Molecules Are Not Enough! Overcoming Students' Overgeneralization Tendencies by Comparing and Contrasting.

Many students assume a molecular structure for all substances, even after being instructed on the topic. But why do students struggle to understand key concepts like chemical bonding? One of the reasons is students' tendency to overgeneralize: Students wrongfully transfer characteristics from familiar (e.g.

Elephants are Gray: Linguistic Sensitivity and the Use of Generic Utterances in Pedagogical and Nonpedagogical Contexts.

Prior research indicates that humans adapt their language depending on context. This linguistic sensitivity has been suggested to indicate a natural pedagogy shared by all humans. This sensitivity has, however, only been demonstrated with English-speaking samples thus far.

Which Cognitive Abilities Make the Difference? Predicting Academic Achievements in Advanced STEM Studies.

Previous research has shown that psychometrically assessed cognitive abilities are predictive of achievements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) even in highly selected samples. Spatial ability, in particular, has been found to be crucial for success in STEM, though its role relative to other abilities has been shown mostly when assessed years before entering higher STEM education. Furthermore, the role of spatial ability for mathematics in higher STEM education has been markedly understudied, although math is central across STEM domains.