thin air. One instance occurred while they were teaching students…

A key highlight of this study is generating evidence of children "making aware the unaware", making tacit knowledge explicit. The research explores the levels of awareness in thinking used by eight 7-8 year-old children when engaged in school-based genre writing tasks. The focus is on analysing children's awareness of their thought…

This paper explores the emotional responses that assignment feedback can provoke in first-year undergraduates. The literature on the link between emotions and learning is well established, but surprisingly research on the relationship between emotions and feedback is still relatively scarce. This article aims to make an additional contribution to…