The present study cross-sectionally investigated proportional reasoning abilities in 5- to 9-year-old children (n = 185) before they received instruction in proportional reasoning. This study addressed two important aspects of the development of proportional reasoning that remain unclear in the current literature: (1) the age range in which it…

In order to teach Computational Thinking (CT) skills to young students, Block-Based Programming Environments (BBPEs) are integrated into secondary school computer science (CS) education curricula. As a CT skill, abstraction is one of the prominent skills, which is difficult to enhance and measure. Researchers developed some scales for measuring…

This study investigated how Japanese curricula represent functional relationships through the lenses of quantitative and covariational reasoning. Utilizing both macro and micro textbook analyses, we examined the tasks, questions, and representations in the Japanese elementary and lower secondary course of study, teachers' guide, and textbooks.…

In addressing the challenge of fostering functional thinking (FT) in secondary school students, our research centered on the question of how an embodied design can enhance FT's different aspects, including input-output, covariation, and correspondence views. Drawing from embodied cognition theory and focusing on an action- and perception-based…

Data Structures and Algorithms (DS) is a basic computer science course that is a prerequisite for taking advanced information systems (IS) curriculum courses. The course aims to teach students how to analyze a problem, design a solution, and implement it using pseudocode to construct knowledge and develop the necessary skills for algorithmic…

Many teachers use problems set in real or imaginary contexts to make mathematics engaging, but these problems can also be used to anchor conceptual understanding. By constructing an understanding of mathematical ideas through solving problems in contexts that make sense to students, they have a better chance of actually understanding those…

Regarding future ecological challenges, it is highly relevant for students to understand the processes within ecosystems and the effects of external influences on their conservation. Since ecosystems are complex, difficulties in learning are often examined from a systems thinking perspective. However, challenges also arise in other areas,…

Balancing disciplinary knowledge and practical reasoning in problem solving is needed for meaningful learning. In STEM problem solving, science subject matter with associated practices often appears distant to learners due to its abstract nature. Consequently, learners experience difficulties making meaningful connections between science and their…

This study explored mathematics teachers' reasoning regarding their instructional design for technology use in teaching mathematics. Various types of qualitative data were obtained and analysed from a sample of 19 secondary and 28 primary preservice teachers. The findings showed that the purposes of technology use, teachers' conceptions of…

This paper introduces two theoretical constructs, open-loop covariation and closed-loop covariation, that combine covariational reasoning and causality to characterize the way that three preservice mathematics teachers conceptualize a feedback loop relationship in a mathematical task related to climate change. The study's results suggest that the…

In learning biologically inspired design (BID), the mapping process from problem to biological inspirations is crucial for generating novel ideas. This study determines the effects of knowledge representations related to design problems and inspirations on students' novelty of ideas generated in BID. Forty-four industrial design undergraduates…

Human thought can be characterised as being situated in the 'space of reasons'. That is to say that human thought is guided by the norms of theoretical and practical rationality which, in turn, enable autonomous thinking. But how do children learn to navigate the space of reasons? Building on the work of Tugendhat and Bakhurst, among others, we…

One-hundred-six 5-year-olds' (M[subscript age] = 5;6; SD = 0.40) were trained with second-order false belief tasks in one of the following conditions: (a) "feedback with explanation"; (b) "feedback without explanation"; (c) "no feedback"; (d) "active control." The results showed that there were significant…

This study investigates middle school students' reasoning about parallelism and perpendicularity of two line segments. Data were collected from 83 middle school students through an identification task consisting of various examples and non-examples of the parallelism and perpendicularity of two line segments. One-to-one interviews were also…

Undergraduate research and laboratory experiences provide a wide range of benefits to student learning in science and are integral to imbed authentic research experiences in biology labs. While the benefit of courses with research experience is widely accepted, it can be challenging to measure conceptual research skills in a quick and easily…