This paper reports on the metaphors that 36 third-year university mathematics education students have about mathematics. These metaphors were investigated through a questionnaire with five open-ended items. An inductive analysis of the students' metaphors for mathematics indicated that students had well developed and complex metaphors about…

As technologies have become an integral part of our lives, the way we read and understand text has changed drastically. In this paper, we discuss how various technologies support learners' reading and writing skills within the context of meaningful learning. Next, using elaborated cases, we argue that situating learners in problem solving…

The Threshold Concept Framework is used to initiate a dialogue on an empirically supported pedagogy that focuses on students' conceptual understanding required for solving application-based problems. The present paper uses a triangulation approach to identify the threshold concept in a third-year undergraduate civil engineering course on open…

The purpose of this study to investigate, how third year mechanical engineering students are able to use their knowledge of concept maps in their study of the topic of "Introduction to the Internal Combustion Engines (IICE)". 41 students participated in this study. Firstly, the students were taught about concept maps and then asked to…

Research suggests that reading compliance among undergraduate students is low. This study assesses the factors that influence students' decisions to comply with their assigned course readings using two theoretical underpinnings: students' self-rationing ability of time and construal effects on their decision process. Data collected through focus…

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are a recent addition to the range of online learning options. Since 2008, MOOCs have been run by a variety of public and elite universities, especially in North America. Many academics have taken interest in MOOCs recognising the potential to deliver education around the globe on an unprecedented scale; some of…

In the quest for a better reflexive research practice and to respond to the challenge of expanding on an education research repertoire, the authors consider "situational analysis," proposed as a post-modern approach to grounded theory using maps. Originally situating their research projects within a social constructivist theoretical…

Two studies were conducted to examine content knowledge changes following 2 weeks of professional development that included scientific research with university scientists. Engaging teachers in scientific research is considered to be an effective way of encouraging knowledge of both inquiry pedagogy and content knowledge. We used concept maps with…

The study investigated the use of concept mapping teaching method on secondary school students' academic achievement in biology. Two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The design of the study was quasi-experimental design with 122 Senior Secondary students selected purposively from two senior secondary schools in…

This article sets out to explore a shift in the sources of evidence-of-learning in the era of networked computing. One of the key features of recent developments has been popularly characterized as "big data". We begin by examining, in general terms, the frame of reference of contemporary debates on machine intelligence and the role of…

An experiment compared the impact of more and less semantically connected sentence contexts on vocabulary learning. Third graders (N = 40) were taught the definitions and meanings of six unfamiliar verbs: "anticipate," "attain," "devise," "restrain," "wield," and "persist." The verbs were…

Research shows that carefully planned acceleration offers academic benefits with little social or emotional risk to high-ability learners. However, acceleration is underutilized and little is known about students' motivations to accelerate. In this study, 21 high-ability high school students in Grades 11 and 12 took part in a structured…

The study investigated the use of concept mapping teaching method on secondary school students' academic achievement in biology. Two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The design of the study was quasi-experimental design with 122 Senior Secondary students selected purposively from two senior secondary schools in…

Current study aimed to examine the effects of web-based instructional material enriched by concept maps, the academic achievement of 7th graders in "Structure and Properties of Matter" unit. The study utilized a quasi-experimental model with pretest-posttest control group design. A sample of the study was composed of 58 students.…

Recent years have seen a rise in the efforts to implement diversity topics into medical education, using either a "narrow" or a "broad" definition of culture. These developments urge that outcomes of such efforts are systematically evaluated by mapping the curriculum for diversity-responsive content. This study was aimed at…