This article reports how physics pre-service teachers (PSTs) organize their investigations during an exploratory data analysis scenario, which we call scientific investigations by data exploration. In order to analyze the PSTs' investigations, we developed a learning environment in which learners investigate aspects influencing the particulate…

Open book assessment is not a new idea, but it does not seem to have gained ground in higher education. In particular, not much literature is available on open book examinations in mathematics and statistics in higher education. The objective of this paper is to investigate the appropriateness of open book assessments in a first-year business…

We conduct a longitudinal analysis of the NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments (NCSE) results from 2006-2013 to evaluate if active management is related to higher endowment returns in U.S. equities over time. We also analyze the data to evaluate the endowment characteristics that are related to higher levels of performance over time. We find that…

In this paper, the writer discusses the philosophical underpinnings of the two dominant research methods in social sciences; quantitative and qualitative paradigms. The natures of two paradigms are quite different so this leads many researchers to discuss these issues in a comparative way. This paper tackles the knowledge and understanding of…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to investigate the perceptions that students have about the academic and financial aspects of college, the reality they experience during their first year of college enrollment, and how, if at all, they handle any misperceptions they may have had over the course of their first year. Data (three surveys,…

We examine the respective roles of substantive understanding (i.e., understanding of factual knowledge, concepts, laws and theories) and procedural understanding (an understanding of ideas about evidence; concepts such as reliability and validity, measurement and calibration, data collection, measurement error, the ability to interpret evidence…

This phenomenological investigation focused on the exploration of the lived experiences of students who had dropped out of traditional four year colleges and returned to complete their degree by e-Learning. The goal of this investigation was to gain a new understanding of the psychological, motivational, and ethical aspects of continuing a four…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of providing preservice teachers the opportunity to collect real data in a science methods inquiry investigation and using the data, design data displays in their mathematics methods course. The research questions focused on how preservice teachers' understandings of data displays, research…

Inquiry-driven lab exercises require students to think carefully about a question, carry out an investigation of that question, and critically analyze the results of their investigation. Here, we describe the implementation and assessment of an inquiry-based laboratory exercise in which students obtain and analyze novel data that contribute to our…

This is a record of the proceedings of the 30th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA). The theme of the conference is "Mathematics: Essential research, essential practice." The theme draws attention to the importance of developing and maintaining links between research and practice and…