Punk has its roots in the garage bands of the 1960s and 1970s as expressions of resistance to mainstream music. Punk, however, has evolved over time to encompass rebellion and an ethic of DIY (i.e. do it yourself) not just in music but in other domains to reject the status quo. Punk can be found in the university too. Podcasting and zines, for…

Background and Context: Current programming learning research often compares novices and experienced programmers, leaving early learning stages and emotional and cognitive states under-explored. Objective: Our study investigates relationships between cognitive and emotional states and learning performance in early stage programming learners with…

Integrating STEM education within the elementary school science curriculum in Ontario, Canada, elevated the expectation for elementary preservice teachers to teach STEM skills such as problem-solving through coding. Research shows that educational robotics can promote STEM knowledge and skills. This mixed methods study investigates the effect of…

In the era of big data, many business organizations consider data analytics skills as important criteria in the acquisition of qualified applicants. As numerous managerial decisions in the field of marketing are becoming evidence-based, business schools have integrated case studies about different stages of data analytics such as problem…

The instrumental approach is a useful theoretical lens for understanding students' learning processes with a main focus on the transformation of an artefact (a human design for a goal-directed activity) into a meaningful instrument (i.e. an artefact and schemes developed by the student). In this paper, we articulate the instrumental approach for…

In an era where computational thinking is regarded as a basic skill for the 21st century that needs to be taught across the K-12 curriculum, research shows that teacher education programs do not adequately prepare preservice teachers to promote computational thinking skills in classroom teaching. Accordingly, the present study contributes to the…

Contribution: A first-year programming course was redesigned with a large, open-ended robotics project. The course design aligns with best practices for promoting development of students' self-efficacy in solving ill-structured software design problems. Background: From Jonassen's theory, problem-solving outcomes are dependent on the problem…

Various forms of Peer-Learning Environments are increasingly being used in post-secondary education, often to help build repositories of student generated learning objects. However, large classes can result in an extensive repository, which can make it more challenging for students to search for suitable objects that both reflect their interests…

Contribution: A semester-long, open-ended design project was implemented to promote intellectual development of first-year students while reinforcing event-driven/procedural programming principles. This paper describes this approach, and an evaluation strategy using Perry's model for intellectual development. The results show that students can…

In this article we present an "instrumental approach" in mathematics education, which focuses on the interactions between students, teachers, and "artefacts." This approach analyses "mediations" attached to the use of a given artefact and "instruments" developed by the subjects from this artefact along…

The Java Intelligent Tutoring System (JITS) research project explored the power of a new approach to supporting beginner Java programming students. Using Java's grammar as the core of its production rule base, JITS is embedded with extra functionality to detect, predict and correct lexicographical errors in students' code. This additional…

It is a hard task to strike a balance between extents of control a learner exercises and the amount of guidance, active or passive, afforded by the learning environment to guide, support, and motivate the learner. Adaptive systems strive to find the right balance in a spectrum that spans between self-control and system-guidance. They also concern…

As part of their undergraduate mathematics curriculum, students at Brock University learn to create and use computer-based tools with dynamic, visual interfaces, called Exploratory Objects, developed for the purpose of conducting pure or applied mathematical investigations. A student's Development Process Model of creating and using an Exploratory…

Automatic item generation represents a relatively new but rapidly evolving research area where cognitive and psychometric theories are used to produce tests that include items generated using computer technology. Automatic item generation requires two steps. First, test development specialists create item models, which are comparable to templates…

Failure rates in first year calculus courses are high in most post-secondary institutions across North America and other parts of the world. This Inukshuk-funded open education project involved the development of five stand-alone pre-calculus learning modules. The design and revision phases of this project occurred between the fall of 2007 and…