Considerable resources are spent on initiatives aiming to increase achievement and participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Drawing on focus group interviews and a questionnaire study with participants in ENT3R, a Norwegian out-of-school mathematics program, we investigated why participants attended and stayed in…

This case study reports the effects of a cooperative learning field experience on a pre-service teacher's views of inquiry-based science and her science teaching self-efficacy. Framed by an action research model, this study examined (a) the pre-service teacher's developing understanding of inquiry-based science teaching and learning…

The day-to-day business of being a science or mathematics teacher involves the continuous assessment of students. This, in turn, is an inherently discursive process. The aim of the present study is to examine some of the specific discursive practices through which science and mathematics knowing is jointly produced through classroom interaction.…

Environmental free-choice learning is a strategy that has been shown to have positive short-term impacts upon participants' attitudes and understanding of desired educational outcomes. However, longitudinal studies in this area are rare due to difficulties inherent in data collection and vast differences in participants in these kinds of…

The present study addresses the impact of the curriculum on primary school children's acquisition of clock-reading knowledge from analog and digital clocks. Focusing on Chinese and Flemish children's clock-reading knowledge, the study is about whether the differences in sequencing of learning and instruction opportunities--as defined by the…

In general, mathematical representations such as formulae, numbers, and graphs are the inseparable components in science used to better describe or explain scientific phenomena or knowledge. Regardless of their necessity and benefit, science seems to be difficult for some students, as a result of the mathematical representations and problem…

This study examines new Turkish elementary school mathematics textbooks to provide perspectives on the quality of the tasks related to the proportion concept and the ways they are presented. Tasks were analysed for several dimensions with a particular focus on their level of cognitive demands (LCD). Tasks were distinguished in two groups in terms…

Based on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2007 study and a follow-up national survey, data for 3,901 Taiwanese grade 8 students were analyzed using structural equation modeling to confirm a social-relation-based affection-driven model (SRAM). SRAM hypothesized relationships among students' perceived social relationships in…

The aim of the research was to compare espoused beliefs about teaching and learning and reported practices for the teachers of mathematics in Latvia. The sample consisted of 390 teachers of mathematics from different regions of Latvia. The present research is a part of an international comparative research within the NorBa project (Nordic-Baltic…

This study examined student indicators for success in entry-level college calculus. An attitude toward mathematics inventory, course performance, readiness assessment, and student interviews were used to determine characteristics and behaviors of students who succeeded in the course. In addition to student indicators, difficult topics and…

The present study describes high school students' conceptions about acids and bases in terms of pH, pOH, microscopic level, strength, and concentration. A total of 27 high school students participated in the study. The data was collected using 3 POE tasks and a semi-structured interview. The data analysis demonstrated that most of the students had…

In this study, our basic contention was that it is essential for researchers to answer the question, "Where does cognitive conflict really arise from?" with more precision than has heretofore been attempted. First, we examined how the term "cognitive conflict" has been treated in the existing literature and try to pinpoint some difficulties,…

We carried out a case study in a wave physics course at a Swedish university in order to investigate the relations between the representations used in the lessons and the experience of meaning making in interview-discussions. The grounding of these interview-discussions also included obtaining a rich description of the lesson environment in terms…

The purpose of the current study was to examine the nature of the relationship between learners' distrust of scientific models that represent unseen entities and phenomena, their spatial ability, and the vividness of their mental images. The sample consisted of 302 tenth grade students in the Sultanate of Oman. Three measures were used for this…

Science as inquiry and mathematics as problem solving are conjoined fraternal twins attached by their similarities but with distinct differences. Inquiry and problem solving are promoted in contemporary science and mathematics education reforms as a critical attribute of the nature of disciplines, teaching methods, and learning outcomes involving…