Being able to contextualise and solve complex problems is a highly valued skill in STEM graduates--a skill which we strive to nurture in our students. Since its introduction into undergraduate teaching, laboratory teaching has been used to consolidate students conceptual understanding, develop their practical skills and inculcate an evidence based…

This research study examined the ways participants analyzed students' mathematical thinking in a Teaching Mathematics with Technology Massive Open Online Course for Educators. 179 discussion forum posts made by 35 highly engaged participants were analyzed to determine the focus of their attention. If the focus of the post was student thinking, the…

The aim of this research is to examine the teacher candidates' views of the nature of science and their problem-solving skills in terms of various variables and, the relationship between them. 'Science-Technology-Society Scale (VOSTS)? developed by Aikenhead, Ryan & Fleming (1989) and adapted by Ari (2010) through choosing 22 items (VOSTS-TR)…

Students often have the misconception that mathematics involves reading the problem, staring at the page, and then writing down an answer. With more than twenty years of experience working with students in eighth-grade math through college calculus, the author has been increasingly interested in how she can foster problem-solving skills in her…

This study focuses on the analysis of peripheral phenomena such as verbalization and over-learning by users while playing serious games (SGs) in order to develop their competences. For this purpose, we used an SG aimed at training the operators who are meant to work in cleanrooms devoted to pharmaceutical production. Data concerning the…

The purpose of this study was to analyze organic chemistry students' annotations of reaction coordinate diagrams to better understand how they sought connections between reactions and reaction coordinate diagrams. Thirty-six students enrolled in Organic Chemistry II participated in semistructured, think-aloud interviews that asked students to…

This article is about the systematization and representation young children spontaneously use when they are working on a combinatorial task. In this article, documentations from 123 children working on the same task are analysed. The question asked is if there are any connections between the systematizations and representations used in the…

Many students around the world are exposed to a rote teaching style in mathematics that emphasizes memorization of procedures. Students are frequently presented with standard types of equations in their textbooks, in which the equal sign is immediately preceding the answer (a + b = c). This exposure can lead to many misconceptions, such as…

In case library learning environments, learners are presented with an array of narratives that can be used to guide their problem solving. However, according to theorists, learners struggle to identify and retrieve the optimal case to solve a new problem. Given the challenges novice face during case retrieval, recommender systems can be embedded…

The ability of novice instructional designers to become skilled problem-solvers, who select and apply appropriate instructional design (ID) models in their work environments, are key competencies generally sought after in introductory ID courses. Yet, the proliferation of ID models, coupled with varied philosophies and practices about how ID is…

This article describes how fifth grade students participated in a place-based environmental education initiative in West Michigan that supports teachers who want to involve their students in citizen science by protecting local water resources. Every year, Groundswell works with about 100 teachers at 30 schools to engage students in citizen science…

Green chemistry and sustainability have garnered more awareness in the chemical industry in recent years, but green chemistry classes are still not commonplace for either the undergraduate or graduate student curriculum. Additionally, many departments are seeking avenues to reach greater numbers and types of learners through online courses. To…

Perovskite solar cells have garnered exponential research interest due to their facile fabrication, solution processability, and low cost. However, there have been limited efforts to integrate this class of materials into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. Therefore, we designed an integrated laboratory experiment in our upper-division…

The focus of Design and Technology (D&T) education (Wilson & Harris, 2004) has been on designing and making activities and in developing technological capabilities amongst students. Innovation is an important aspect of D&T that helps in creating new products and artefacts to overcome the limitations of existing ones. Problem solving…

We describe three activities that help undergraduates (pre-service teachers) to develop scientific vocabulary on measurable attributes and units of measurement. Measurable attributes are important features in understanding a word problem and solving the problem. These activities help students comprehend word problems better by identifying…