Alexander Renkl
Biographic Data
| ID | 1538591 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alexander Renkl |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alexander |
| FAMILY NAME | Renkl |
| SIGNATURE | RENKL A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Freiburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7971-0619 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 40 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 40 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
On the challenges of investigating lasting learning
This commentary discusses the special issue “Toward lasting learning: Cognitive mechanisms and instructional means to maintain the outcomes of meaningful learning”. The call for this special issue specified the following prerequisites for the single contributions. First, they should test theoretical assumptions about the conditions and processes of meaningful lasting learning. Second, they should use authentic educational materials. Third, lastin…
Generative and Retrieval Tasks
Engaging in both generative tasks (main function: knowledge construction) and retrieval tasks (main function: knowledge consolidation) is a common means for supporting knowledge acquisition. In the present study, we investigated the role of task sequence (i.e., generative‐before‐retrieval vs. retrieval‐before‐generative) and its potential dependence on learning task delay (i.e., delay between initial study phase and follow‐up generative or retrie…
Seductive Details Behind Hyperlinks—Harmful or Helpful for Learning
Punchline with(out) purpose
INTRODUCTION: We integrated research on instructional humour and seductive details to investigate when affiliative course-related humour is effective or rather ineffective for learning. We assumed that instructional humour without a cognitive function (irrelevant humour) would have detrimental effects on learning performance resembling the seductive details effect, whereas humour with a cognitive function (e.g., humorous analogies illustrating th…
Sustaining focus when It's hardest
Learners increasingly use digital devices such as laptops or tablets for studying. While these devices offer advantages, they also pose challenges. They present attractive alternative opportunities for learners, such as communication or entertainment opportunities that may distract from learning. Such alternatives increase demand for self-control, particularly over time. We investigated the potential of emotional design in learning materials to s…
Combining generative tasks and retrieval tasks
Both tasks designed to elicit generative activities (i.e., generative tasks) and tasks designed to elicit retrieval activities (i.e., retrieval tasks) can substantially foster learning after an initial study phase in which learners encountered new content. More specifically, in line with the theoretical notion that generative tasks serve the function of fostering the construction of mental representations, generative tasks have been found to subs…
Advancing Preservice Science Teachers' Skills to Assess Student Thinking On-the-Fly Through Practice-Based Learning
Teachers' assessment of student thinking is both difficult to attain and essential for responsive teaching in ongoing interaction during science lessons. Principles of practice-based learning provide a basis for the design of learning environments which may equip prospective teachers for this challenging task. In an experimental study ( N = 104), we examined the extent that the use of different media types as representations of practice (video an…
Video‐based modeling examples and comparative self‐explanation prompts for teaching a complex problem‐solving strategy
Digital re‐attributional feedback in high school mathematics education and its effect on motivation and achievement
Better self-explaining backwards or forwards? Prompting self-explanation in video-based modelling examples for learning a diagnostic strategy
Self-explanation prompts in example-based learning are usually directed backwards: Learners are required to self-explain problem-solving steps just presented ( retrospective prompts). However, it might also help to self-explain upcoming steps ( anticipatory prompts). The effects of the prompt type may differ for learners with various expertise levels, with anticipatory prompts being better for learners with more expertise. In an experiment, we em…
Signaling cues and focused prompts for professional vision support
In teacher education, video representations of practice offer a motivating means for applying conceptual teaching knowledge toward real-world settings. With video analysis, preservice teachers can begin cultivating professional vision skills through noticing and reasoning about presented core teaching practices. However, with novices’ limited prior knowledge and experience, processing transient information from video can be challenging. Multimedi…
Engaging in writing to learn – Increasing the motivation during a long-term self-regulated learning training
Introduction University students should be able to self-regulate their learning to gain the most from their studies. Extended self-regulated-learning trainings can help students to reach that goal. A frequent problem of such trainings is that students’ motivation decreases over the course of training. To avoid this decrease, we combined a learning-journal-based, self-regulated-learning training with a learning environment teaching conditional kno…
How can signaling in authentic classroom videos support reasoning on how to induce learning strategies
Classroom videos are a viable means to implement evidence-informed reasoning in teacher education in order to establish an evidence-informed teaching practice. Although learning with videos relieves pre-service teachers from acting in parallel and might reduce complexity, the material still poses higher cognitive load than written text vignettes or other traditionally used static material. In particular, the information they deliver is transient …
Knowing what matters
How does teachers' noticing of students' fixed mindsets relate to teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and experience? An exploratory study
Students' belief that abilities are unchangeable (fixed mindset) can hamper learning. Teachers should thus be able to recognize such problematic beliefs. We explored whether teachers' skills to notice students' fixed mindset were related to teachers' knowledge about learners' beliefs, teachers' mindset, and their experience. Our sample included pre-service and in-service mathematics teachers (N = 112). Noticing (i.e., attending and interpreting) …
Can prior knowledge increase task complexity? - Cases in which higher prior knowledge leads to higher intrinsic cognitive load
Background & AimsCognitive load theory assumes that the higher the learner's prior knowledge (i.e., the more expert the learner), the lower the intrinsic cognitive load (complexity) experienced for a given problem. While this is the case in many scenarios, there can be cases in which the converse is also true, resulting in more expert learners reporting higher intrinsic cognitive load than novices for the same problem. This can occur in relation …
Developing scripted video cases for teacher education
Video cases are commonly used in teacher education to support evidence-based professional knowledge acquisition. Novice teachers, however, often struggle when learning with video, since they lack professional knowledge schemata that facilitate noticing and reasoning about relevant events. Scripted video case development provides an approach to make relevant events more salient and visible. In alignment with previously reported approaches, we appl…
An Epistemic Network Approach to Teacher Students’ Professional Vision in Tutoring Video Analysis
Video-based training offers teacher students approximations of practice for developing professional vision (PV; i.e., noticing and reasoning) of core teaching practices. While much video analysis research focuses on whole-classroom scenarios, for early PV training, it is unclear whether the focused instructional context of tutoring could be an appropriate and potentially supportive design element. The present study describes 42 biology teacher st…
Personalized refutation texts best stimulate teachers' conceptual change about multimedia learning
Refuting student teachers’ misconceptions about multimedia learning
Prior research indicates that student teachers frequently have misconceptions about multimedia learning. Our experiment with N = 96 student teachers revealed that, in contrast to standard texts, refutation texts are effective to address misconceptions about multimedia learning. However, there seems to be no added benefit of making “concessions” to student teachers’ prior beliefs (i.e., two-sided argumentation) in refutation texts. Moreover, refut…
How preparation-for-learning with a worked versus an open inventing problem affect subsequent learning processes in pre-service teachers
A worked-out or an open inventing problem with contrasting cases can prepare learners for learning from subsequent instruction differently regarding motivation and cognition. In addition, such activities potentially initiate different learning processes during the subsequent (“future”) learning phase. In this experiment ( N = 45 pre-service teachers), we aimed to replicate effects of earlier studies on learning outcomes and, on this basis, to ana…
Promoting car mechatronics apprentices' diagnostic strategy with modeling examples
Seductive details do their damage also in longer learning sessions – When the details are perceived as relevant
Adjunct aids and signals support online learning from multiple representations
To achieve deeper understanding when learning from multiple representations, learners should actively select, organize and integrate the relevant information from text and graphics within a coherent mental representation. However, as learners often fail to select and integrate all relevant information, especially from graphics, they need specific instructional support. The current study investigated the effects of instructional support in the for…
When and why does emotional design foster learning? Evidence for situational interest as a mediator of increased persistence
Instructional strategies for using video in teacher education
Student teachers' prior knowledge as prerequisite to learn how to assess pupils' learning strategies
Informing about climate change and invasive species
Environmental issues such as climate change are becoming ever more important in today’s societies and politics. Information is spread by the media, for example, via the Internet or information brochures, employing different representational styles (e.g. sensational vs. neutral styles, emphasis of human vs. natural causes). We investigated the effects of such differences in presentation when informing about local impacts of climate change – more s…
Knowing what matters
Can prior knowledge increase task complexity? - Cases in which higher prior knowledge leads to higher intrinsic cognitive load
Background & AimsCognitive load theory assumes that the higher the learner's prior knowledge (i.e., the more expert the learner), the lower the intrinsic cognitive load (complexity) experienced for a given problem. While this is the case in many scenarios, there can be cases in which the converse is also true, resulting in more expert learners reporting higher intrinsic cognitive load than novices for the same problem. This can occur in relation …
Advancing Preservice Science Teachers' Skills to Assess Student Thinking On-the-Fly Through Practice-Based Learning
Teachers' assessment of student thinking is both difficult to attain and essential for responsive teaching in ongoing interaction during science lessons. Principles of practice-based learning provide a basis for the design of learning environments which may equip prospective teachers for this challenging task. In an experimental study ( N = 104), we examined the extent that the use of different media types as representations of practice (video an…
Learning from Examples
Worked examples are instructional devices that provide an expert's problem solution for a learner to study. Worked-examples research is a cognitive-experimental program that has relevance to classroom instruction and the broader educational research community. A frame- work for organizing the findings of this research is proposed, leading to instructional design principles. For instance, one instructional design principle suggests that effective …
Lehren und Lernen
Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt die wichtigsten Grundzüge psychologisch-orientierter Lehr-Lern-Forschung dar. Dabei wird sowohl die traditionelle, am kognitiven Paradigma angelehnte Forschungstradition diskutiert, als auch der neuere Situiertheitsansatz in seinen Grundzügen vorgestellt. In der traditionellen Sichtweise wird Lernen insbesondere unter den Gesichtspunkten der Informationsverarbeitung, also des Kodierens, Speicherns, Transformierens u…
Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design
(2003). Cognitive Load Theory and Instructional Design: Recent Developments. Educational Psychologist: Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 1-4.
Cognitive Load Theory
Do learning protocols support learning strategies and outcomes? The role of cognitive and metacognitive prompts
Cognitive Load Theory
Development and Evaluation of a Computer-Based Learning Environment for Teachers
Training teachers to assess important components of self-regulated learning such as learning strategies is an important, yet somewhat neglected, aspect of the integration of self-regulated learning at school. Learning journals can be used to assess learning strategies in line with cyclical process models of self-regulated learning, allowing for rich formative feedback. Against this background, we developed a computer-based learning environment (C…
Informing about climate change and invasive species
Environmental issues such as climate change are becoming ever more important in today’s societies and politics. Information is spread by the media, for example, via the Internet or information brochures, employing different representational styles (e.g. sensational vs. neutral styles, emphasis of human vs. natural causes). We investigated the effects of such differences in presentation when informing about local impacts of climate change – more s…
Instructional strategies for using video in teacher education
Toward an Instructionally Oriented Theory of Example‐Based Learning
Learning from examples is a very effective means of initial cognitive skill acquisition. There is an enormous body of research on the specifics of this learning method. This article presents an instructionally oriented theory of example‐based learning that integrates theoretical assumptions and findings from three research areas: learning from worked examples, observational learning, and analogical reasoning. This theory has descriptive and presc…
Student teachers' prior knowledge as prerequisite to learn how to assess pupils' learning strategies
When and why does emotional design foster learning? Evidence for situational interest as a mediator of increased persistence
Timing matters! Explaining between study phases enhances students’ learning
Previous research has shown that explaining is an effective activity to enhance learning.In prior studies, students were instructed to explain the contents after completing an entire learning phase.Explaining at the end of a learning phase, however, may be less apt to support comprehension monitoring and subsequent regulation activities.In two experiments, we investigated whether explaining in earlier phases of studying (i.e., in-between explaini…
Does an option to review instructional explanations enhance example-based learning? It depends on learners’ academic self-concept
Example-based learning often uses a design in which learners first receive basic instructional explanations of new principles and concepts and then examples thereof. In this sequence, it is crucial that learners self-explain by using the content of the basic instructional explanations to elaborate on the examples. Typically, learners are not provided with access to the basic instructional explanations while they engage in self-explaining. However…
It matters how to recall – task differences in retrieval practice
The type of a recall task may substantially influence the effects of learning by retrieval practice. In a within-subject design, 54 university students studied two expository texts, followed by retrieval practice with either short-answer tasks (targeted retrieval) or a free-recall task (holistic retrieval). Concerning the direct effects of retrieval practice, short-answer tasks led to increased retention of directly retrieved targeted information…
Towards a Growth Mindset Culture in the Classroom
A mindset training aims to strengthen the belief that abilities are malleable (growth mindset), which has proven to be beneficial for learning. Teachers can support the effects of such a training by establishing a classroom culture in line with the growth mindset idea. Yet, previous training programs have mostly been detached from regular lessons. In this study, a physics teacher implemented a mindset training that consisted of explicit training …
Seductive details do their damage also in longer learning sessions – When the details are perceived as relevant
Adjunct aids and signals support online learning from multiple representations
To achieve deeper understanding when learning from multiple representations, learners should actively select, organize and integrate the relevant information from text and graphics within a coherent mental representation. However, as learners often fail to select and integrate all relevant information, especially from graphics, they need specific instructional support. The current study investigated the effects of instructional support in the for…
Developing scripted video cases for teacher education
Video cases are commonly used in teacher education to support evidence-based professional knowledge acquisition. Novice teachers, however, often struggle when learning with video, since they lack professional knowledge schemata that facilitate noticing and reasoning about relevant events. Scripted video case development provides an approach to make relevant events more salient and visible. In alignment with previously reported approaches, we appl…
An Epistemic Network Approach to Teacher Students’ Professional Vision in Tutoring Video Analysis
Video-based training offers teacher students approximations of practice for developing professional vision (PV; i.e., noticing and reasoning) of core teaching practices. While much video analysis research focuses on whole-classroom scenarios, for early PV training, it is unclear whether the focused instructional context of tutoring could be an appropriate and potentially supportive design element. The present study describes 42 biology teacher st…
Personalized refutation texts best stimulate teachers' conceptual change about multimedia learning
Refuting student teachers’ misconceptions about multimedia learning
Prior research indicates that student teachers frequently have misconceptions about multimedia learning. Our experiment with N = 96 student teachers revealed that, in contrast to standard texts, refutation texts are effective to address misconceptions about multimedia learning. However, there seems to be no added benefit of making “concessions” to student teachers’ prior beliefs (i.e., two-sided argumentation) in refutation texts. Moreover, refut…
How preparation-for-learning with a worked versus an open inventing problem affect subsequent learning processes in pre-service teachers
A worked-out or an open inventing problem with contrasting cases can prepare learners for learning from subsequent instruction differently regarding motivation and cognition. In addition, such activities potentially initiate different learning processes during the subsequent (“future”) learning phase. In this experiment ( N = 45 pre-service teachers), we aimed to replicate effects of earlier studies on learning outcomes and, on this basis, to ana…
Promoting car mechatronics apprentices' diagnostic strategy with modeling examples
Engaging in writing to learn – Increasing the motivation during a long-term self-regulated learning training
Introduction University students should be able to self-regulate their learning to gain the most from their studies. Extended self-regulated-learning trainings can help students to reach that goal. A frequent problem of such trainings is that students’ motivation decreases over the course of training. To avoid this decrease, we combined a learning-journal-based, self-regulated-learning training with a learning environment teaching conditional kno…
Psychology (34 works) · Mathematics education (27 works) · Computer Science (23 works) · Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes (23 works) · Educational Strategies and Epistemologies (16 works) · Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods (16 works) · Cognition (13 works) · Cognitive psychology (13 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Pedagogy (10 works)