Learning activities related to students' real-life experiences may create meaningful learning. Integrating traditional games into the physics classroom can reconstruct local knowledge into scientific knowledge. The use of technology can affect student learning achievement. One of the technologies currently attracting attention is Augmented reality…

Current educational reform calls for increased integration between science and mathematics to overcome the shortcomings in students' quantitative skills. Data Nuggets (free online resource, http://datanuggets.org) are worksheets that bring data into the classroom, repeatedly guiding students through the scientific method and making claims…

In this article, the learning progress of one fifth-grade student is examined with regard to the development of her graph interpretation skills as she participated in the Junior Science Institute (JSI), a two-week, science intensive summer camp in which participants engaged in microbiology research and application. By showcasing the student's…

Discussed are the basic and specialized skills needed for graphing exercises. Suggests approaches and activities that can be used in the teaching of graphing skills. Includes a listing of software programs for both teaching graphing and for analyzing data. (ML)

Graphing is a common and powerful symbol system for representing concrete data. Yet research has shown that students often have graphical misconceptions about how graphs are related to the concrete event. Currently, the Technical Education Research Center (TERC) is developing microcomputer-based laboratories (MBL) science units that use probes to…

Clinical interviews were conducted with 25 seventh- and eighth-grade students to determine: (1) the extent to which they could produce correct graphical representations of familiar situations; (2) to what extent they could infer relationships from graphs; (3) what are the most commonly held graphing misconceptions and how stable they are; and (4)…

Explains a study that proposed and tested how graphical representations influence what is learned and recalled from text. Results highlighted the importance of graph-focusing strategies for text learning and support the creative use of interactive computer presentation. (ML)

Graphical representations play an important role in both science and mathematics education. Graphs can summarize very complex information or relationships very effectively. Although graphs are explicitly taught in mathematics classrooms as an end in themselves, many subject areas such as science or social studies utilize graphs to represent and…

A promising new development in science education is the use of microcomputer-based laboratory tools that allow for student-directed data acquisition, display, and analysis. Microcomputer-based laboratories (MBL) make use of inexpensive microcomputer-connected probes to measure such physical quantities as temperature, position, and various…

Reports the results of an in-depth examination of middle school children's graphing skills and misconceptions. Also discusses a study in which students learned graphing skills through microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL). (ML)

Microcomputer-based laboratories (MBL), the use of microcomputers for student-directed data acquisition and analysis, represents a promising new development in science laboratory instruction. This descriptive study determined the impact of MBLs on middle school students' understanding of graphs of distance and velocity. The study was based on the…

This study investigated the effects of three instructional strategies and student entry characteristics on student engagement and the acquisition of skills necessary for the construction and interpretation of line graphs. The strategies examined were an activity-based approach, a written simulation-based approach, and a combination of activity-…

Discusses a study which assessed the effect of a brief kinematics unit on: (1) students' ability to translate between a physical event and the graphic representation of it, and; (2) the effect of real-time on graphing skills. Reports the success of the use of a microcomputer-based laboratory with graphing velocity and distance. (ML)

Examines (1) how students evaluate information obtained in the science laboratory; (2) the effects of use of microcomputer-based laboratory; and, (3) the effects of explicit instruction on critical evaluation skills. Discusses results in terms of students' propensity to accept incorrect graphs and in terms of the effect of the enhanced instruction…

As part of an investigation of the effectiveness of a microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) activity in developing students' graphing skills, this study was specifically designed to examine the differences between females and males in both performance on graphing tasks and on their attitudes to graphs and graph-based activities. Results based on a…