This exploratory study examined the design issues related to a virtual-reality-based, gamelike learning environment (VRGLE) developed via OpenSimulator, an open-source virtual reality server. The researchers collected qualitative data to examine the VRGLE's usability, playability, and content integration for math learning. They found it important…

A teacher's belief plays a significant role in the quality of teaching mathematics. In a fictive way, the researcher changed his role from a researcher to a research participant in an imaginative interview. His interior other (David) interviewed him as a researcher. A single interview session was held lasting for about three hours. The…

In this article, we present analyses from a researcher-practitioner partnership in the District of Columbia Public Schools, where we are exploring the impact of educational software on students' academic achievement. We analyze a unique data set that combines student-level information from the district with data of student usage of a mathematics…

This design-based research project focuses on documenting statistical learning among 16-17-year-old Finnish upper secondary school students (N = 78) in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. One novel value of this study is in reporting the shift from teacher-led mathematical teaching to autonomous small-group learning in…

Representational fluency (RF) includes an ability to interpret, create, move within and among, and connect tool-based representations of mathematical objects. Taken as an indicator of conceptual understanding, there is a need to better support school algebra students' RF in learning environments that utilize both computer algebra systems…

The release of the "Australian curriculum: Mathematics" has generated considerable debate in the education community. Some educators warn that this debate has centred on mathematical content and skills, setting the conditions for a "back to basics" movement in line with the political rhetoric that accompanied the national…

This article discusses the importance of private interactions, in which a student works alone with learning materials, and public interactions, in which a group of students engage in discourse around learning materials. While traditional technology requires that designers choose one type of interaction over another, the authors show how handheld…

Describes an approach to the design of learning environments around a computer algebra kernel. Presents two environments to help students learn precalculus. Provides students with symbolic, graphic, and numeric tools as well as functionalities to help them build proofs. (Author/KHR)

This paper describes how a researcher developed task and four different data collection instruments provide evidence for the identification of various affordances of a technology-rich teaching and learning environment (TRTLE) that were perceived and/or enacted by Year 9 students in their solution of a linear function task utilising a graphing…

Examined is the cultural impact--both actual and potential--of the computer on children's mathematical education. The ways in which the introduction of the computer does and will change the ambient space in which children learn mathematics is considered. (Author/PK)

Designer support is critical for facilitating collaboration and knowledge construction in an online learning environment. Designer support in this paper refers to the mechanisms that a designer builds in a technology-mediated environment to facilitate online learning. This paper focuses on two aspects of designer support: 1) creating a shared…

Learning mathematics is the central goal of mathematics education, yet it is the least frequently addressed of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' (NCTM's) Principles and Standards. With an increasing population of English language learners and the inclusion of students with learning disabilities into the regular mathematics…

Reports on a study of 12 U.S. and Russian elementary students working with a mathematics computer software program. Finds that students working together learned the program's concepts faster. Discusses implications of the findings and the significance of sociohistorical frameworks on cognitive processes. (CFR)

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003 is the most recent in a very ambitious series of international assessments conducted in nearly 50 countries to measure trends in mathematics and science learning. The aim of TIMSS, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, is to improve the teaching and…

This set of four newsletters contains articles to help adult basic education and literacy teachers connect research and practice. The following are among the articles included: "The Effects of Continuing Goal-Setting on Persistence in a Math Classroom" (Pamela Meader); "Do the Cognitive Skills of Dropouts Matter in the Labor…