It has been illustrated several times how the built-in acceleration sensors of smartphones can be used gainfully for quantitative experiments in school and university settings (see the overview in Ref. 1 ). The physical issues in that case are manifold and apply, for example, to free fall, radial acceleration, several pendula, or the exploitation…

The perspective that computing and computational thinking (CT) are necessary competencies for the 21st century is increasingly pervasive. Computational concepts and methods--problem solving, designing systems, refining the steps in a process, and tinkering toward creative solutions--are relevant in nearly every discipline, profession, and…

This book brings together a collection of work from around the world in order to consider effective STEM, robotics, mobile apps education from a range of perspectives. It presents valuable perspectives--both practical and theoretical--that enrich the current STEM, robotics, mobile apps education agenda. As such, the book makes a substantial…

National standards and frameworks for mathematics, computer science, and technology emphasize the importance of teaching all children computational thinking (CT) skills. These skills are important for preparing citizens that are literate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and for participation in a society that is rapidly…

Background: Math is a difficult subject with which many upper middle-school students struggle. In addition to knowledge, skills, and motivation, effective learning strategies play an important role in learning math. Aims: This study aimed to examine the effects of comprehension-oriented learning strategies (perceptual and abstract grouping of…

Programming and computational thinking have emerged as compulsory skills in elementary school education. In 2018, Sweden has integrated programming in mathematics education with the rationale that it fosters problem solving and logical thinking skills and motivates students to learn mathematics. We investigated how teachers introduce programming…

Case studies appear prominently in political science, sociology, and other social science fields. A scholar employing a case study research design in an effort to estimate causal effects must confront the question, how should cases be selected for analysis? This question is important because the results derived from a case study research program…

Without a doubt, fractions prove to be a stumbling block for many children. Researchers have suggested a variety of explanations for why this is the case. The introduction of symbolization and operations before the development of conceptual understanding of fractions, a lack of understanding of the role of the numerator and denominator, and an…

A simple molecular dynamics experiment is described to demonstrate transport properties for the undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory. The AMBER package is used to monitor self-diffusion in "n"-hexane. Scripts (available in the Supporting Information) make the process considerably easier for students, allowing them to focus on the…

Working memory (WM) is used for storing information in a highly accessible state so that other mental processes, such as reasoning, can use that information. Some WM tasks require that participants not only store information, but also reason about that information to perform optimally on the task. In this study, we used visual WM tasks that had…

Very recently, in the "Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT)/Australian Industry Group quantitative report" (2014), concerns were raised that school mathematics is lacking real world application. This report highlighted the gaps between school mathematics and the requirements of the workplace. After interviewing industry…

This brief "Math for Real" article introduces Ohanna, a seventh grader who lives in New York City and regularly takes the bus to get around the city. Ohanna pays $2.50 per bus ride when using her MetroCard. She earns a 5% bonus when she refills the card with a minimum of $5.00. For example, if she adds $10.00 on her MetroCard, her…

This investigation presents students with the challenge of determining the total number of eggs in a photograph of a stack of egg trays. The perspective of the photograph does not allow students to count all the individual eggs in the top tray but does allow them to see the number of eggs in one row and one column of the top tray. During this…

We report on interview results from a classroom teaching experiment in a Number and Operations course for prospective elementary teachers. Improving the number sense of this population is an important goal for mathematics teacher education, and researchers have found this goal to be difficult to accomplish. In earlier work, we devised a local…

This article explores how integrating computational tools into a general chemistry laboratory course can influence student perceptions of programming and investigates relationships among student perceptions, prior experience, and student outcomes.