The lecture format, while being the subject of much criticism, is still one of the most common formats of university mathematics teaching. This paper investigates lecturing as a means of modelling mathematical discourse, sometimes highlighted in the literature as one of its most important functions. The data analysed in the paper are taken from…

Listening to academic lectures in a second language (L2) can be a daunting task, as the listener faces various challenges related to processing the speech stream, prioritizing the importance of information, and deciding when, where and how to take notes. A host of factors can contribute to student comfort in and ability to take "good"…

To evaluate the impact of active learning approaches in a basic molecular and cell biology course for undergraduate students, we assessed the effect of learning by teaching and peer review on the learning outcomes. A literature seminar activity with peer review and feedback was organized as a compulsory activity for all students, covering about…

Background: Previous studies have investigated effects of out-of-school STEM activities aimed at stimulating children's interest in science with positive results. However, research has not discussed the reasons why such activities are successful. Purpose: In this study, we address this gap by investigating which factors children themselves…

International research is already booming, and global problems like climate change have sparked interdisciplinary initiatives involving academics from many nations, disciplines, and tongues. Integrating the research team, the supervisors, and the doctoral students present several challenges, such as multicultural issues; integrating a good team…

There is a rising tendency for students in higher education not to attend lectures. Therefore, the aim of the study was to describe the reasoning behind nursing students' decisions on whether or not to attend lectures. This qualitative study was performed in a nursing education programme at a Swedish University. One hundred and thirty-one students…

This paper addresses a topic within university mathematics education which has been somewhat underexplored: the teaching practices actually used by university mathematics teachers when giving lectures. The study investigates the teaching practices of seven Swedish university teachers on the topic of functions using a discursive approach, the…

This paper investigates the teaching practices used by university mathematics teachers when lecturing, a topic within university mathematics education research which is gaining an increasing interest. In the study, a view of mathematics teaching as a discursive practice is taken, and Sfard's commognitive framework is used to investigate the…

This study reports on an educational development initiative where peer instruction was used instead of traditional lectures in a calculus course for first-year engineering students. The aim of the study was to explore students' experiences of this method. Data were collected by means of an open-ended questionnaire on two occasions: early and late…

In some academic settings where English is not the first language it is nonetheless common for reading to be assigned in English, and the expectation is often that students will acquire subject terminology incidentally in the first language as well as in English as a result of listening and reading. It is then a prerequisite that students notice…

This paper deals with a novel method for improving the traditional "verification" laboratory in science education. Drawing on the idea of integrated instructional units, we describe an instructional sequence which we call the Babushka concept. This concept consists of three integrated instructional units: a start-up lecture, a laboratory…

In this paper, we report a teaching experiment regarding the theory of polynomial approximations at the university mathematics teaching in Sweden. The experiment was designed by applying Variation theory and by using the free dynamic mathematics software GeoGebra. The aim of this study was to investigate if the technology-assisted teaching of…

We examine pre-service teachers' theoretical learning during one five-week training module, and their educators' learning about better lecture design to foster student learning. The study is iterative: interventions (one per group) were implemented sequentially in student groups A-C, the results of the previous intervention serving as the baseline…

Laptops and other networked technologies are commonplace at university campuses. While a range of studies researches the negative effects of multitasking, screenpeeking and other laptop related side effects this article emphasize the situational impact of student-laptop interaction. Departing from Goffman's framework on unfocused interaction and…

This study reports from a pre-service teacher's online learning and assessment activity on determining variability of two graphical artefacts. Using a critical-analytical perspective to data, the present study indicates that the prospective teachers surveyed showed awareness of relevant subject specific operators and methods; however, these seem…