Search

This annual publication contains 43 research papers on a variety of issues related to science education. Topics include the following: mature-age students; teacher professional development; spreadsheets and science instruction; the Learning in Science Project and putting it into practice; science discipline knowledge in primary teacher education; science, technology, and society; gender differences in choosing school subjects; history of science education; quality of teacher education; science attitudes; socially constructed learning; and conceptual development. Other papers concern such areas as report writing; history of science; the nature of science; investigation skills; pseudo-scientific and paranormal beliefs; language in science; concept mapping; constructivism; metaphors; textbooks; children's interests; Aboriginal science; and science and television. (PR)

These proceedings contain the papers of the International Conferences on Educational Technologies (ICEduTech 2014), and Sustainability, Technology and Education (STE 2014). The International Conference on Educational Technologies (ICEduTech 2014) is the scientific conference addressing the real topics as seen by teachers, students, parents and school leaders. Scientists, professionals and institutional leaders are invited to be informed by experts, sharpen the understanding of what education needs and how to achieve it. Topics for the ICEduTech Conference include: (1) Education in Context: Education in the Network Society, Educational Games, Social Media in Education, Home Schooling, Students' Rights, Parents' Rights, Teachers' Rights, Student-Safe Searching, School Violence, Education and Tolerance for Peace and Education in Developing Countries; (2) Education as Professional Field: Teacher Education, Teachers' Professional Development, Teachers' Workload, Teacher Support for Grading, Time Tabling, Grading, Learning Tools, and Online Learning Software, Teachers' learning in Communities of Practice, Web-based Communities for Teacher Support, Teachers' Career Planning, Legal and Financial Issues, Conflict Resolution and Mediation, Governance and Servant Leadership and Educational Policies; (3) Curricular Evolution: Problem-based Learning, Critical Thinking Skills, Creativity Skills, Learning Citizenship, Global Education, Media Literacy / Pedagogy, Multicultural Education and Alternative Assessment Methods; (4) Learner Orientation: Student-Oriented Learning, Peer- and Collaborative Learning, Learning Strategies: Learn how to Learn, Motivating Students, Recognizing Students' Learning Styles and Special Education; (5) Integrating Educational Technologies: Social Media and Social Networking, The Semantic Web 3.0, Podcasting for Broadcasting Video Lectures, Podcasting feedback to students, Wiki and blogs in Higher Education, Mobile, Virtual and Vicarious Learning and Simulations and Modeling; and (6) International Higher Education: Marketing Higher Education as a Business Case, Pitfalls and Solutions in Joint and Double Degree Programs, Enculturation and International Teacher Accreditation, Web-based, Mobile, Virtual Presence and Social Media to Overcome Student Mobility, Blended Learning and Student Assessment at a Distance, Student Mobility and Distance Education, New-Emerging Standards and Benchmarks for Higher Education, Education, Research, Exchange and Capacity Building, 21st Century Academic and Industrial Brain Exchange, Academic Salaries, Faculty Contracts, Residence Permits and Legal Issues, International Student Exchange Funding Programs: Erasmus Mundus, the U.S. Council on International Educational Student Exchange, and the Euro-American "Atlantis" program, Networks for International Higher Education in the Pacific, Australia, Europe, Asian and European countries and Higher Education, Cultural Diversity, Tolerance and Political Conflict. The International Conference on Sustainability, Technology and Education (STE) aims to address the main issues which occur by assessing the relationship between Sustainability, Education and Technology. Broad areas of interest are: Sustainability and Leadership, Sustainability and Green IT, Sustainability and Education. Following three Keynote Lectures by Chun-Yen Chang, David Tawei Ku, and Pedro Isais, the full papers presented are as follows: (1) The Study of Adopting Problem Based Learning in Normal Scale Class Course Design (Chia-ling Hsu); (2) Student Learning Through Hands-On Industry Projects (Lingma Lu Acheson); (3) A Study of Facilitating Cognitive Processes with Authentic Support (Rustam Shadiev, Wu-Yuin Hwang, Yueh-Min Huang and Tzu-Yu Liu); (4) Mobile-Assisted Second Language Learning: Developing a Learner-Centered Framework (Choy Khim Leow, Wan Ahmad Jaafar Wan Yahaya and Zarina Samsudin); (5) Social Interaction Development through Immersive Virtual Environments (Jason Beach and Jeremy Wendt); (6) Teaching and Learning in the Digital Era: A Case Study of Video-Conference Lectures from Japan to Australia (Seiko Yasumoto); (7) Lessons Learnt from and Sustainability of Adopting A Personal Learning Environment & Network (PLE&N) (Eric Tsui and Farzad Sabetzadeh); (8) Studying Challenges in Integrating Technology in Secondary Mathematics with Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) (Dorian Stoilescu); (9) Building Better Discipline Strategies for Schools by Fuzzy Logics (Dian-Fu Chang, Ya-Yun Juan and Wen-Ching Chou); (10) Assessing Critical Thinking Performance of Postgraduate Students in Threaded Discussions (Cheng Lee Tan and Lee Luan Ng); (11) Work-Integrated Learning with Work-Integrated Learners (Martin Gellerstedt and Tobias Arvemo); (12) A Framework for Gamified Activities Based on Mobile Games (Ana Amelia Carvalho, Inês Araújo and Nelson Zagalo); (13) The OpenForest Portal as an Open Learning Eosystem: Co-Developing in the Study of a Multidisciplinary Phenomenon in a Cultural Context (Anu Liljeström, Jorma Enkenberg, Petteri Vanninen, Henriikka Vartiainen and Sinikka Pöllänen); (14) Designing Participatory Learning (Henriikka Vartiainen); (15) The Relationship among Principals' Technology Leadership Teaching Innovation, and Students' Academic Optimism in Elementary Schools (Chuan-Chung Hsieh, Hung-Chin Yen and Liu-Yen Kuan); (16) Design Research Methods for Future Mapping (Sugandh Malhotra, Prof. Lalit K. Das and Dr. V. M. Chariar); (17) Makahiki: An Open Source Serious Game Framework for Sustainability Education and Conservation (Yongwen Xu, Philip M. Johnson, George E. Lee, Carleton A. Moore and Robert S. Brewer); (18) The Relationships among Principals' Distributed Leadership, School Knowledge Innovation and ICT Use in Taiwanese Elementary Schools (Chuan-Chung Hsieh, Jui-Hsuan Hung and Hao-Chiou Li); (19) Beauty of Wholeness and Beauty of Partiality "New Terms Defining the Concept of Beauty in Architecture in Terms of Sustainability and Computer Aided Design (Ayman A. Farid, Weaam M. Zaghloul and Khaled M. Dewidar); (20) Galvanizing Local Resources: A Strategy for Sustainable Development in Rural China (Eun Ji Cho); (21) Teaching Assembly for Disassembly: An Under-Graduate Module Experience (Eleftheria Alexandri); and (22) System-Events Toolbox- Activating Urban Places for Social Cohesion through Designing a System of Events that Relies on Local Resources (Davide Fassi and Roberta Motter). Short Papers include: (1) A Design and Development of Distance Learning Support Environment for Collaborative Problem Solving in Group Learners (Takuya Nitta, Ryo Takaoka, Shigeki Ahama and Masayuki Shimokawa); (2) Academic Use of Social Media Technologies as an Integral Element of Informatics Program Delivery in Malaysia (Jane See Yin Lim, Barry Harper and Joe F. Chicharo); (3) Digital Storytelling across Cultures: Connecting Chinese & Australian Schools (Mark Pegrum, Grace Oakley, Cher Ping-Lim, Xi Bei Xiong and Hanbing Yan); (4) A Study on Building an Efficient Job Shadowing Management Methodology for the Undergraduate Students (Koichi Sakoda and Masakazu Takahashi); (5) Using Tablet PCS in Classroom for Teaching Human-Computer Interaction: An Experience in High Education (Andre Constantino da Silva, Daniela Marques, Rodolfo Francisco de Oliveira and Edgar Noda); (6) Technology and Motor Ability Development (Lin Wang, Yong Lang and Zhongmin Luo); (7) The Integrated Framework of College Class Activities--Using Learn Mode with the Introduction of Educational Technology as an Example (Chia-Ling Tsai and David Tawei Ku); (8) Training Pre-Service Chinese Language Teachers to Create Instructional Video to Enhance Classroom Instruction (Lih-Ching Chen Wang and Ming-Chian Ken Wang); (9) Using Project-Based Learning and Google Docs to Support Diversity (Amy Leh); (10) Exploring Social Equity Aspects in Integrating Technology in Primary Mathematics Education (Dorian Stoilescu); (11) Chinese Fantasy Novel: Empirical Study on New World Teaching for Non-Native Learners (Bok Check Meng and Goh Ying Soon); and (12) Building of a Disaster Recovery Framework for E-Learning environment Using Private Cloud Collaboration (Satoshi Togawa and Kazuhide Kanenishi). The reflection papers include: (1) Stoic Behavior Hypothesis in Hint Seeking and Development of Reversi Learning Environment as Work Bench for Investigation (Kazuhisa Miwa, Kazuaki Kojima and Hitoshi Terai); (2) Alternative Assessment Methods Based on Categorizations, Supporting Technologies and A Model for Betterment Marion G. Ben-Jacob and Tyler E. Ben-Jacob; (3) Wiki -Enhanced Scaffolding to Encourage Student Participation in a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Classroom (Chun-Yi Lin) ; and (4) Pragmatics and Seminotics: Movies as Aesthetic Audio-Visual Device Expedite Second Language Acquisition (Lucia Y. Lu). Individual papers contain references. An author index is included. [These conferences are co-sponsored by Curtin University, Curtin Business School (Australia), and the International Society for Professional Innovation Management.]

This document contains the second volume of the proceedings of the 29th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Conference papers are centered around the theme of "Learners and Learning Environments." This volume features 43 research reports by presenters with last names beginning between Adl and Fre: (1) Working with Learners' Mathematics: Exploring a Key Element of Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (Jill Adler, Zain Davis, Mercy Kazima, Diane Parker, and Lyn Webb); (2) A Comparison between Teachers' and Pupils' Tendency to Use a Representativeness Heuristic (Thekla Afantiti-Lamprianou, Julian S. Williams, and Iasonas Lamprianou); (3) Purposeful Task Design and the Emergence of Transparency (Janet G. Ainley, Liz Bills, and Kirsty Wilson); (4) A Developmental Model for Proportional Reasoning in Ratio Comparison Tasks (Silvia Alatorre and Olimpia Figueras); (5) Referential and Syntactic Approaches to Proof: Case Studies from a Transition Course (Lara Alcock and Keith Weber); (6) Teachers' Beliefs about Students' Development of the Pre-Algebraic Concept of Equation (Vassiliki Alexandrou-Leonidou and George N. Philippou); (7) Developing Students' Understanding of the Concept of Fractions as Numbers (Solange Amorim Amato); (8) Multiple Representations in 8th Grade Algebra Lessons: Are Learners Really Getting It? (Miriam Amit and Michael N. Fried); (9) Reform-Oriented Teaching Practices: A Survey of Primary School Teachers (Judy Anderson and Janette Bobis); (10) The Genesis of Signs by Gestures: The Case of Gustavo (Ferdinando Arzarello, Francesca Ferrara, Ornella Robutti, and Domingo Paola); (11) Students' Experience of Equivalence Relations: A Phenomenological Approach (Amir H. Asghari and David Tall); (12) How Series Problems Integrating Geometric and Arithmetic Schemes Influence Prospective Secondary Teachers' Pedagogical Understanding (Leslie Aspinwall, Kenneth L. Shaw, and Hasan Unal); (13) Dealing with Learning in Practice: Tools for Managing the Complexity of Teaching and Learning (Sikunder Ali Baber and Bettina Dahl); (14) Situations of Psychological Cognitive No-Growth (Roberto R. Baldino and Tania C. B. Cabral); (15) Good CAS Written Records: Insight from Teachers (Lynda Ball and Kaye Stacey); (16) Developing Procedure and Structure Sense of Arithmetic Expressions (Rakhi Banerjee and K. Subramaniam); (17) Struggling with Variables, Parameters, and Indeterminate Objects, or How to Go Insane in Mathematics (Caroline Bardini, Luis Radford, and Cristina Sabena); (18) Exploring How Power is Enacted in Small Groups (Mary Barnes); (19) A Framework for the Comparison of PME Research into Multilingual Mathematics Education in Different Sociolinguistic Settings (Richard Barwell); (20) Vygotsky's Theory of Concept Formation and Mathematics Education (Margot Berger); (21) Preservice Teachers' Understandings of Relational and Instrumental Understanding (Kim Beswick); (22) The Transformation of Mathematics in On-Line Courses (Marcelo C. Borba); (23) Using Cognitive and Situated Perspectives to Understand Teacher Interactions with Learner Errors (Karin Brodie); (24) Identification of Affordances of a Technology-Rich Teaching and Learning Environment (TRTLE) (Jill P. Brown); (25) The "A4-Project": Statistical World Views Expressed through Pictures (Michael Bulmer and Katrin Rolka); (26) A Whole-School Approach to Developing Mental Computation Strategies (Rosemary Callingham); (27) A Comparison of Perceived Parental Influence on Mathematics Learning among Students in China and Australia (Zhongjun Cao, Helen Forgasz, and Alan Bishop); (28) Using Word Problems in Malaysian Mathematics Education: Looking beneath the Surface (Kah Yein Chan and Judith Mousley); (29) Constructing Pedagogical Knowledge of Problem Solving: Preservice Mathematics Teachers (Olive Chapman); (30) Revisiting a Theoretical Model on Fractions: Implications for Teaching and Research (Charalambos Y. Charalambous and Demetra Pitta-Pantazi); (31) Students' Reflection on Their Sociomathematical Small-Group Interaction: A Case Study (Petros Chaviaris and Sonia Kafoussi); (32) Investigating Teachers' Responses to Student Misconceptions (Helen L. Chick and Monica K. Baker); (33) Studying the Distribution of Responsibility for the Generation of Knowledge in Mathematics Classrooms in Hong Kong, Melbourne, San Diego and Shanghai (David Clarke and Lay Hoon Seah); (34) Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Teaching Relationships in Three Mathematics Classrooms in Remote Queensland (Tom J. Cooper, Annette R. Baturo, and Elizabeth Warren); (35) Exploring the Strategies Used by Grade 1 to 3 Children through Visual Prompts, Symbols and Worded Problems: A Case for a Learning Pathway for Number (Ty Corvell Cranfield, Cally Kuhne, and Gary Powell); (36) Primary Students' Knowledge of the Properties of Spatially-Oriented Diagrams (Carmel Diezmann); (37) A Conceptual Framework for Studying Teacher Preparation: The Pirie-Kieren Model, Collective Understanding, and Metaphor (Maria A. Droujkova, Sarah B. Berenson, Kelli Slaten, and Sue Tombes); (38) Mathematical Modelling with 9-Year-Olds (Lyn English and James Watters); (39) Exploring "Lesson Study" in Teacher Preparation (Maria L. Fernandez); (40) Child-Initiated Mathematical Patterning in the Pre-Compulsory Years (Jillian Fox); (41) The Tacit-Explicit Nature of Students' Knowledge: A Case Study on Area Measurement (Cristina Frade); (42) Teachers as Interns in Informal Mathematics Research (John M. Francisco and Carolyn A. Maher); and (43) Exploring Excellence and Equity within Canadian Mathematics Classrooms (George Frempong). (Individual papers contain references.)

This document is the fourth volume of the proceedings of the 29th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Conference papers are centered around the theme of "Learners and Learning Environments." This volume features 42 research reports by presenters with last names beginning between Mul and Wu: (1) Case Studies of Children's Development of Structure in Early Mathematics: A Two-Year Longitudinal Study (Joanne Mulligan, Michael Mitchelmore, and Anne Prescott); (2) A Case Study of How Kinesthetic Experiences Can Participate in and Transfer to Work with Equations (Ricardo Nemirovsky and Chris Rasmussen); (3) The Construction of Proportional Reasoning (Stephen Norton); (4) The Transition of a Secondary Mathematics Teacher: From a Reform Listener into a Believer (Jo Clay Olson and Karmen Kirtley); (5) Substantive Communication of Space Mathematics in Upper Primary School (Kay Owens); (6) Transforming Korean Elementary Mathematics Classrooms to Student-Centered Instruction (JeongSuk Pang); (7) The Effect of Improved Automaticity and Retrieval of Basic Number Skills on Persistently Low-Achieving Students (John Pegg, Lorraine Graham, and Anne Bellert); (8) Degrees of Freedom in Modeling: Taking Certainty out of Proportion (Irit Peled and Ronit Bassan-Cincinatus); (9) "I Know That You Don't Have to Work Hard": Mathematics Learning in the First Year of Primary School (Bob Perry and Sue Dockett); (10) Disentangling Mentors' Role in the Development of Prospective Teachers' Efficacy Beliefs in Teaching Mathematics (George Philippou and Charalambos Y. Charalambous); (11) Linear Functions and a Triple Influence of Teaching on the Development of Students' Algebraic Expectation (Robyn Pierce); (12) Engaging the Learner's Voice? Catechetics and Oral Involvement in Reform Strategy Lessons (Adrian J. Pinel); (13) Teaching Projectile Motion to Eliminate Misconceptions (Anne Prescott and Michael Mitchelmore); (14) An Investigation of a Preservice Teacher's Use of Representations in Solving Algebraic Problems Involving Exponential Relationships (Norma Presmeg and Rajeev Nenduradu); (15) On Embodiment, Artifacts, and Signs: A Semiotic-Cultural Perspective on Mathematical Thinking (Luis Radford, Caroline Bardini, Cristina Sabena, Pounthioun Diallo, and Athanase Simbagoye); (16) Generalization Strategies of Beginning High School Algebra Students (Joanne Rossi Becker and Ferdinand Rivera); (17) Synchronizing Gestures, Words and Actions in Pattern Generalizations (Cristina Sabena, Luis Radford, and Caroline Bardini); (18) Analyzing Student Modeling Cycles in the Context of a "Real World" Problem (Roberta Y. Schorr and Miriam Amit); (19) Negotiating about Perceived Value Differences in Mathematics Teaching: The Case of Immigrant Teachers in Australia (Wee Tiong Seah); (20) Development of Mathematical Norms in an Eighth-Grade Japanese Classroom (Yasuhiro Sekiguchi); (21) Solving Additive Problems at Pre-Elementary School Level with the Support of Graphical Representation (Ana Coelho Vieira Selva, Jorge Tarcisio da Rocha Falcao, and Terezinha Nunes); (22) From the Everyday, through the Authentic, to Mathematics: Reflecting on the Process of Teaching Mathematics through the Everyday (Godfrey Sethole); (23) Personal Experiences and Beliefs in Early Probabilistic Reasoning: Implications for Research (Sashi Sharma); (24) Assimilating Innovative Learning/Teaching Approaches into Teacher Education: Why Is It so Difficult? (Atara Shriki and Ilana Lavy); (25) Student Thinking Strategies in Reconstructing Theorems (Tatag Yuli Eko Siswono); (26) A Comparison of How Textbooks Teach Multiplication of Fractions and Division of Fractions in Korea and in U.S. (Ji-Won Son); (27) Mathematical Knowledge of Pre-Service Primary Teachers (Beth Southwell and Marina Penglase); (28) Analysing Longitudinal Data on Students' Decimal Understanding Using Relative Risk and Odds Ratios (Vicki Steinle and Kaye Stacey); (29) Girls Journey toward Proportional Reasoning (Olof Bjorg Steinthorsdottir); (30) University Student Perceptions of CAS Use in Mathematics Learning (Sepideh Stewart and Michael O. J. Thomas); (31) Prospective Teachers' Understanding of Proof: What if the Truth Set of an Open Sentence Is Broader than that Covered by the Proof? (Andreas J. Stylianides, Gabriel J. Stylianides, and George Philippou); (32) Planning and Teaching Mathematics Lessons as a Dynamic, Interactive Process (Peter Sullivan, Robyn Zevenbergen, and Judy Mousley); (33) Teacher Factors in Integration of Graphic Calculators into Mathematics Learning (Michael O. J. Thomas and Ye Yoon Hong); (34) Students' Overreliance on Linearity: An Effect of School-Like Word Problems (Wim Van Dooren, Dirk De Bock, Dirk Janssens, and Lieven Verschaffel); (35) A Process of Abstraction by Representations of Concepts (N. C. Verhoef and H. G. B. Broekman); (36) Argumentation Profile Charts as Tools for Analysing Students' Argumentations (Jill Vincent, Helen Chick, and Barry McCrae); (37) Characterizing Middle School Students' Thinking in Estimation (Tanya N. Volkova); (38) Reviewing and Thinking the Affect/Cognition Relation (Margaret Walshaw and Tania Cabral); (39) Young Children's Ability to Generalise the Pattern Rule for Growing Patterns (Elizabeth Warren); (40) Consolidating One Novel Structure whilst Constructing Two More (Gaye Williams); (41) Spreadsheets, Pedagogic Strategies and the Evolution of Meaning for Variable (Kirsty Wilson, Janet Ainley, and Liz Bills); and (42) A Study of the Geometric Concepts of the Elementary School Students Who Are Assigned to the van Hiele Level One (Der-bang Wu and Hsiu-Lan Ma). (Individual papers contain references.)

Despite curriculum expectations, many students, including a disproportionate number of girls, do not 'just know' (retrieve) single-digit addition facts by Year 3. The current study employed structured interviews to explore which strategies Year 3/4 students (n = 166) used when solving more difficult addition combinations. Results revealed that students preference the near-doubles strategy when the difference between the addends was one, the bridging-through-10 strategy when one of the addends was a nine, and the count-on-from-larger strategy when a derived strategy was more effortful. Moreover, whereas boys were more inclined to use derived strategies, girls were almost three times more likely to use the count-on-from-larger strategy.

There is widespread agreement that collaboration, teamwork and intercultural competence, among others, are essential 21st century skills. Higher education teaching and learning initiatives tend to have a significant focus on developing these skills through assessments and other in-class activities, and yet often do not take advantage of opportunities to collaborate with other institutions located in different countries to give their students an authentic, globalised learning experience. Previous transnational education projects have tended to encourage cross-institutional collaboration through engagement with host institution subjects/courses that are delivered at off-shore locations. Although these initiatives are valuable, they tend to impose a 'neo-colonialism' approach and therefore may not develop 'transformative' international perspectives. This paper will present an initiative that was developed between two institutions located in Australia and Hong Kong, where their students collaborated on an assessment for learning task that involved developing a real-life solution for not-for-profit organisations, often located in a third country. The ideas discussed in this paper will be useful for anyone who is trying to create a more immersive, authentic learning experience for their students. These initiatives developed in our students a heightened sense of belonging to a truly globalised world we live in and instilled a shared responsibility of care. Ideas discussed in the presentation will also be useful for policy makers about how to go about creating more supportive policy and governance frameworks to encourage greater collaborations with off-shore institutions in a truly respectful arrangement. [For the complete proceedings, see ED601080.]

Fluency is an important aspect of mathematics learning and plays a major role in developing proficiency as students are required to use skills and apply knowledge. This paper draws upon findings from a large project that aimed to explore primary students' mathematical fluency. Data from 160 primary students (K-6) from a NSW Departmental school were analysed as part of a process to test the efficacy of a Fluency Framework. Results showed that students displayed the proposed characteristics suggested in the framework and that similar characteristics were observed across all grades. These results indicate that the framework, once refined, will be an effective tool for teachers to use in identifying students' fluency.

This paper provides insight about the development of addition and subtraction strategies for nearly 22,000 Australian primary school children in 2016. The children were each assessed by their teacher using a task-based assessment interview that identified the strategies they used to mentally perform addition and subtraction, and matched these to a growth point framework. The findings highlight the broad distribution of strategies used by children in each grade level and suggest that few children, including those in Grade 6, reach Growth Point 6 that involves the mental calculation of two-digit and three-digit numbers. These findings have important implications for classroom teaching and professional learning.

Mathematics and spatial reasoning are inextricably linked. While this is increasingly recognised, a clearer understanding of how spatial reasoning improves your mathematics performance is needed. We sought to explore the role of spatial reasoning strategy use across a range of mathematics assessment tasks with Grade 7 and 9 students. Interviews were conducted and data from students with varying levels of spatial ability was explored to determine if spatial ability had an observable effect on strategy use and success.

The increase in the use of educational technologies in Australian high schools has sparked this investigation into how Year 9 (13 to 14 years of age) students experience and negotiate a new technology enhanced learning environment in a bilingual classroom setting. The paper is about examining the students' language practices in German and English while using a Managed Learning Environment (MLE). The study aims to unearth how such translanguaging practices (using both German and English to communicate in bilingual education settings) contribute to and shape self-regulated learning in a scientific open inquiry process. This is corroborated by insights into student reflections on using the MLE in two languages, with data gained from a student survey. The study further analyses the relationship between bilingual language practices and adaptive tool use. The effectiveness of online learning environments depends on the students' adaptive tool-use (Barzilai & Zohar, 2006; Lust, Vandewaetere, Elen, & Clarebout, 2014) and the ability to engage in self-regulatory learning practices (Zimmerman, Bembenutty, & Schunk, 2013). Data were collected via voice recordings, a student-designed questionnaire and focus group interviews with 22 Year 9 students covering 18 Biology lessons during 6 weeks, over two consecutive years. The study revealed that students' self-regulatory practices during open inquiry processes developed in specific ways through the exposure to a bilingual classroom setting, e.g. by being exposed to unknown terms in German which led them to search for translations and then on to further self-initiated and self-regulated research to find explanations online However, when biology content knowledge was pre-prepared (in the second language of German) by the teacher in guided customized simulations on a computer software tool, students seem to favor such guided practices over self-initiated and self-regulated research as shown during the open inquiry task. However, independent of the specifics of bilingual language use in open or guided inquiry, the tool-use also appeared to be reliant on students' prior disposition. Consequently, results of this study might have interesting implications for the future customization of online learning spaces for high school students and educators in bilingual settings as well as other fields. [For full proceedings, see ED571332.]

This paper reports an instrumental case study of the strategies employed by Year 11 students engaged in solving a functions population task. The task was implemented as part of a study of students studying functions in a Technology-Rich Teaching and Learning Environment (TRTLE). Student strategies related to the perception and enactment of affordances of the TRTLE that would be useful during task solution. The number and nature of strategies used and the combinations of affordances perceived and enacted were diverse. This was true even when students had the same function related intention, for example, find a model to represent data. [For the complete proceedings, see ED597799.]

Despite the importance placed on how children come to solve single-digit addition problems, many children count on to solve these problems when they are expected to use accurate retrieval-based strategies. In this study, we assessed if a subitising intervention improved the rate at which problem-solving practice promoted retrieval, using a multiple baseline across participants design. For two of three participants, problem solving practice was initially ineffective for promoting retrieval before the intervention but after the intervention, retrieval increased significantly as a function of practice. We also examined possible reasons for why this occurred.

This study surveyed and analysed four secondary school students' writing about a square. Sfard's discursive approach to understanding mathematical discourse was used to analyse the responses collected from 214 Australian secondary school students. The results showed that geometric knowledge was developed experientially and not developmentally. This in turn helps refining the development of a geometric learning progression, with the accompaniment of a set of validated assessment tools and learning tasks that seeks to deepen teachers' understanding of geometric reasoning and support student learning.

The focus on practical investigations in the National Curriculum is seen to be important if students are to attain a connoisseurship in science experimentation. The chain of processes involved in doing real science involves: non-linear thinking; creative flair; and critical evaluation within an authentic setting. The research presented in this paper focuses on authentic, open-ended practical project work and reports on the cognitive and affective growth produced through such student-centered contexts. It is argued that by allowing students, themselves, to choose a personally meaningful, real-world problem around which to structure the science investigation, total ownership can be induced with internal locus of control over the problem-solving and learning. It is concluded that project work can act as a remediation intervention for producing science task competency. Contains 38 references. (Author)

This paper interprets a tale of resistance and its dissolution in an Educational Psychology class of male tradespeople employed as Technology Studies teachers in Secondary Colleges. Changes in identity required by the transition from manual to mental labor are so difficult that negativism and an aggressive pupil control ideology permeate the groups' cultures. To assist the students to better understand their own circumstances, a strategy was employed at the beginning of the course that involved a discussion of the fictional, but culturally-specific story of an individual negotiating the dilemmas of his new career and lifestyle. The process facilitated self-disclosure among participants and provided a 'loan of consciousness' through which the group might reconceptualize their own experiences. A cultural 'transition' appeared to occur, providing conditions under which reflection on one's own ideology and practice might proceed. An important outcome of the discussions was an increasing use of compassionate, just and effective strategies, when working with their own pupils, and an openness to learning in other teacher education courses. "People Becoming Teachers and Students: A Case-Study" is appended. (Contains 50 references.) (Author/LL)

In April 1993, the Assistant Director-General of the quality-assurance review program in New South Wales, Australia, established guidelines, called "best practices descriptors," to provide schools with collaboratively developed statements that reflect the characteristics of an effective school or classroom. The statements will provide a framework for the evaluation of schools during the school-review process. This paper focuses on the development of the descriptor statements in the domain of teaching and learning, which were formulated during several meetings of the writing group for that domain. The group developed three major categories--the learning environment, student learning, and teaching practices--and next elicited feedback from teachers. During this school-consultation period, schools reported that they used the descriptor statements to debate the business of teaching and learning; to generate professional discussion; and to develop pointers of observable classroom practice. Widespread consultation with all stakeholder groups is scheduled for 1994. Appendices contain information on and a figure depicting experimental learning styles. (LMI)

As part of a project exploring various aspects of teachers' choice and use of challenging mathematics tasks, we sought some responses from students on their preferences for the difficulty of tasks on which they might work and also on the ways of working. Despite the common finding that teachers are reluctant to pose challenges to their students for fear of adverse reactions, many students reported that they prefer tasks to be somewhat challenging and many prefer to work on the tasks before having the process explained by the teacher. An important finding was the diversity of student preferences. There are implications for the information that educators offer to teachers on structuring their lessons.

The aim of this project is to increase teacher education students' understanding of the learning process by focusing on their own learning experiences. In 1990, 67 preservice teacher education students in 4 classes completed measures of academic locus of control, perceived competencies in self-directed learning, and study processes before and after a semester course in a specially designed program in educational psychology. The program focused on students taking a greater responsibility for their own learning by exposing them to a variety of learning experiences. These experiences include negotiation of the curriculum; self-, peer-, and collaborative assessment; and critical reflection on these and other learning experiences by means of an ongoing learning log. Results indicate an increase in academic locus of control for one class; an increase in perceived competence in a number of aspects of self-management in learning; and an increase in deep motive, achieving strategy, and deep approach to learning. These outcomes are discussed in terms of the congruence between these changes and the particular learning experiences to which the students were exposed. This paper concludes with a list of 35 references and 2 appendixes--"Items: Competencies in Self-Directed Learning Scale" and "Student Evaluation of Subject." (Author/IAH)