In this study we explored to what extent middle school teachers were able to appropriately identify proportional situations when presented with various mathematical structures and if there were relationships between attributes of the teachers and their ability to identify proportional situations. Interestingly, there were no strong relationships…

For at least the last century researchers have advocated the use of student confidence as a form of educational assessment and the growth of online and mobile educational software has made the implementation of this measurement far easier. The following short paper discusses our first study of the dynamics of student confidence in an online math…

Exponential functions are important topic in school algebra and in higher mathematics, but research on students' thinking suggests that understanding exponential growth remains an instructional challenge. This paper reports the results of a small-scale teaching experiment with students who explored exponential functions in the context of two…

This study investigated effect of student- and school-level variables on mathematics achievement of fourth- and eighth-grade students using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 data of Turkey. The common variables addressed in student and school questionnaires were compared. Due to nested structure of the TIMSS…

We explore in this paper if automated scaffolding delivered via a pedagogical agent within a simulation can help students acquire data collection inquiry skills. Our initial analyses revealed that such scaffolding was effective for helping students who initially did not know two specific skills, designing controlled experiments and testing stated…

In order to address concerns with the underrepresentation of spatial thinking in K-12 curricula, (National Research Council, 2006), Valentine and Kopcha (in press) designed and implemented a learning environment integrating cases as alternative perspective (Jonassen, 2011) in the context of eighth-grade mathematics. The design aimed to provide…

This study examines teachers' initial conceptions of an integrated STEM-PBL approach and their perceptions of what facilitates or hinders implementation in their schools. This study took place within the first year of a three-year STEM Professional Development (PD) program for middle school math, science and English language arts teachers. The two…

Poor mathematics achievement in middle school students is evident in many countries. While some of the difficulties can be attributed to student related factors, there is considerable evidence that computational automaticity is essential for mathematics achievement. A QuickSmart (QS) mathematics intervention program was trialled with a group of…

As the disparity between educational standards and reality outside educational institutions is increasing, alternative learning infrastructure such as mobile technologies are becoming more common, and are challenging long held, traditional modes of teaching. Educators' attitudes toward wireless devices are mixed. Wireless devices are perceived by…

This study is the part of a larger study on investigating Hong Kong (HK) prospective teachers' (PTs) subject matter knowledge (SMK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). In this paper, five HK PTs' and PC on teaching one topic regarding square root were investigated. The results suggest that insufficient understanding on the concept of…

Increased attention to the relationships between affect and learning has led to the development of machine-learned models that are able to identify students' affective states in computerized learning environments. Data for these affect detectors have been collected from multiple modalities including physical sensors, dialogue logs, and logs of…

Middle Years students often do not see mathematics as useful. Authentic and real mathematics tasks and artefacts are frequently advocated as arresting this situation. However, often such experiences are contrived and lack authenticity. This paper reports on how a group of Middle Years students used mathematics and technology to engage in a real…

Students often have trouble understanding key biology ideas, in part because they lack an understanding of foundational chemistry ideas. AAAS [American Association for the Advancement of Science] is collaborating with BSCS [Biological Sciences Curriculum Study] in the development of a curriculum unit that connects core chemistry and biology ideas…

The use of high-stakes assessment to measure students' mathematical performance has become commonplace in schools all over the world. Such assessment instruments provide national or international comparisons of student (and potentially teacher performance). Each form of assessment is specialised in nature and is characteristic of the culture and…

Middle school students bring with them to the classroom powerful, informal resources for reasoning about mathematical ideas. However, little research has examined how these resources can interact with or support skills of mathematical justification. Here, we explore how middle school students consider inductive strategies--the use of examples in…