Can You Build It? is an engaging Improve It! task that asks children to construct 3D shapes based on 2D depictions. Students' initial 3D creations often need revision, and as they build and re-build, they develop spatial relationships. This task was implemented in a first-grade class, connected to composing 3D geometric shapes to address the…

Geometric constructions present an opportunity to help students develop geometric proofs and justifications while actively creating mathematical representations (Mariotti, 2001). Though traditionally carried out with paper and pencil, dynamic geometry software allows students to produce more precise constructions with greater certainty…

Even though construction tasks have a long history as an activity in the Swedish preschool, technology as a content matter (e.g., construction) is relatively new. Hence, preschool teachers are generally unsure of the content of technology and how to handle it from a teaching perspective. Thus, there is need for deeper understanding of how…

There is a known association between LEGO® construction ability and mathematics achievement, yet the mechanisms which drive this association are largely unknown. This study investigated the spatial mechanisms underlying this association, and whether this differs for concrete versus digital construction. Between January 2020 and July 2021, children…

Due to the pandemic conditions, hands-on courses in architectural education were conducted remotely and their presentation had to be reconsidered. Hands-on courses, by their nature, support learning and learner-instructor interaction in the classroom environment. It was necessary to develop innovative solutions to ensure this interaction in…

Background & aims: How can non-autistic adults facilitate social learning with children on the spectrum? A new theoretical understanding of autism is currently emerging that has made this question more relevant than ever. At the intersection of two growing research areas in the field of autism, the borderland that separates the experience of…

Technology and Engineering Education (T&EE) includes "engineering design challenges" to establish a connection to designing and problem-solving indicative of being an Engineer. Engineering design challenges involving bridges (or towers) have been a common feature of the discipline. These bridge design challenges ask students to…

Our students built a full-size, mobile planetarium in three weeks. The planetarium was built with commonly available, cheap construction materials. Our priorities were mobility, possibility of quick assembly and reassembly and the students' availability of materials in every place in the world. The students calculated all the parameters of the…

In this study children's learning of the concept, stability, during some building activities were investigated. It was also examined how a story can create meaning, having the children build for some animals in the story. Two preschool teachers and 10 children participated. Data consisted of video-recordings from activities with the children and…

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, traditional university classes, and any associated experiential hands-on learning laboratories, adapted to comply with safety standards for public health, transitioning from a traditional classroom environment to a virtual one. This paper discusses the impact hands-on experiential learning laboratories have on both…

Technology volition is the will to develop knowledge of, and use, the physical world to design products, processes and systems. The aim of this study was to contribute new knowledge of children's technology volition when they identify, build and improve technical constructions, and how teachers support this learning. Analysis focused on moments…

It is important for students in the built environment related disciplines to acquire subject-based knowledge and skills from reflecting on their experience. In return, the learning-by-doing approach has been widely adopted in the academic cluster of built environment. To further strengthen this, this paper proposes a Virtual Reality (VR) based…

The Vygotskian preschool education program (VPEP) is built around mediation in the context of preschool age-specific activities such as sociodramatic play, constructive play, listening and retelling fairy tales, playing with dollhouses, motor activities, and some others. We used the VPEP as part of the daily curriculum in two pre-K classes at PS…

Science is a human endeavor; the way it is taught, applied, and in some cases exclude populations from having access to it, may affect people for generations (NGSS Lead States 2013). Science education continues to be a complex civil rights issue (Tate 2001), but there is hope. Movements to promote just, equitable, and inclusive opportunities to…

In this teaching note, the authors use an iconic London building, the Gherkin, as a motivation to understand exchange rates, cross exchange rates, and unhedged exchange rate risk. The famous tower was constructed in the early 2000s by Swiss Re, an insurance company, and then sold to investors as part of a sale-leaseback deal in early 2007.…