When students have varying prior knowledge, personalized instruction is desirable. One way to personalize instruction is by using adaptive e-learning to offer training of varying complexity. In this study, we developed a web-based adaptive tutor to teach PCR primer design: the PCR Tutor. We used part of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between mathematics content knowledge and teacher efficacy during an elementary mathematics methods course. A positive moderate relationship between content knowledge and personal teaching efficacy was found, and this relationship was stable during the course. No relationship was found…

This study investigated the effects of different teaching and learning methods for statistics for 2 levels of prior knowledge on cognitive load, propositional knowledge, and conceptual understanding. Teaching methods were whether or not to provide students with propositional information, and learning strategies were self-explaining the learning…

Not enough is known about the online instructor in higher education and about the experiences of instructors who move from face-to-face to online teaching. It is within the context of higher education that this research project on the processes by which faculty learn to teach online was conducted. Specifically, the study addressed the following…

This study used a cross-case analysis methodology to compare four line-of-inquiry studies of desktop virtual environments (DVEs) to examine the relationships of gender and computer gaming experience to learning performance and perceptions. Comparison was made of learning patterns in a general non-technical DVE with patterns in technically complex,…

This study investigated the relationship between problem familiarity and students' learning in a problem-based course. Problem familiarity in this study refers to the extent to which a problem fits with students' prior knowledge and experiences. As part of regular course work, 172 students were given two problems on different occasions.…

In this paper we try to assess whether there are differences in a group when their members try to remember the content of a text, and if this fact affects the learning levels through an experimental methodology with a design of two groups only with posttest to assess the readers' free recall after reading a text. We found firstly interindividual…

This article highlights how English language learners' (ELLs) prior knowledge can be used to help learn science vocabulary. The article explains that the concept of prior knowledge needs to encompass the ELL student's native language, previous science learning, native literacy skills, and native cultural knowledge and life experiences.…

In this article, I summarize an interview-based, qualitative research study conducted with ten Marine student veterans on their experiences with college composition courses, focusing particularly on the how the participants' previous interactions with teaching, learning, and writing in the Marine Corps have impacted their perceptions and…

Academic study abroad programs are uniquely equipped to give students the opportunities to achieve outcomes for global citizenship (Langran, Langran, and Ozment 2009). These programs take students outside the confines of their home institutions and expose students to new cultures and languages while integrating academic content to enhance the…

Three experiments examined conceptual change from reading refutational texts and how such learning interacted with prior knowledge organization. Prior to reading, 3 groups of learners were identified on the basis of their prior knowledge of the targeted concept: 2 groups held misconceptions; 1 group was generally accurate. Experiment 1 tested…

This article examines possibilities associated with the cultivation of balanced regional images via the use of simple methods. Two experiments based on the primacy effect and the painting picture rule, or visual depiction of regions, were conducted. The results show significant differences in the formation of regional images. More specifically,…

Most theories of analogical transfer focus on similarities between the learning and transfer domains, where transfer is more likely between domains that share common surface features, similar elements, or common interpretations of structure. We suggest that characteristics of the learning instantiation alone can give rise to different levels of…

This article outlines a model for teaching both computer games and videogames in the classroom for teachers. The model illustrates the connections between in-game actions and youth gaming culture. The article explains how the out-of-school knowledge building, creation and collaboration that occurs in gaming and gaming culture has an impact on…

In this paper, the researchers analyse how lifelong learning can be enriched and develop a different perspective based on the experiment involving the accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL) conducted in France at the university level. The French system for the accreditation of prior experiential learning, called Validation des Acquis…