The human capital in the Zimbabwean labour market lacks the capacities to critically and creatively address technological, economic and industrial challenges. The new education policy, Education 5.0 requires graduates to design solutions to these problems. This conceptual paper demonstrates that the required creative and critical skills necessary…

This brochure describes how the Making Schools Work process employs a distributed leadership approach to involve the whole school in identifying problems that impact achievement and developing plans to solve them. SREB's Making Schools Work school improvement process is grounded in the belief that increased achievement starts with motivating…

In 1970, Freire introduced critical pedagogy in Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Since that time, critical pedagogy has been widely applied in general education and has slowly integrated into music, theater, dance, and visual arts education. Rooted in the critical examination of power, critical pedagogy is a way of critically examining how we…

If students are asked, "What is the world water crisis?" how would they respond? In the authors precalculus classes, this question is often met with blank stares and students avoiding eye contact. Many students are unaware of the world water crisis--what it is, why it is, or who it affects. Even fewer realize the utility of trigonometry…

This paper discusses an interesting, classic problem that provides a nice classroom investigation for dynamic geometry, and which can easily be explained (proved) with transformation geometry. The deductive explanation (proof) provides insight into why it is true, leading to an immediate generalization, thus illustrating the discovery function of…

Physics education research has a tradition of studying problem solving, exploring themes such as physical intuition and differences between expert and novice problem solvers. However, most of this work has focused on traditional, or well-structured, problems, similar to what might appear in a textbook. Less work has been done with open-ended, or…

Besides "thinking outside the box," the creativity needed to solve problems often involves thinking differently about the box, finding a new approach or off-beat way to use the materials, conditions, and even constraints that one has. Spencer discusses creative constraint--what happens when a problem solver runs into barriers that make…

Spreadsheets provide a rich setting for first-year algebra students to solve problems. Individual spreadsheet cells play the role of variables, and creating algebraic expressions for a spreadsheet to perform a task allows students to achieve a glimpse of how mathematics is used to program a computer and solve problems. Classic optimization…

In this writing, I report on how two 12-year old children used fraction strips to add 1/2 and 2/5. In their interaction with the tool, I look for the emergence of the tool-mediated Zone of Proximal Development to analyse the knowing that become available to the children. In thinking about this interaction, I ask what is the role of the more…

Purpose: Training in cultural competence is an accreditation requirement for graduate programs in communication sciences and disorders (CSD; Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, 2020). Cultural and linguistic diversity (CLD) instruction within CSD programs and current instructional models may not provide…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2014) highlights that effective teaching practices promote students' reasoning and sense making through various problem-solving strategies. Rather than telling students what to do and how to solve problems, teachers are expected to engage learners in accessible real-life problem situations…

In the second edition of "Data-Driven Dialogue: A Facilitator's Guide to Collaborative Inquiry," authors Bruce Wellman and Laura Lipton provide strategies that transform school culture through data-driven inquiry. By applying a three-phase model and a host of process tools to facilitate collaborative data analysis, K-12 school and…

In this paper we present two simulations designed with GeoGebra that illustrate dynamically a key concept in Vector Calculus: line integrals of vector fields, along with other associated mathematical properties and applications. Students are not required to know the GeoGebra environment: a user-friendly interface with buttons, functionalities and…

Collaborative problem solving (CPS) ranks among the top five most critical skills necessary for college graduates to meet workforce demands (Hart Research Associates, 2015). It is also deemed a critical skill for educational success (Beaver, 2013). It thus deserves more prominence in the suite of courses and subjects assessed in K-16. Such…

Consulting projects where students are tasked to propose solutions to a client issue are a common feature in many business courses. Whether scenario-based or dealing with real clients, students engaged in consulting tasks tend to focus on solution development without giving due consideration to the underlying process by which they derive their…