A well-known optimization problem is the Popcorn Box investigation, which involves a movie theater snack container. The problem has been tailored for classroom investigations by the Ontario Association for Mathematics Education. The exploration was designed for students in grades 9 through 12. A common strategy proposed for algebra students is to…

This reproduces, for fun, a conversation between three professors at the University of Illinois, that originated at a dinner party over a couple of bottles of good red wine.

This article explores how teachers can foster an environment that facilitates social problem solving when toddlers experience conflict, emotional dysregulation, and aggression. This article examines differences in child development and self-regulation outcomes when teachers engage in problem solving "for" toddlers and problem solving "with"…

In this article, students build a prototype guitar. One way to get students to take creative risks is to allow playful approaches to their designs--let them come up with wild or silly ideas. By starting from such a wide-open place, many students will change their definitions and assumptions of what a guitar has to be. The result will be a wider…

This article advocates biased spinners as an engaging context for statistics students. Calculating the probability of a biased spinner landing on a particular side makes valuable connections between probability and other areas of mathematics. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.)

Statistical literacy is essential in everyone's personal lives as consumers, citizens, and professionals. To make informed life and professional decisions, students are required to read, understand, and interpret vast amounts of information, much of which is quantitative. To develop statistical literacy so students are able to make sense of…

While some students are enjoying days at the park or at the beach, forty middle school students are in a classroom solving challenging mathematics problems. The second Math Camp for middle school students was offered in 2013 at a western university for students from local school districts. For three days, these students met from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.…

The distinction between procedural and conceptual learning has long been a topic of discussion in mathematics education and the idea of compression into thinkable concepts that enable the individual make links between them (Tall, 2007). In addition to, the compression to thinkable concept was to be thinking mechanism arising naturally and…

Chemistry teaching has traditionally been weakly connected to everyday life, technology, society, and history and philosophy of science. This article highlights knowledge areas and perspectives needed by the humanistic (and critical-reflexive) chemistry teacher. Different humanistic approaches in chemistry teaching, from simple contextualization…

The advanced interdisciplinary research laboratory (AIRLab) represents a novel, effective, and motivational course designed from the interdisciplinary research interests of chemistry, physics, biology, and education development faculty members as an alternative to the independent thesis project experience. Student teams are assembled to work…

While it's easy to get caught up in the frenetic drive to do the Next Big New Thing in educational technology, it's helpful to remember that a lot of important things "don't" change. But, today, we face almost constant change, and that has serious implications for education and ed-tech professionals. This article looks back at where…

In this article, fourth-grade teacher Tabetha Finchum describes how a program called Arizona Master Teacher of Mathematics (AZ-MTM), a Noyce grant funded through the National Science Foundation, helped boost her confidence and broaden her understanding of the philosophies, curricula, and instructional decisions being implemented by other teachers.…

The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards calls upon social studies teachers to enhance the rigor of civics, economics, geography, history and the other social studies disciplines while building the critical thinking, problem solving, and participatory skills of students to help them become actively…

Ill-structured problems abound that require sophisticated problem-solving skills, knowledge across multiple domains and the abilities to think critically and communicate effectively. Despite the abundance of rhetoric supporting the need to build these skills in our students, the acquisition of domain-specific knowledge is still the primary focus…

With various internet resources available to students, the main aim of a good university education today should not merely be to provide students with content knowledge, but rather to equip them with essential skills necessary to develop into lifelong learners. Among science educators, repeated calls have been made to promote a more holistic…