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Full-Text Articles in Education
Moving College Students To A Better Understanding Of Substrate Specificity Of Enzymes Through Utilizing Multimedia Pre-Training And An Interactive Enzyme Model, Mounir R. Saleh
Dissertations
Scientists’ progress in understanding enzyme specificity uncovered a complex natural phenomenon. However, not all of the currently available biology textbooks seem to be up to date on this progress. Students’ understanding of how enzymes work is a core requirement in biochemistry and biology tertiary education. Nevertheless, current pre-college science education does not provide students with enough biochemical background to enable them to understand complex material such as this. To bridge this gap, a multimedia pre-training presentation was prepared to fuel the learner’s prior knowledge with discrete facts necessary to understand the presented concept. This treatment is also known to manage …
Effects Of Reducing The Cognitive Load Of Mathematics Test Items On Student Performance, Susan C. Gillmor, John Poggio, Susan Embretson
Effects Of Reducing The Cognitive Load Of Mathematics Test Items On Student Performance, Susan C. Gillmor, John Poggio, Susan Embretson
Numeracy
This study explores a new item-writing framework for improving the validity of math assessment items. The authors transfer insights from Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), traditionally used in instructional design, to educational measurement. Fifteen, multiple-choice math assessment items were modified using research-based strategies for reducing extraneous cognitive load. An experimental design with 222 middle-school students tested the effects of the reduced cognitive load items on student performance and anxiety. Significant findings confirm the main research hypothesis that reducing the cognitive load of math assessment items improves student performance. Three load-reducing item modifications are identified as particularly effective for reducing item difficulty: …