The purposes of the present study were to identify the teacher behaviors that preceded learners' active participation in solving musical and technical problems and describe learners' roles in the problem-solving process. I applied an original model of problem solving to describe the behaviors of teachers and students in 161 rehearsal frames…

In order to improve problem-solving dispositions, a section of an inquiry-based math sequence for first-year business students was linked with a section of our general education English sequence. We describe how the linked classes worked and compare some preliminary results from linked and unlinked sections of the math sequence.

Sometimes teachers just have to go for it. Breathe and expect the unexpected. A leap of faith can be quite liberating, especially for a new Headteacher of a "Requires Improvement" school. Watching staff and children work tirelessly to improve, the author realised that teachers had to be risk takers, problem-solvers and learners, just as…

Contemporary curriculum demands the development of both problem solving skills and negotiative skills required for collaborative group work. Tasks are required that create the best possible conditions for students to develop both of these skill sets. Open-ended tasks have been shown to provide these conditions, but they also require the teacher to…

This study compared students' learning in troubleshooting and problem solving activities. The troubleshooting activities provided students with solutions to conceptual problems in the form of refutation texts; namely, solutions that portray common misconceptions, refute them, and then present the accepted scientific ideas. They required students…

For children with persistent mathematics difficulties, research and practice espouses that an altered kind of mathematics instruction is necessary due to sustained performance differences. Yet, a critical issue in mathematics education rests in the question of why research locates the problem within these children. In this paper, we challenge a…

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive study was to determine if participation in project-based learning developed the understanding students need to transfer their knowledge and skills to achieve higher composite and reading scores, as well as demonstrate the ability to read increasingly complex texts on the ACT Aspire as…

The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of various facets of middle school mathematics teachers' practical rationality on their instructional decision making as they plan to enact the Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice, CCSS-MP1 (perseverance in problem solving) and CCSS-MP3 (communicating and critiquing). The…

The use of multiuser virtual environments for educational purposes is in its infancy but offers potential for exploration of spatial contexts that could not otherwise be experienced. We report on pre-service teachers' experiences in designing learning activities as a result of immersion in the CAVE2™, a 320-degree, cylindrical 3D virtual…

Success in math is important to all students; it provides them with college and career options in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In the middle grades, students build upon the critical skills taught in elementary school and prepare for entry into algebra, which is considered a gateway to later achievement in school…

This research focuses on students' tactic assessments of 3 correlations with illustrated 2-step strategic map and animated presentations in stoichiometry. The participants were divided into 2 learning groups: the experimental and the control group by quasi-experimental approach. Most of all, experimental group participants have been contingent on…

The development of problem solving skills is a shared goal in science, engineering, mathematics and technology education. In the applied sciences, problems are often open-ended and complex, requiring a multidisciplinary approach as well as new designs. In such cases, problem solving requires not only analytical capabilities, but also creativity…

The discrete Fourier series is a valuable tool developed and used by mathematicians and engineers alike. One of the most prominent applications is signal processing. Usually, it is important that the signals be transmitted fast, for example, when transmitting images over large distances such as between the moon and the earth or when generating…

This task asks readers to figure out why when you stir a cup of hot liquid and tap on the side of the cup with a spoon, the pitch of sound starts low and ends up high. The solution to last month's tasks relating to the circumference of the Earth and how many stars are in the (visible) sky is also presented.

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the growing body of research that focuses on active learning techniques. Active learning techniques require students to consider a given set of information, analyze, process, and prepare to restate what has been learned--all strategies are confirmed to improve higher order thinking skills. Active…