This study tested competing theories about the effectiveness of different instructional sequences for learners with different levels of prior knowledge. Across two classroom experiments, undergraduates learned about noncovalent interactions in biochemistry by either receiving explicit instruction before problem-solving (I-PS group) or engaging in…

This study explores students' initial engagement with ill-structured problems before and after the introduction of engineering problem typology as a framework for problem engagement and reflection. Using problem discussions, debrief interviews, and qualitative analysis of written artifacts, we considered observed changes to students' initial…

Real-time collaborative programming (RCP), which allows multiple programmers to work concurrently on the same codebase with changes instantly visible to all participants, has garnered considerable popularity in higher education. Despite this trend, little work has rigorously examined how undergraduates engage in collaborative programming when…

This study explores the effects of a computer algebra system on students' mathematical thinking. Mathematical thinking is identified with mathematical thinking powers and structures. We define mathematical thinking as students' capacity to specialize and generalize their previous knowledge to solve new mathematical problems. The study was…

The goal of this article is to examine and develop problem-posing case study teaching methods to promote business students' reflections on their premises around sustainability practices. Literature on transformative learning in sustainability informed our hypothesis that problem-posing instead of problem-solving case study teaching would yield…

Resonance is a crucial concept in Organic Chemistry that enables both deriving chemical properties from molecular structures and predicting reactions by considering electron density distribution. Despite its importance for problem-solving and learning success, learners encounter various difficulties with this concept. Although prior research…

This study assesses the performance of ChatGPT in comparison with that of undergraduate students in 60 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) of Corporate Finance exams that sought to measure students' abilities to solve different types of questions (descriptive and numerical) and of varying difficulty levels (basic and intermediate). Our results…

Recent advancements in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) have drawn significant attention from educators and researchers. However, its effects on learners' programming performance, self-efficacy and learning processes remain inconclusive, while the mechanisms underlying its efficiency-enhancing potential are underexplored. This study…

This study used eye-movement tracking to investigate how students engage with the learning process of reading science articles with or without hands-on manipulation of a pulley system and their influences on learning outcomes. This experiment used a 2 (reading easy or difficult articles) × 2 (with or without hands-on manipulation) between-subject…

The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a practice-oriented approach in teaching Python programming to students in Kazakhstan. The study participants comprised students from a control group (CG) and an experimental group (EG), with 89 students in each group. The mean age of the participants was 20 years. The sample included…

This research presents the outputs of problem-solving based STEM education activities applied in an undergraduate mathematics course. An experimental study using a randomized pretest-posttest control group design was carried out to examine the development of elementary pre-service teachers in the fields of mathematics achievement, belief about…

Engineering technology students often forgo a methodical approach of solving or answering questions on assignments or exams in favor of an intuition-based approach, emphasizing educated guessing (Broberg et al., 2008). Faculty observations have noted these student solutions often provide explanations, usually sans calculations, to support answers…

Purpose: To determine the factors influencing the perception of undergraduate students toward research--teaching nexus and also to examine its impact on the attitude of the students. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a quantitative design to examine the perceptions of students in higher education institutions in India. Descriptive and…

Data Structures and Algorithms (DS) is a basic computer science course that is a prerequisite for taking advanced information systems (IS) curriculum courses. The course aims to teach students how to analyze a problem, design a solution, and implement it using pseudocode to construct knowledge and develop the necessary skills for algorithmic…

Productive problem solving, concept construction, and sense making occur through the core process of abstraction. Although the capacity for domain-general abstraction is developed at a young age, the role of abstraction in increasingly complex and disciplinary environments, such as those encountered in undergraduate STEM education, is not well…