Magnitude understanding is critical for students to develop a deep understanding of fractions and more advanced mathematics curriculum. The research reports in this special issue underscore magnitude understanding for fractions and emphasize number lines as both an assessment and an instructional tool. In this commentary, we discuss how number…

The aim of this study is to investigate how an augmented reality mobile math trails program can provide opportunities for students to engage in meaningful mathematical modelling activities. An explorative research design was conducted involving two mathematics teachers and 30 eight grades in Semarang, Indonesia. An Augmented Reality Mobile Math…

Humor plays an essential role in human interactions. Precisely what makes something funny, however, remains elusive. While research on natural language understanding has made significant advancements in recent years, there has been little direct integration of humor research with computational models of language understanding. In this paper, we…

The reconciliation of theories of concepts based on prototypes, exemplars, and theory-like structures is a longstanding problem in cognitive science. In response to this problem, researchers have recently tended to adopt either hybrid theories that combine various kinds of representational structure, or eliminative theories that replace concepts…

Children vary in the extent to which their development is shaped by particular experiences (e.g. maltreatment, social support). This variation raises a question: Is there no single level of plasticity that maximizes biological fitness? One influential hypothesis states that when different levels of plasticity are optimal in different environmental…

In this study, a mathematical modeling activity was designed and implemented in a seventh grade classroom. The students were first expected to examine a given mathematical model of a problem that is based on a real life situation and then build a model depending on their own criteria. The mathematical modeling activity which was designed by the…

This article reports on the implementation of a mathematical modeling activity about renewable energy. The activity was first implemented with twenty-four 10th grade students in a state high school in Turkey and lasted 2 lesson hours. Then, the revised version of the activity was implemented with four 10th grade students. Students built a…

Although data modeling, the employment of statistical reasoning for the purpose of investigating questions about the world, is central to both mathematics and science, it is rarely emphasized in K-16 instruction. The current work focuses on developing thinking about data modeling with undergraduates in general and preservice teachers in…

The present study details the implementation of an improvement process for a gamification activity from a Calculus course for undergraduate students aimed to develop mathematical modeling competencies. The improvement process was studied taking into account three types of data: the results of the students' performance assessment, the…

Problems are part of our lives. It causes stress, tension, emotional instability, and physical strain to us. It is very essential to deal with our problems before they deal with our happiness. Problem solving skill is an irreplaceable life skill and it is cognitive or thinking activity essential to our day-to-day lives. In order to lead a…

A study with prospective teachers without prior mathematical modeling experience sheds light on how their newly developed conceptual understanding of modeling manifested itself in their work on the final task of a modeling module within a pedagogy course in secondary mathematics curriculum and assessment. The main purpose of the module was to…

This article reports on a "post hoc" study using a randomised controlled trial with 31,842 students in the Netherlands and an instrument consisting of 21 paired problems. The trial showed a variability in the differences of students' results in solving contextual mathematical problems with either a descriptive or a depictive…

The purpose of this study was to introduce a rubric named "Rubric for the Assessment of Modeling Skills" for assessing cognitive modeling skills and explaining the rubric's development process. The dimensions of the rubric are understanding the problem, simplifying, mathematizing, working mathematically, interpreting and validating.…

Introductory chemistry students encounter the concept of hybrid orbitals as a transition from atomic orbitals to molecular bonding. The principal purpose of learning hybridization in the undergraduate curriculum is to impart an understanding of the origins of molecular bonding and geometry. Physical models of both individual hybrid orbitals and…

The teaching and learning of mathematical modelling is an important research field all over the world. In this paper we present a survey of the state-of-the-art on empirical studies in this field. We analyse the development of studies focusing on cognitive aspects of the promotion of modelling, i.e. the promotion of modelling abilities resp.…