Manu Kapur
Biographic Data
| ID | 4609373 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Manu Kapur |
| GIVEN NAMES | Manu |
| FAMILY NAME | Kapur |
| SIGNATURE | KAPUR M |
| AFFILIATIONS | ETH Zurich |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2232-6111 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 15 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
From Body to Word: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis of Embodied Vocabulary Learning
Embodied cognition posits that cognitive processes are deeply rooted in bodies’ interactions with the world. Vocabulary learning is particularly relevant because many lexical meanings can be grounded in motor experiences, making it a compelling context for applying embodied cognition in education. Therefore, the present meta-analysis examines whether embodied instructional designs are effective in supporting vocabulary learning. Studies were iden…
Shame Regulation in Learning: A Double-Edged Sword
Previous research and classroom practices have focused on dispelling shame, assuming that it negatively impacts self-efficacy and performance, and overlook the potential for shame to facilitate learning. To investigate this gap, we designed an intervention with 132 tertiary education students (45.46% male, 64.4% European ethnicity) spanning diverse undergraduate majors to show how and why designing for experiences of shame and appropriately regul…
Teaching biology with narratives: Examining the impact of affective and cognitive variables on undergraduate student learning
Despite the challenges posed by expository instruction materials, including unfamiliar text structure and abstracted and isolated representation of the contents, they constitute a primary means of studying scientific concepts in higher education. Conversely, utilizing narratives to present the to-be-learned content was conjectured to mitigate some of these limitations. Yet, empirical evidence at the undergraduate level remains inconclusive. In th…
National disparities favoring males are reflected in girls’ implicit associations about gender and academic subjects
Based on data for N = 2,756 children (1,410 girls; M age = 8.10 years) from 16 data sets spanning five nations, this study investigated relations between national gender disparities and children's beliefs about gender and academic subjects. One national-level gender disparity involved inequalities in socioeconomic standing favoring adult males over females (U.N. Human Development Index). The other involved national-level gaps in standardized math…
Learning about multivariable causality with interactive simulations: Exploration Before Instruction May Hurt Immediate Gains but Benefits Transfer
Studying complex interactions between variables to comprehend phenomena can be challenging for students of all ages. Simulations are often used to facilitate exploratory learning of complex phenomena, but students still face difficulties in comprehending interactions between factors. This study examined the comparative effectiveness of the Problem-Solving before Instruction (PS-I) approach versus the Instruction before Problem Solving approach (I…
Problem-solving before instruction for learning linear algebra in university mathematics
Problem-solving before instruction has been shown to be a more effective learning design than traditional tell-and-practice for several mathematical concepts at the secondary school level. In particular, the more a problem-solving before instruction design follows the productive failure principles, such as comparing and contrasting student-generated solutions, the higher the effect on students’ conceptual understanding and transfer. University ma…
Embodied preparation for learning basic quantum chemistry: A mixed‐method study
Fail, flip, fix, and feed – Rethinking flipped learning: A review of meta-analyses and a subsequent meta-analysis
The current levels of enthusiasm for flipped learning are not commensurate with and far exceed the vast variability of scientific evidence in its favor. We examined 46 meta-analyses only to find remarkably different overall effects, raising the question about possible moderators and confounds, showing the need to control for the nature of the intervention. We then conducted a meta-analysis of 173 studies specifically coding the nature of the flip…
When Problem Solving Followed by Instruction Works: Evidence for Productive Failure
When learning a new concept, should students engage in problem solving followed by instruction (PS-I) or instruction followed by problem solving (I-PS)? Noting that there is a passionate debate about the design of initial learning, we report evidence from a meta-analysis of 53 studies with 166 comparisons that compared PS-I with I-PS design. Our results showed a significant, moderate effect in favor of PS-I (Hedge’s g 0.36 [95% confidence interva…
Differential benefits of explicit failure-driven and success-driven scaffolding in problem-solving prior to instruction
Unscaffolded problem-solving before receiving instruction can give students opportunities to entertain their exploratory hypotheses at the expense of experiencing initial failures. Prior literature has argued for the efficacy of such preparatory activities in preparing students to learn from instruction. Despite growing understanding of the underlying cognitive mechanisms, the pedagogical value of success or failure in initial problem-solving att…
Micro productive failure and the acquisition of algebraic procedural knowledge
Productive failure has shown positive effects on conceptual and transfer measures, but no clear effects on procedural measures. It is therefore an open question whether, and to what extent, productive failure methods may be used to enhance the learning of procedural skills. A typical productive failure study focuses on a single, complex concept; in contrast, procedural knowledge generally consists of a series of less-complex procedural steps. In …
Validation Reconceived: The Double Treatment Experimental Design
Learning is a process that leads to outcomes. The science of learning is the epistemic practice of investigating the relationship between this process and its outcomes. We propose a novel method for the study of learning: The Double Treatment experimental design. The core design for experimental studies in the Learning Sciences consists of two elements, learning activities together with assessments of their outcomes. In conventional Single Treatm…
Education as a Complex System: Conceptual and Methodological Implications
Education is a complex system, which has conceptual and methodological implications for education research and policy. In this article, an overview is first provided of the Complex Systems Conceptual Framework for Learning (CSCFL), which consists of a set of conceptual perspectives that are generally shared by educational complex systems, organized into two focus areas: collective behaviors of a system, and behaviors of individual agents in a sys…
Examining Productive Failure, Productive Success, Unproductive Failure, and Unproductive Success in Learning
Learning and performance are not always commensurable. Conditions that maximize performance in the initial learning may not maximize learning in the longer term. I exploit this incommensurability to theoretically and empirically interrogate four possibilities for design: productive success, productive failure, unproductive success, and unproductive failure. Instead of only looking at extreme comparisons between discovery learning and direct instr…
Productive Failure in Learning Math
When learning a new math concept, should learners be first taught the concept and its associated procedures and then solve problems, or solve problems first even if it leads to failure and then be taught the concept and the procedures? Two randomized‐controlled studies found that both methods lead to high levels of procedural knowledge. However, students who engaged in problem solving before being taught demonstrated significantly greater concept…
Designing for Productive Failure
In this article, we describe the design principles undergirding productive failure (PF; M. Kapur, 2008 Kapur, M. 2008. Productive failure. Cognition and Instruction, 26: 379–424. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We then report findings from an ongoing program of research on PF in mathematical problem solving in 3 Singapore public schools with significantly different mathematical ability profiles, ranging from ave…
Productive Failure
This study demonstrates an existence proof for productive failure: engaging students in solving complex, ill-structured problems without the provision of support structures can be a productive exercise in failure. In a computer-supported collaborative learning setting, eleventh-grade science students were randomly assigned to one of two conditions to solve problems in Newtonian kinematics. In one condition, students solved ill-structured problems…
Education as a Complex System: Conceptual and Methodological Implications
Education is a complex system, which has conceptual and methodological implications for education research and policy. In this article, an overview is first provided of the Complex Systems Conceptual Framework for Learning (CSCFL), which consists of a set of conceptual perspectives that are generally shared by educational complex systems, organized into two focus areas: collective behaviors of a system, and behaviors of individual agents in a sys…
Learning about multivariable causality with interactive simulations: Exploration Before Instruction May Hurt Immediate Gains but Benefits Transfer
Studying complex interactions between variables to comprehend phenomena can be challenging for students of all ages. Simulations are often used to facilitate exploratory learning of complex phenomena, but students still face difficulties in comprehending interactions between factors. This study examined the comparative effectiveness of the Problem-Solving before Instruction (PS-I) approach versus the Instruction before Problem Solving approach (I…
Problem-solving before instruction for learning linear algebra in university mathematics
Problem-solving before instruction has been shown to be a more effective learning design than traditional tell-and-practice for several mathematical concepts at the secondary school level. In particular, the more a problem-solving before instruction design follows the productive failure principles, such as comparing and contrasting student-generated solutions, the higher the effect on students’ conceptual understanding and transfer. University ma…
Productive Failure
This study demonstrates an existence proof for productive failure: engaging students in solving complex, ill-structured problems without the provision of support structures can be a productive exercise in failure. In a computer-supported collaborative learning setting, eleventh-grade science students were randomly assigned to one of two conditions to solve problems in Newtonian kinematics. In one condition, students solved ill-structured problems…
Designing for Productive Failure
In this article, we describe the design principles undergirding productive failure (PF; M. Kapur, 2008 Kapur, M. 2008. Productive failure. Cognition and Instruction, 26: 379–424. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We then report findings from an ongoing program of research on PF in mathematical problem solving in 3 Singapore public schools with significantly different mathematical ability profiles, ranging from ave…
Productive Failure in Learning Math
When learning a new math concept, should learners be first taught the concept and its associated procedures and then solve problems, or solve problems first even if it leads to failure and then be taught the concept and the procedures? Two randomized‐controlled studies found that both methods lead to high levels of procedural knowledge. However, students who engaged in problem solving before being taught demonstrated significantly greater concept…
Examining Productive Failure, Productive Success, Unproductive Failure, and Unproductive Success in Learning
Learning and performance are not always commensurable. Conditions that maximize performance in the initial learning may not maximize learning in the longer term. I exploit this incommensurability to theoretically and empirically interrogate four possibilities for design: productive success, productive failure, unproductive success, and unproductive failure. Instead of only looking at extreme comparisons between discovery learning and direct instr…
Education as a Complex System: Conceptual and Methodological Implications
Education is a complex system, which has conceptual and methodological implications for education research and policy. In this article, an overview is first provided of the Complex Systems Conceptual Framework for Learning (CSCFL), which consists of a set of conceptual perspectives that are generally shared by educational complex systems, organized into two focus areas: collective behaviors of a system, and behaviors of individual agents in a sys…
Validation Reconceived: The Double Treatment Experimental Design
Learning is a process that leads to outcomes. The science of learning is the epistemic practice of investigating the relationship between this process and its outcomes. We propose a novel method for the study of learning: The Double Treatment experimental design. The core design for experimental studies in the Learning Sciences consists of two elements, learning activities together with assessments of their outcomes. In conventional Single Treatm…
When Problem Solving Followed by Instruction Works: Evidence for Productive Failure
When learning a new concept, should students engage in problem solving followed by instruction (PS-I) or instruction followed by problem solving (I-PS)? Noting that there is a passionate debate about the design of initial learning, we report evidence from a meta-analysis of 53 studies with 166 comparisons that compared PS-I with I-PS design. Our results showed a significant, moderate effect in favor of PS-I (Hedge’s g 0.36 [95% confidence interva…
Differential benefits of explicit failure-driven and success-driven scaffolding in problem-solving prior to instruction
Unscaffolded problem-solving before receiving instruction can give students opportunities to entertain their exploratory hypotheses at the expense of experiencing initial failures. Prior literature has argued for the efficacy of such preparatory activities in preparing students to learn from instruction. Despite growing understanding of the underlying cognitive mechanisms, the pedagogical value of success or failure in initial problem-solving att…
Micro productive failure and the acquisition of algebraic procedural knowledge
Productive failure has shown positive effects on conceptual and transfer measures, but no clear effects on procedural measures. It is therefore an open question whether, and to what extent, productive failure methods may be used to enhance the learning of procedural skills. A typical productive failure study focuses on a single, complex concept; in contrast, procedural knowledge generally consists of a series of less-complex procedural steps. In …
Fail, flip, fix, and feed – Rethinking flipped learning: A review of meta-analyses and a subsequent meta-analysis
The current levels of enthusiasm for flipped learning are not commensurate with and far exceed the vast variability of scientific evidence in its favor. We examined 46 meta-analyses only to find remarkably different overall effects, raising the question about possible moderators and confounds, showing the need to control for the nature of the intervention. We then conducted a meta-analysis of 173 studies specifically coding the nature of the flip…
Embodied preparation for learning basic quantum chemistry: A mixed‐method study
Shame Regulation in Learning: A Double-Edged Sword
Previous research and classroom practices have focused on dispelling shame, assuming that it negatively impacts self-efficacy and performance, and overlook the potential for shame to facilitate learning. To investigate this gap, we designed an intervention with 132 tertiary education students (45.46% male, 64.4% European ethnicity) spanning diverse undergraduate majors to show how and why designing for experiences of shame and appropriately regul…
Teaching biology with narratives: Examining the impact of affective and cognitive variables on undergraduate student learning
Despite the challenges posed by expository instruction materials, including unfamiliar text structure and abstracted and isolated representation of the contents, they constitute a primary means of studying scientific concepts in higher education. Conversely, utilizing narratives to present the to-be-learned content was conjectured to mitigate some of these limitations. Yet, empirical evidence at the undergraduate level remains inconclusive. In th…
National disparities favoring males are reflected in girls’ implicit associations about gender and academic subjects
Based on data for N = 2,756 children (1,410 girls; M age = 8.10 years) from 16 data sets spanning five nations, this study investigated relations between national gender disparities and children's beliefs about gender and academic subjects. One national-level gender disparity involved inequalities in socioeconomic standing favoring adult males over females (U.N. Human Development Index). The other involved national-level gaps in standardized math…
Learning about multivariable causality with interactive simulations: Exploration Before Instruction May Hurt Immediate Gains but Benefits Transfer
Studying complex interactions between variables to comprehend phenomena can be challenging for students of all ages. Simulations are often used to facilitate exploratory learning of complex phenomena, but students still face difficulties in comprehending interactions between factors. This study examined the comparative effectiveness of the Problem-Solving before Instruction (PS-I) approach versus the Instruction before Problem Solving approach (I…
Problem-solving before instruction for learning linear algebra in university mathematics
Problem-solving before instruction has been shown to be a more effective learning design than traditional tell-and-practice for several mathematical concepts at the secondary school level. In particular, the more a problem-solving before instruction design follows the productive failure principles, such as comparing and contrasting student-generated solutions, the higher the effect on students’ conceptual understanding and transfer. University ma…
From Body to Word: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis of Embodied Vocabulary Learning
Embodied cognition posits that cognitive processes are deeply rooted in bodies’ interactions with the world. Vocabulary learning is particularly relevant because many lexical meanings can be grounded in motor experiences, making it a compelling context for applying embodied cognition in education. Therefore, the present meta-analysis examines whether embodied instructional designs are effective in supporting vocabulary learning. Studies were iden…
Computer Science (14 works) · Mathematics education (14 works) · Psychology (14 works) · Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods (8 works) · Mathematics (7 works) · Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes (7 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Educational psychology (4 works) · Social Psychology (4 works) · Cognitive psychology (3 works)