Generating a problem that addresses multiple course learning objectives can be a challenging, but worthwhile exercise for a professor. These types of problems are particularly useful late in a course to help students tie together seemingly disparate concepts to solve an integrated problem that requires them to review concepts mastered throughout…

In this study, applications based on socioscientific subject-oriented science, technology, society and environmental education were carried out. The aim of the study is to determine the views of pre-service science teachers, who are engaged with the applications, about science, technology and society and to determine whether these views are…

This study investigated students' attitudes towards physics in Nine Year Basic Education (9YBE) in Rwanda. Data were collected from 380 students from Kayonza and Gasabo Districts using a physics attitudes test. Findings illustrated that more than a quarter of participants felt that learning physics is boring. About 39% think that the subject of…

Problem-posing activities have been shown to motivate students' learning while promoting a multifaceted and interesting educational environment. Moreover, these activities enable students to be engaged in personal interpretations of their own mathematical thinking. The purpose of this study was to determine if using a handson learning intervention…

This research examined whether children's construals of mathematical manipulatives -- as toys or as tools for doing mathematics -- influenced their learning from a lesson with the manipulatives. Children (grades 2 and 3) were presented with a set of buckets and beanbags, and they were either given no information about the manipulatives (control)…

In the present study, we tested the hypotheses that: a) there are individual differences in secondary students' conceptual and procedural fraction knowledge, and b) these differences are predicted by students' approach (deep vs. surface) to mathematics learning. We used two instruments developed and evaluated for the purposes of the study which…

A digital wall is a tool for students to structure and register their online work on mathematical problem-solving activities that involve the coordinated use of digital technologies. How could students use such digital wall to understand mathematical concepts and to develop problem-solving competencies? The aim of this study is to analyze and…

This study focuses on pre-service teachers' experimentation with a game-modding process in a constructionist setting whilst they experimented with randomness embedded in wider socio-scientific issues that call for decision making under uncertainty. In this process, participants created 39 different game mods. Our observations of the participants…

Analogy is a powerful learning mechanism for children to learn novel, abstract concepts from only limited input, yet also requires cognitive supports. My dissertation sought to propose and examine number lines as a mathematical schema of the number system to facilitate both the development of rational number understanding and analogical reasoning.…

We report our qualitative study of twenty-four students enrolled in the second-semester of a second-year undergraduate (sophomore-level) organic chemistry course, Organic Two. We asked the research participants to propose the product and electron-pushing mechanism of elementary mechanistic steps in the absence and presence of the corresponding…

My charge in this study is to explore the lived experience of a high school teacher while immersed in a problem solving situation in a classroom setting. The main gist of this investigation is to textualize and, thereof, capture the essence of a teacher's encounter of failing to solve a mathematics problem during one of the classroom sessions. To…

Mathematics has been taught throughout history without much more than a straightedge, a compass, and an abacus. So there is little question that all the major concepts of mathematics can be delivered without the aid of modern technology. But clearly, just the time-saving aspect of using technology can greatly enhance the art of teaching. In this…

Probability and independence are difficult concepts, as they require the coordination of multiple ideas. This qualitative research study used clinical interviews to understand how three undergraduate students conceptualize probability and probabilistic independence within the theoretical framework of APOS theory. One student's reasoning was…

Mathematical paradoxes often produce awe and wonder in the mathematics classroom. In this classroom episode, I share a paradoxical task, based on Simpson's Paradox, and its power as an intervention for a child diagnosed with ADHD. The Paradox leveraged his strengths to help him build understandings in proportional reasoning.

The BIOSEL (Biotechnology Series Learning) model is a learning model that provides opportunities for students to assemble learning through a conceptual description of the coherent and precise steps of Biotechnology implementation. The purpose of this research was to analyze validity and practicality of the BIOSEL model to improve the concept…