We recognise that though teachers may participate in various forms of professional development (PD) programmes, learning that they may have gained in the PD may not always lead to corresponding perceivable changes in their classroom teaching. We offer a theoretical re-orientation towards this issue by introducing a construct we term…

The language involved in de-contextualized integer comparisons poses challenges, as students may interpret "most" based on absolute values rather than on order. Using the context of temperature, we explored how students' integer value comparisons differed based on question phrasing (which temperature is hottest, most hot, least hot,…

How to pedagogically integrate the four STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines is a main discussion issue in STEM education. Inquiry-based learning, mathematical modeling, and tool-based pedagogy could go hand in hand to provide a possible integrated STEM pedagogical framework for mathematics and science. This…

This study investigated preservice middle school mathematics teachers' (PSTs) understanding of proportional and nonproportional relationships and their abilities to differentiate these relationships from each other. The PSTs' abilities to interpret and represent proportional and nonproportional situations and solution strategies were also…

The issue of early algebraic thinking is of great importance for the school life of young students. In this paper, the Father Woodland, a puzzle-like environment, is presented aiming to facilitate the use of algebraic thinking in early schooling. Seventy grade 3 students participated and their work was examined within Radford's (2011, 2014)…

In this article, we report on sixth-grade students' responses to a set of problem activities that required the application of mathematics, science, and engineering knowledge in designing and constructing a paper bridge that could withstand an optimal load. Increasing students' application and awareness of their disciplinary learning and how they…

This study was designed to examine predictors of instructional beliefs related to problem solving that influence mathematics in-service teachers' practices in the Chilean context. A total of 713 in-service mathematics teachers from various elementary schools participated in the survey study during 2015 and 2016. Results showed that teachers'…

This study investigated the performance of 790 fourth graders from Taiwan for judging the reasonableness of a computational result by using corresponding methods pertaining to whole numbers. A number-sense web-based two-tier diagnostic test was used to assess the number-sense performance of the fourth graders who participated in this study. The…

This article presents a qualitative descriptive-interpretive study about the abilities of pre-service primary science teachers (PPTs) to solve a measurement problem put to them as an activity of scientific inquiry. The participants in the study were 23 PPTs receiving training in science teaching, organized into small groups to solve the proposed…

Educators have been interested in the global maker movement as it provides hands-on learning opportunities for youths to enhance their knowledge and skills of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This study aims to understand the maker movement from the perspective of frame analysis and collective action frames. Based on 33…

This study reports on a way to address twenty-first-century skills in mathematics education by organizing one-day mathematics challenges in the Netherlands. During such a day, students work in teams in school on an open-ended problem which aims to elicit skills like problem-solving, modeling, collaboration, and communication. The framework and the…

Environmental education is intended to increase public awareness and knowledge about environmental issues and enhance individuals' problem-solving and decision-making skills by tackling problems in the real world. "Maker education," on the contrary, mostly relies on "problem-based" and "project-based learning"…

Makerspaces provide a viable option for constructing and sharing knowledge in schools. Inherent in the designing, tinkering, and playing that learners engage in through making are competencies, such as the ability to create, problem solve, and innovate, decreed as critical by education policymakers. This paper summarizes results from a study in a…

In this design-based research project, we investigated how and to what extent participating in architectural building and problem solving via a simulation game-based learning platform (called E-Rebuild) would facilitate mathematical practices of middle-school students in the informal learning setting. This study encompasses 2 iterative design…

Cognitive model [CM] is the description of individual's problem-solving method on selected tasks at a precise level to make meaningful inference on his/her strengths and weaknesses. CM serves as a foundation in developing a cognitive diagnostic assessment [CDA] that links the interpretation of test score to the attributes. This study employed the…