Teachers' involvement in curriculum design is essential for sustaining the relevance of technology-enhanced learning materials. Customizing--making small adjustments to tailor given materials to particular situations and settings--is one design activity in which busy teachers can feasibly engage. Research indicates that customizations based…

The aim of this study was to investigate the development of metacognitive strategy knowledge (MSK) during schooling at the upper secondary education level and to examine its relation with individual student characteristics. This longitudinal study with two measurement points analyzed a sample of students in grades 10 and 11 from 19 schools…

The introduction of problem-based learning into K-12 science classrooms faces the challenge of achieving the dual goal of learning science content and developing problem-solving skills. To overcome this content-process tension in science classrooms, we employed the knowledge-creation approach as a boundary object between the two seemingly…

Critical thinking is a unifying goal of modern education. While past research has mostly examined the efficacy of a single instructional approach to teaching critical thinking, recent literature has begun discussing mixed teaching approaches. The present study examines three modes of instruction, featuring the direct instruction approach and the…

Teachers and students have their own perceptions of education. Congruent perceptions contribute to optimal teaching-learning processes and help achieving best learning outcomes. This study investigated patterns in differences between students' and teachers' perceptions of their learning environment. Student profiles were identified…

This study was concerned with identifying prerequisites for the successful use of videos that offer different levels of interactivity. In a homework scenario, 64 ninth graders participated either in a search training demonstrating the efficient use of features facilitating the selection of relevant information or in a control training focusing on…

Biggs' 3P (Presage-Process-Product) model, a key framework in Student Learning Theory, provides a powerful means of understanding relations between students' perceptions of the teaching and learning environment, learning strategies, and learning outcomes. While influential in higher education, fewer tests of the model in secondary…

Based on the theoretical framework of self-regulated learning (SRL), the study aimed to examine whether the proposed relationship between classroom environment and students' SRL was applicable in the case of Chinese readers. In this study, a questionnaire measuring students' perception of reading instruction, strategy use, and reading…

This study investigated the impact on chemistry learning of the degree to which students embedded or integrated multiple modes of representation in end of unit writing-to-learn activities. A multi-case study approach utilizing quasi-experimental methodology involving intact high school chemistry classes taught by two different teachers was…

This paper aims to study the relationship between questioning and the quality of knowledge constructed in a CSCL context. In previous studies, different units of analysis are employed and the patterns of relationships are not consistent for different age groups. The analytic units of a thread, an individual, and a group are employed in this study,…

Much knowledge in chemistry exists at a molecular level, inaccessible to direct perception. Chemistry instruction should therefore include multiple visual representations, such as molecular models and symbols. This study describes the implementation and assessment of a learning unit designed for 12th grade chemistry honors students. The organic…

Considering well-documented difficulties in mastering ecology concepts and system thinking, the aim of the study was to examine 9th graders' understanding of the complex, multilevel, systemic construct of feeding relations, nested within a larger system of a live model. Fifty students interacted with the model and manipulated a variable within it…

This study reports the effects of online peer assessment, in the form of peer grading and peer feedback, on students' learning. One hundred and eighty one high school students engaged in peer assessment via an online system--iLap. The number of grade-giving and grade-receiving experiences was examined and the peer feedback was coded according to…

In a study with ninth-grade mathematics students on learning the concept of variance, students experienced either direct instruction (DI) or productive failure (PF), wherein they were first asked to generate a quantitative index for variance without any guidance before receiving DI on the concept. Whereas DI students relied only on the canonical…

This paper investigates the idea that the framing of learning and transfer contexts can influence students' propensity to transfer what they have learned. We predicted that transfer would be promoted by framing contexts in an expansive manner in which students are positioned as having the opportunity to contribute to larger conversations that…