The purpose of this quantitative study was to gather information from elementary teachers who use best practices to examine the impact of self-efficacy and mindset. Data was gathered from elementary teachers who use best practices in mathematics instruction. This research examined if location type (rural, suburban, urban), years of experience…

Mandates to improve curriculum and instruction and incorporate technology in teaching U.S. K-12 students have failed to improve math proficiency as measured by standardized assessments. Still, 40-60% need remedial coursework in college. Past efforts have focused on incorporating specific technologies. The SAMR approach redirects the effort to…

Early childhood provides a time of crucial growth in all developmental domains. Prekindergarten is an optimal time for young children to use objects of play as a medium to explore new cognitive concepts, including mathematical structure. Mathematical structure plays an important role in providing students a means to reason about mathematics,…

The paper reports a research study aimed at investigating the appeal and pedagogical efficacy of animated teaching avatars. Specifically, the goal of the study was to determine whether animated characters could be effective and engaging teachers in the context of undergraduate surveying mathematics. The study included two forms of evaluation:…

In this paper, we discuss the Experimental Mathematics course taught at Valparaiso University since 2009. We focus on aspects of the course that facilitate students' abilities to ask and explore their own research questions.

As today's classrooms become more and more diverse, there is a growing need to explore the intersection between English Learners (ELs) and students with learning disabilities (LD) in the content-specific instruction of mathematics problem solving. The aim of this study was to determine which types of instructional scaffolds may be used by math…

In the present study, the researchers implemented a video self-modeling intervention for increasing on-task classroom behavior for three elementary school students diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The researchers observed the students' on-task engagement three times a week during their respective math classes. A multiple baseline design…

With Response to Intervention (RTI) increasingly used for identification for special education services, interventions are systematically being implemented and evaluated to improve achievement for students with disabilities. This descriptive study provides baseline data on RTI interventions and tiered instruction from 15 school districts (5 large,…

The article discusses current evaluation methodologies used to assess the usability, user enjoyment, and pedagogical efficacy of virtual learning environments (VLEs) and serious games. It also describes the evaluations of two recently developed projects: a virtual learning environment that employs a fantasy 3D world to engage deaf and hearing…

The terms "concreteness fading" and "progressive formalization" have been used to describe instructional approaches to science and mathematics that use grounded representations to introduce concepts and later transition to more formal representations of the same concepts. There are both theoretical and empirical reasons to…

In the Fall semester of 2009, I taught a first-year course that focused on skills required to successfully complete undergraduate research. This paper will discuss the Simpson College first-year course requirements, my course goals, the graph theory topics covered, student feedback, and instructor reflection.

Over a period of six years, three different types of recitation sessions were implemented into the large enrollment section of a college calculus course. During the fall semesters, the results on the departmental final examination, the DFW rates, and the one-year retention rates of students as STEM majors were examined by the type of recitation…

The How Far Do You Think You Can Jump? activity (see EJ1174770) was completed in three different contexts: an after-school mathematics enrichment program at Woodland and Country Schools in Weston, Massachusetts; a small-group pull-out of second graders at Wren Elementary in Piedmont, South Carolina; and a family math night in Lafayette, Indiana.…

Problem solving is a necessary component of developing a strong mathematics curriculum that will help all students achieve their life goals, regardless of their specific academic plans. What day-to-day instructional decisions do teachers need to make if they believe that problem solving is a vehicle for learning mathematical content? In this…

Critical to many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career paths is mathematical modeling--specifically, the creation and adaptation of mathematical models to solve problems in complex settings. Conventional standardized measures of mathematics achievement are not structured to directly assess this type of mathematical…