One can easily identify the United States of America by the Statue of Liberty, France by the Eiffel Tower, Egypt by its Great Sphinx, and China by its Great Wall. What do these landmarks tell people about these places? What are the characteristics of the place and culture that are symbolized by these landmarks? These questions can serve as the…

This paper describes the conceptualizations, or mental models, of the nature of the bonding and structure of metals of a group of U.K. college students. It is suggested that these mental models may be understood in terms of the students' prior learning about covalent and ionic bonding, and the prevalence of a common alternative conceptual…

This study investigates the effect of background knowledge in languages for specific academic purposes (LSAP) tests. Following the observation of previous studies that the effect of background knowledge varies according to the level of language proficiency, the study applied the theory of linguistic thresholds to LSAP reading tests. The research…

NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics advises that school mathematics experiences at all levels should include opportunities to learn about mathematics by working on problems arising in contexts outside of mathematics. Students should be given the opportunity to learn mathematics by building on their understandings of how the…

Research and theory on second language reading has reached heightened dimensions in recent years. It is through reading that learners access much information concerning the target language and culture, and consequently reading is an important part of almost all language programs across stages of acquisition. The purpose of this article is to offer…

It is recognized widely that learning is a dynamic and idiosyncratic process of construction and reconstruction of concepts in response to new experiences. It is influenced by the learner's prior knowledge, motivation, and sociocultural context. This study investigated how year 11 and 12 physics students' metacognition influences the development…

Many factors influence students' reading practices. In the case of international students, home country educational practices and socio-cultural factors may pose a greater influence than for local students. This study reported here, part of a larger study, investigated the intertextual framing practices used in reading by a cohort of Thai…

Instructional designers need to understand the internal processes of learning, identify learners' cognitive difficulties with those processes, and create strategies to help learners overcome those difficulties. Generative learning theory, one conception of human learning about cognitive functioning and process, emphasizes that meaningful learning…

This book summarizes the major research findings that show how to substantially increase student achievement. This book draws on a number of investigators who have statistically synthesized many studies. A new education method showing superior results in 90% of the studies concerning it has more credibility than a method that shows results in only…

This study examined the relationship between level of experience and application of prior financial knowledge on the ability of auditing students and professionals to answer questions about financial statements. This study answers the following questions: (1) Is there a positive relationship between experience and the number of causal relations…

This study sought to determine the effects of prior knowledge and other personal variables on the achievement of undergraduates in an economics course at the Open University of the Netherlands (OuN). A total of 100 law and 100 economics students enrolled in "Economics and Money" were tested on subject mastery at the end of the course.…

The purpose of this manual, which accompanies a video program, is to provide general background information for foreign language teachers who are, or soon will be, teaching in total, partial, or two-way immersion classrooms. Part of a series of video programs, this manual highlights techniques, strategies, and special considerations that immersion…

The technology, symbol systems, and processing capabilities of a medium interact to provide unique opportunities for information access. This exploratory study examines the way that learners process videotaped materials on a familiar or unfamiliar topic as informed by text-based research. A variation of the think-aloud method of assessing…

Computer-based instruction opens new avenues for increasing the variety of possible feedback strategies that a teacher may employ to optimize learner performance. Feedback effectiveness is influenced by the nature of learning task and student ability. This study investigates the effects of digitized feedback and ability on the achievement of…

In educational psychology research the concept "prior knowledge" is not always clearly described, but it is important to distinguish prior knowledge state (PKS) components as well as possible and to elucidate the relations among these elements. An in-case-study was conducted into the operationalizing of the concept of prior knowledge and…