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Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The teaching characteristic of colleges and universities is determined by the teaching quality of teachers, but it is difficult to calculate with a linear mathematical explanation how to judge the teaching quality of teachers. In most colleges and universities, expert evaluations, supervision groups, peers listening to lectures in the classroom, and students' after-class evaluations are still used to determine the teaching ability of professors. It is undeniable that these judgment methods have certain practicality. Especially for new teachers, experts and peers can find problems in time and help new teachers quickly correct them, and they can also know how to better practice the "student-centered" teaching concept from the feedback of students after class. However, these judgment standards also have their limitations. For example, the classroom quality judgment standards for experts and peers are mostly set by some administrative departments according to social requirements, leadership requirements, and subjective cognition. Various institutions should have different weights for the same criterion, and if they all employ the same criteria, it will easily lead to imprecise conclusions. In addition, the expert group and students are also subjective and incomplete in the stage of teacher evaluation. Based on different nonquantitative factors, the evaluation standards for teachers in colleges and universities also need the scientific theoretical basis. Therefore, many scientists are considering whether to use a more intelligent and reasonable way to judge the quality of teaching. Nowadays, with the popularization of artificial intelligence (AI), the use of neural networks (NNs) is becoming more and more comprehensive. According to the characteristics of NNs, this paper uses the GA NNs algorithm to signify that this algorithm can be effectively used in the evaluation of teachers' teaching quality. In this paper, a large number of experimental results show that the use of GA NNs can be used to evaluate the quality of teaching, and the evaluation results can be obtained quantitatively in this way. For the assessment of teaching quality, quantitative results are also more powerful in teaching evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Inquiry Based Activities (JIBA) / Araştırma Temelli Etkinlik Dergisi (ATED) is the property of Journal of Inquiry Based Activities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we invite the reader to think deeply about professional development opportunities for faculty. The focus of this professional development is to improve teaching and learning by including more inquiry in the mathematics classroom. Building on theories of teaching and learning, we develop the idea of "teaching procedures" and "teaching concepts" and think about implications for professional development. We then use our personal stories to illustrate that our beliefs and attitudes matter when we want to improve our teaching. Bringing both of these perspectives together, we showcase activities we created for inquiry-based learning (IBL) workshops for faculty. Finally we discuss feedback received from workshop participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the practice of teaching and learning is being re-defined as technology enables a re-imagining of what can be taught, and how it could be taught. In Namibia, demands on mathematics teachers to incorporate technology use into their teaching practice are often mismatched with the curriculum. This theoretical paper proposes meaningful mathematics teaching via technology, instead of a mere response to societal adoption of digital tools. The concept of meaningful teaching is viewed through a Vygotskian lens. Kilpatrick et al.'s five Strands of Mathematical Proficiency inform the interpretation of goals for teaching mathematics with technology. We discuss the gaps in current models for professional development for teaching with technology when we take the Namibian cultural historical context into consideration. Activity Theory is used to conceptualise a two-triangle embedded activity system of teachers and professional developers, and to reflect on nodal interactions. We conclude by proposing some principles for the design of professional development programmes that aim to support mathematics teachers in using technology in their teaching. The principles may be useful for professional development in other developing countries with uneven access to both technology and reformed mathematics curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of function is a threshold concept in mathematics since it is essential for a deep understanding of the subject and is often problematic for students. Despite the importance of this concept, numerous studies have found that students have several difficulties and misconceptions about it. This work aims to assess, classify and synthesize the existing information about the learning difficulties and misconceptions related to the concept of function. In this sense, the main achievement of the work is the synthesis and classification by topics of the information gathered from the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the application of concept mapping in teaching mathematics at the primary level of education (ISCED 1), as well as the experimental verification of its qualitative contribution to the process of education. The authors present results obtained in a sample survey aimed at monitoring possibilities of influencing pupils' relationship to teaching and mastery of mathematics using digital concept maps within the process of pedagogical intervention. The authors tested the degree to which digital concept maps influence changes in the pupils' opinions and attitudes to mathematics (subject popularity, interest in the subject, easiness of understanding, fear and apprehension of mathematics) while explaining and fixating the curriculum of selected mathematics topics in the third grade of a primary school. The results of the experiment did not confirm that teaching supported by concept maps contributes to reducing pupils' negative attitudes towards subjects, particularly in mathematics at the primary level (ISCED 1). Due to the pedagogical intervention of concept mapping, no statistically significant changes occurred in the pupils' attitudes to the observed factors of mathematics. However, the authors have come up with research findings that may be notable in the field of branch didactics of mathematics and digital technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students on Business School courses will require a certain level of numerical ability; therefore, Mathematics and Statistics are important elements of the curriculum (Cottee et. al., 2014). Students often struggle with these quantitative parts of their course and this is sometimes seen as part of a general "Mathematics Problem" that impacts many disciplines including biology, economics, nursing and psychology (Mac an Bhaird and Lawson, 2012). Many students find Statistics in particular a difficult subject as it includes concepts which are complex and even counter-intuitive. For these students the way in which statistical ideas are communicated and specifically the use of language and discourse are of great importance. This paper reports on ongoing research into the role of language and discourse in teaching and learning Statistics. Included are: Findings from a Pilot Enquiry carried out in 2019; the theoretical background to the research and the challenges presented by the pandemic both for teaching and for the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper advocates the preparation of future mathematics teachers for the use of game-based learning and gamification technologies. For this purpose, we created a university course that is dedicated to familiarizing the students with basic concepts of game-based learning and gamification and to conveying direct experience with their use. We support the concept and activities in this course by the positive results of the research on the opinions of 115 students. We hope that the positive results and our description of the course will be an inspiration for the broader incorporation of game-based learning and gamification technologies into the training of future mathematics teachers. Limitations of our research are the research sample, we investigated students' reactions only at the author's home university. Therefore, in the future, the research could be done with a broader sample and studying more in detail the students' beliefs related to game-based learning and gamification before and after the course to get a better view of their development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed and trained a prototype AI-based object-recognition app, blockplay.ai, to recognise Cuisenaire rods placed on a tabletop, and speak the rods' lengths. We challenged 6-year-olds in a primary school in England to play a 'game': can you make the app say the two times table? Drawing methodologically on theories of embodiment, we analyse two videoclips, each of a child interacting with rods, the app and the task set by the researchers, as a dynamic, complex child-rods-app-task body-artefact system. Theoretically we draw on Davydovian concepts of learning as a concrete-to-abstract-to-new-concrete cycle, using abstract artefacts such as mathematical language to coordinate new perceptually-guided actions on concrete objects. In one videoclip the child's pattern of actions are consistent with a change, within a few minutes, from perceiving and acting on rods as counters, to perceiving and acting on rods as lengths; in the other videoclip, this does not happen. We analyse the changes in patterns of interactions as shifts to new stable attractors in a dynamic child-rods-app-task body-artefact system, driven by tensions generated by unexpected concrete-to-abstract relationships. We end by looking forward to the range of possible uses of object-recognition technology in the learning of mathematics, for example, provoking algebraic awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurement concepts are an essential foundation for more advanced mathematical concepts. To address the challenges of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in learning measurement concepts, this study investigated the effects of using a combination of explicit instruction and virtual manipulatives (VMs) to teach measurement concepts to students with ASD in China. Using a single-case multiple-probe across skills design, researchers examined whether the intervention could support the acquisition and maintenance of measurement concepts in students with ASD. Based on visual analysis, a functional relation was found between the independent variable (i.e., explicit instruction with VMs) and student performance on solving measurement concepts problems. Implications for practice and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study looks at the impact of college students’ writing on a regular basis about mathematical concepts. Specifically we examine the effect of this practice on performance and attitude while controlling for confounding factors. Two professors and a total of 97 students in four different classes participated in the study. Students in the writing groups were required to write a total of eight papers, each concentrating on an important concept in the course. All students were given a visual skills assessment at the beginning and end of the course. Students in the writing group were assessed to determine their attitude toward the writing assignments. Positive trends were associated with the writing group over the non-writing group in overall score and in all but one of six individual components. However, within the writing group, students’ attitude toward writing in mathematics class was negative. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Literature suggests using multimedia learning principles in the design of instructional material. However, these principles may not be sufficient for the design of learning objects for concept learning in mathematics. This paper reports on an experimental study that investigated the effects of an instructional approach, which includes two teaching techniques – (a) variation theory and (b) representations of subject matter – on the design of learning objects for secondary school algebra concept learning. The results of this study showed that the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group on algebra learning achievement. The results also showed that only the experimental design with the addition of the instructional approach resulted in higher-order mathematical thinking skills and improved procedural skills of the students. Further analysis reveals that concept learning was simplified when multimedia learning principles were applied and the information was presented by the instructional approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed at exposing the level of activation of alternative assessment strategies in teaching mathematics courses in the intermediate and secondary levels in Hail, and even to identify the obstacles that prevent their application. The study tool (the questionnaire) was designed after formulating the most important teaching practices related to the use of alternative evaluation and its skills in math's curricula. The most important obstacles that may reduce the adoption of alternative evaluation strategies in teaching mathematical content were also formulated, and hence identifying teachers' assessment of their reality. The sample of the study consisted of (70) mathematics teachers in the intermediate and secondary levels, during the second semester of the academic year 1441 AH. The results unfolded that the paper-and-pencil evaluation method (tests, worksheets) is regarded the most popular with 84%. Consequently, the two teaching practices are applied in a high way; urging students to progress in acquiring mathematical concepts and skills by varying assessment tools, and the teacher provides his students with several tasks that raise the value of mathematical understanding and apply what they have learned in similar contexts. Also, the most important hindrance facing teachers is the requirement of alternative assessment tools to be high dominated towards the levels of student acquisition and learning opportunities for mathematical concepts. Thus, the study recommended an increasing interest in alternative evaluation strategies, and activating its patterns and skills that can increase understanding and application of the components of mathematical content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embodiment perspectives from the cognitive sciences offer a rethinking of the role of sensorimotor activity in human learning, knowing, and reasoning. Educational researchers have been evaluating whether and how these perspectives might inform the theory and practice of STEM instruction. Some of these researchers have created technological systems, where students solve sensorimotor interaction problems as cognitive entry into curricular content. However, the field has yet to agree on a conceptually coherent and empirically validated design framework, inspired by embodiment perspectives, for developing these instructional resources. A stumbling block toward such consensus, we propose, is an implicit disagreement among educational researchers on the relation between physical movement and conceptual learning. This hypothesized disagreement could explain the contrasting choices we witness among current designs for learning with respect to instructional methodology for cultivating new physical actions - whereas some researchers use an approach of direct instruction, such as explicit teaching of gestures, others use an indirect approach, where students must discover effective movements to solve a task. Prior to comparing these approaches, it may help first to clarify key constructs. In this theoretical essay we draw on embodiment and systems literature as well as findings from our design research so as to offer the following taxonomy that may facilitate discourse about movement in STEM learning: (1) distal movement is the technologically extended effect of physical movement on the environment; (2) proximal movement is the physical movements themselves; and (3) sensorimotor schemes are the routinized patterns of cognitive activity that become enacted through proximal movement by orienting on so-called attentional anchors. Attentional anchors are goal-oriented phenomenological objects or enactive perceptions ('sensori-') that organize proximal movement to effect distal movement ('-motor'). All three facets of movement must be considered in analyzing embodied learning processes. We demonstrate that indirect movement instruction enables students to develop new sensorimotor schemes including attentional anchors as idiosyncratic solutions to physical interaction problems. These schemes are, by necessity, grounded in students' own agentive relation to the world while also grounding target content such as mathematical notions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematics can be intellectually demanding, engaging, and fulfilling. Learning mathematical concepts adequately warrants an environment where students can err without penalty, shame, or hurtful consequences. Teaching mathematics efficaciously depends on the trusting relationship between the teacher and the students. We advocate blending mathematics teaching with kindness because it benefits the teacher, the students, and society. Kindness, niceness, caring, and benevolence are interrelated but not synonymous. We outline four progressive levels of kindness: conditional, superficial, optimal, and genuine. Blending mathematics teaching and kindness effectively requires the teacher to decenter from their own perspectives and adopt the student's perspective as the student struggles through a challenging math problem. The efficacy of blending teaching and kindness depends on the teacher's inner cultivation of benevolence. In one's journey towards teaching with genuine kindness, one would need self-knowledge, unwavering commitment, continual practice, collegial support, spiritual guidance, and mindful awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study revealed the fractional number sense form associated with daily life and the number sense of 8th-grade students with high academic success. This study aimed to determine fractional number sense which in eighth graders with high academic performance. This study has a qualitative patterned. The sample consisted of 20 students from the middle schools in Pazar, the province of Rize. Participation was voluntary, interviews were conducted with participants to address their fractional number sense and strategies. The data were collected using an interview form developed by the researcher. The form consisted of 15 items on number sense components (computational estimation, operation effect, number magnitude, using a benchmark, and equivalent representation) related to daily life. The data were analyzed using descriptive content analysis. As result of this study; Very few participants used number sense. Most participants turned to rule-based solutions to answer the questions. None of the participants was successful in executing number sense. The fact that the items were related to daily life helped us reveal fractional number sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-service mathematics teachers (PSTs) enter university with diverse beliefs and understandings of teaching and learning; yet, they may not be aware of how these conceptions are related to their epistemological and efficacy beliefs. This study explored how the mathematical beliefs, mathematics self-efficacy, and mathematics teaching efficacy of PSTs predict their teaching and learning conceptions. Participants were 80 PSTs (59.7% men and 40.3% women) who were studying in a 5-year full-time undergraduate degree program at a comprehensive research university in Hong Kong. Multiple regression analyses were performed to investigate the relationships between the PSTs' teaching and learning conceptions and various predictors. The results indicated that mathematical beliefs and personal mathematics teaching efficacy, a component of mathematics teaching efficacy, predicted traditional conceptions. Mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics teaching outcome expectancy, another component of mathematics teaching efficacy, predicted constructivist conceptions. This study yields insights into the different roles of mathematical beliefs, mathematics self-efficacy, and mathematics teaching efficacy in explaining and predicting the teaching and learning conceptions among PSTs, which demonstrates the potential to inform and improve PSTs' professional learning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outcome-Based Education (OBE) is a goal-based educational system in which each part of education is around outcomes. By the end of the course, every student should have achieved the goal. Outcome-Based Education (OBE) involves various teaching methods and is not restricted to any specified way of teaching. Based on the targeted results, the teacher will mentor the students by acting as an instructor, trainer, and facilitator. The Deep Learning Technology of Artificial Intelligence is applied in various applications to carry out automation and physical tasks without human intervention along with data transfer through wireless networking. In this research, an Apriori Algorithm supports the identification of a suitable method for the teaching process (the OBE Teaching concept) through the outcome of the learning process. This optimization of identification of suitable method is performed with the implementation of Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) in the construction of the University Mathematics Course. The study results proved that the proposed algorithm provides an accuracy of 98.87%. The proposed algorithm can be trained further based on different rules to attain some increased performance of the methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lesson study is a Japanese concept to improve teaching and learning mathematics through a particular form of activity in which a group of teachers works collaboratively to plan, implement, observe, and reflect on the proposed research lessons. Although lesson study is internationally acknowledged as providing key learning opportunities for teachers, there is limited information on post-lesson discussion and its contribution toward teachers' professional growth. This study has the aim of describing the key features of post-lesson discussions. An entire group of teachers at a public elementary school in Japan participated in three lesson study cycles. During the post-lesson discussion in each cycle, the teachers were invited to write down what they believed was significant in the planned lesson and their comments regarding the lessons, for the discussion. The writings and comments were collected and analyzed. This method helped capture teachers' 'voices' better compared to recordings of oral discussion. The results of the analyses of teachers' writings and comments revealed that a major part of post-lesson discussions involved issues related to pedagogies, and teachers' reflections tended to focus more on students' thinking and mathematical topics over time as the cycles of lesson study proceeded. The results suggested that teachers' professional growth can be related to their recognition of the importance of understanding students' thinking and their perspectives on mathematics, in order to improve teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on a small-scale investigation of how teachers organise goal-oriented learning in Swedish preschools. The revised Swedish curriculum (National Agency for Education 2011) highlights the need for children to develop their mathematics skills through activities that integrate play and learning. This study investigates how different types of activities contribute to children developing their understanding of the concepts ‘half’ and ‘double’. Three preschool teachers participated in a developmental project in which they conduct teaching in accordance with the Variation Theory of Learning. The pedagogical contexts they bring into being reveal important insights for early childhood education. The pedagogical context that can be realised in the planned activities limits or favours the learning process and the success of the theoretical aspirations for the session. This article discusses the idea of ‘teaching’ and how to facilitate conceptual development in a goal-oriented but child-centred practice. The main results show that play is central in early childhood education, and that problem-solving as a means for mathematics education needs to be problematised and used with sensitivity to the children's intentions and perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an earlier contribution to Mathematics, we presented a new teaching concept for abstract algebra in secondary school mathematics, and we discussed findings from mathematics education research indicating that our concept could be used as a promising resource to foster students' algebraic thinking. In accordance with the Design-Based Research framework, the developed teaching concept is now being revised in several iteration steps and optimised towards student learning. This article reports on the results of the formative assessment of our new teaching concept in the laboratory setting with N = 9 individual learners leveraging a research method from science education: The acceptance survey. The results of our study indicate that the instructional elements within our new teaching concept were well accepted by the students, but potential learning difficulties were also revealed. On the one hand, we discuss how the insights gained in learners' cognitive processes when learning about abstract algebra with our new teaching concept can help to refine our teaching–learning sequence in the sense of Design-Based Research. On the other hand, our results may serve as a fruitful starting point for more in-depth theoretical characterization of secondary school students' learning progression in abstract algebra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, conducted in one high-achieving secondary school in a disadvantaged area in the Western Cape province of South Africa, asks whether mathematics teachers alter their "talk" across the face-to-face and computer-based lessons. Data were gathered through video recordings of teacher/student interactions across ten face-to-face and computer-based mathematics lessons conducted by two teachers. Findings indicate that the teachers studied significantly altered their "talk" across the two contexts, with a medium effect size. Further, a significant association at a medium effect level between any two of the three variables—location of lesson, "talk" type and scale of interaction—was found. In particular, teachers used significantly less mathematical talk in the computer lessons. As language is the primary mediator of conceptual acquisition (Vygotsky, 1978), this calls into question what mathematical concepts are learnt in a computer-based lesson. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, understanding fraction-related concepts and applying them has presented a challenge to most learners, both young and old. Despite this, it is obvious that one cannot do away with the learning of fractions since it runs through almost all aspects of mathematics concepts. This study sought to explore 38 Basic Four learners' understanding of the equal-sharing concept related to fractions. An individual-test-assessment task was used as a data collection instrument by field assistants who administered the test to the learners in a one-on-one interview and the responses were observed and recorded. The results revealed that about 79% of the total class were found to be operating at the nonanticipatory strategy, 21% of them were showing emerging anticipatory strategies, while none showed dexterity in the anticipatory strategies that would have shown a more advanced knowledge of the concept of equal-sharing. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When students are learning to use math in physics, one of the most important ideas they need to learn is that equations are not just calculational tools; they represent relationships between physical variables that change together (co-vary). How much a change in one variable or parameter is associated with a change in another depends on how they appear in the equation—their functional dependence. Understanding this sort of relationship is rarely emphasized in introductory mathematics classes, and students who have not yet learned to blend conceptual ideas with mathematical symbols may not see the relevance and power of this idea. We need to explicitly teach functional dependence as part of our effort to help students learn to use math productively in science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for all students to have science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) experiences has translated into research examinations of what strategies and practices work in learning STEAM-related concepts and ideas. Through research, effective frameworks, strategies, and additional considerations have been identified for teaching and learning STEAM for students with learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral disorders. Along with understanding how to apply teaching and learning frameworks and using specific strategies for science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics, the authors provide details on how to differentiate instruction for remote teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most prevalent features of digital mathematics textbooks, compared to traditional ones, is the provision of automated feedback on students' solutions. Since feedback is regarded as an important factor that influences learning, this is often seen as an affordance of digital mathematics textbooks. While there is a large body of mainly quantitative research on the effectiveness of feedback in general, very little is known about how feedback actually affects students' individual content specific learning processes and conceptual development. A theoretical framework based on Rabardel's theory of the instrument and Vergnaud's theory of conceptual fields is developed to study qualitatively how feedback actually functions in the learning process. This framework was applied in a case study of two elementary school students' learning processes when working on a probability task from a German 3rd grade digital textbook. The analysis allowed detailed reconstruction of how students made sense of the information provided by the feedback and adjusted their behavior accordingly. This in-depth analysis unveiled that feedback does not necessarily foster conceptual development in the desired way, and a correct solution does not always coincide with conceptual understanding. The results point to some obstacles that students face when working individually on tasks from digital mathematics textbooks with automated feedback, and indicate that feedback needs to be developed in design-based research cycles in order to yield the desired effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the affordances and constraints of a technological tool to foster pre-service teachers' (PSTs) noticing skills including attending to, interpreting, and responding to students' mathematical work. Participants were 99 junior or senior PSTs in a mathematics pedagogy course at a large university. Using LessonSketch, a web-based online platform, participants manipulated comics-based teaching scenarios to demonstrate what they attended to in a student's mathematical written work and their related instructional decisions. Data comprised PSTs' LessonSketch representations, their responses to prompts related to noticing skills, their reflections on the use of technology, and a focal group interview transcript. Inductive content analyses were applied to these data. The findings show that LessonSketch helped PSTs focus on how to ask questions, predict students' answers, and respond in ways that supported students' learning. The PSTs attended well to the student's mistakes, but many did not clearly interpret her mathematical difficulties. Also, their pedagogical suggestions tended to be teacher-centered and procedural rather than supportive of conceptual learning. PSTs found LessonSketch helpful for locating themselves in the classroom situation and merging into the teaching moment. Despite the limitation of using only one written task, the study supports the critical role of technology in providing preliminary rehearsal of teaching practices and improving PSTs' noticing skills, warranting further examination of the use of technology to support professional noticing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's math self-concepts—their beliefs about themselves and math—are important for teachers, parents, and students, because they are linked to academic motivation, choices, and outcomes. There have been several attempts at improving math achievement based on the training of math skills. Here we took a complementary approach and conducted an intervention study to boost children's math self-concepts. Our primary objective was to assess the feasibility of whether a novel multicomponent intervention—one that combines explicit and implicit approaches to help children form more positive beliefs linking themselves and math—can be administered in an authentic school setting. The intervention was conducted in Spain, a country in which math achievement is below the average of other OECD countries. We tested third grade students (N = 180; M age = 8.79 years; 96 girls), using treatment and comparison groups and pre- and posttest assessments. A novelty of this study is that we used both implicit and explicit measures of children's math self-concepts. For a subsample of students, we also obtained an assessment of year-end math achievement. Math self-concepts in the treatment and comparison groups did not significantly differ at pretest. Students in the treatment group demonstrated a significant increase in math self-concepts from pretest to posttest; students in the comparison group did not. In the treatment group, implicit math self-concepts at posttest were associated with higher year-end math achievement, assessed approximately 3 months after the completion of the intervention. Taken together, the results suggest that math self-concepts are malleable and that social–cognitive interventions can boost children's beliefs about themselves and math. Based on the favorable results of this feasibility study, it is appropriate to formally test this novel multicomponent approach for improving math self-concepts using randomized controlled trial (RCT) design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many choices for learning mathematics for engineering students with courses available in face-to-face, blended and fully online modalities. Students are demanding more flexibility in their programs, however the temptation to misuse this flexibility to avoid mathematical studies until it is too late can be an unfortunate side effect. A key issue here is that students may not have the skills needed to effectively self-regulate their learning. Using the 3P model of student learning as a guide we explore what happens to student learning outcomes when the best available online and face-to-face teaching and learning for mathematics students are used to create a blended learning environment for first year engineers that encourages self-regulation of learning. Experiments included online quizzes for changing attitudes, refreshing assumed knowledge and teaching foundational concepts, archived online lecture options in addition to face-to-face lectures, the adoption of board tutorials supported by a problem-solving approach for more complex engineering modelling problems and scaffolded with online interactive problems. Shared websites for online and face-to-face cohorts allowed the amount of blending to be determined by the individual student. Learning outcomes for blended first year engineering mathematics courses can be improved by implementing online learning tools that automate key learning conversations and implement effective face-to-face learning activities such as board tutorials that support students to self-regulate their learning of mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fractions are an important mathematical concept for both more advanced mathematical concepts and daily living activities (e.g., cooking) and thus are important for all students to learn. In this study, researchers explored the use of the virtual-abstract (VA) instructional sequence to teach three middle school students with disabilities three fraction concepts—equivalent fractions, addition of fractions with unlike denominators, and multiplication of fractions by a whole number. For each student for each fraction concept, a functional relation existed between the intervention (i.e., the VA instructional sequence) and the dependent variable (i.e., accuracy on problems of the fraction concept). The students acquired the fraction concepts, but there were struggles to maintain their performance when no instruction was provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to evaluate the impact of implementing a hybrid teaching strategy combining an Inverted Classroom (IC) with Problem Based Learning (PBL) called Inverted Problem-based Learning (IPBLC). In this study, PBL cases are delivered to large groups of up to 150 students facilitated by a single course instructor within pre-university science courses. Lecture time is reduced using inverted classrooms (IC) with minimal effect on content. It is a multi-subject research made up of 4 smaller research involving the application of IPBLC in the teaching of Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics. The researchers were responsible in researching and developing an IPBLC module for teaching 150 students each, wherein the impact of hybridizing PBL and IC on students' achievements, learning attitude and conceptual learning of the subjects involved are investigated. Focus group interviews were used as a qualitative approach to gain an in-depth understanding of the issue at hand. This research aims to gain an understanding of the needs, motivations and experiences of Foundation students, focusing on their experience with IPBLC and providing lecturers with a better insight into the effectiveness and issues faced by students in the implementation of this teaching method. The results of this study facilitated the identification of issues that were not apparent from the purely quantitative data, thus providing a deeper understanding of the curriculum and teaching effectiveness that was constructive and detailed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Much literature has theorized on the potential educational benefits offered by game-based learning (GBL). However, recent meta-data analyses of studies conducted on the efficacy of GBL offer mixed results. Furthermore, many of the studies available rely more on close reading, inference, small sample sizes, and qualitative responses than on quantitative, data-driven analyses.Aim. This article describes a proof-of-concept study designed to assess the effects of GBL on enjoyment, engagement, and learning in higher education using a large sample size and quantitative measures.Method. The study uses a large data set (n = 440) involving English, Math and Science undergraduate courses. For the first semester, faculty participants were trained in how to implement game-based pedagogy and created analog game-based lessons. In the following semester, each professor taught one section of a course using games and another section of the same course without games. Students in the game-based and control groups were given attitude surveys about the subject at the beginning of the semester, a post-lesson survey after the game or regular lesson, and a post-lesson quiz with separate questions to assess surface learning and deep learning.Results. Enjoyment correlated with improvements in deep learning in both the game and non-game classes. Games increased reported enjoyment levels, especially in subjects where students reported the greatest anxiety about learning, and this increase in enjoyment correlated positively with improvements in deep learning and higher-order thinking. These results may have particular impact on non-traditional students.Conclusion. While further investigation is necessary to assess the specific affordances and long-term effects of GBL in higher education, this study offers preliminary support for the claim that GBL can improve deep learning in this setting, by increasing enjoyment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the learning results of students in Math and Physics in the period of 6 years. The research sample, consisting of 355 students, analyzed their study results and compared the success of students in the different organization of the inclusion of subjects in teaching. For five years, teaching Math and Physics was done in one subject, and after evaluating the student's learning results, teaching was divided into two separate subjects. After this organizational intervention a survey was conducted of how the results of students changed from the original state and whether this way of teaching subjects reflected in the students' ability to apply acquired knowledge in other subjects of technical focus. The results say that the new concept of teaching Math and Physics has led to more students being successful in these subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When people talk, they gesture, and those gestures often reveal information that cannot be found in speech. Learners are no exception. A learner's gestures can index moments of conceptual instability, and teachers can make use of those gestures to gain access into a student's thinking. Learners can also discover novel ideas from the gestures they produce during a lesson or from the gestures they see their teachers produce. Gesture thus has the power not only to reflect a learner's understanding of a problem but also to change that understanding. This review explores how gesture supports learning across development and ends by offering suggestions for ways in which gesture can be recruited in educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]