Mathematics education is a critical part of instruction for students around the globe. The foundation for understanding basic mathematical concepts begins early in life. Preschool classrooms can provide the early skills in mathematical reasoning that will be needed later in life. In this study, the author sought to determine if the use of…

This study investigated the effects of two instructional approaches -- Discovery Learning Scientific Community Laboratories (DL-SCL; Treatment) and non-DLSCL laboratories (Control) -- on students' conceptual understanding, epistemological views, and academic achievement in a Physics-1 lab. Conceptual understanding was measured pre/post using the…

Many students enter high school with persistent algebraic misconceptions that limit their success in mathematics and, by extension, limit potential educational attainment and future earnings. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a warm conceptual change based intervention on remediating algebraic misconceptions held by…

This concurrent embedded mixed methods study investigates the influence of the computer program Tinkerplots™ on 34 preservice elementary teachers' understanding of measures of center and graphical representations of data. Participants' opinions and beliefs about the effectiveness of the program were also explored. At the beginning of the…

The technology principle in the "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics" (NCTM, 2000) states that technology plays an important role in how teachers teach mathematics and in how students learn mathematics. The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed methods study was to examine the impact of interactive applets on students'…

This study purposed to determine the effect of an endogenously designed instructional game on conceptual understanding of the associative and distributive properties of multiplication. Additional this study sought to investigate if performance on measures of conceptual understanding taken prior to and after game play could serve as predictors of…

Recent advances in technology and ideology have unlocked entirely new directions for education research. Mounting pressure from increasing tuition costs and free, online course offerings are opening discussion and catalyzing change in the physical classroom. The flipped classroom is at the center of this discussion. The flipped classroom is a new…

The purpose of this study was to determine if online reflections through social networking affect students' sense of community and levels of perceived conceptual learning in Algebra I courses. Social constructivism, connectivism, and computer-mediated communication in relation to reflective practices form the theoretical and practical framework…

This study investigated whether participation in the Partnership for Research and Education in Plants (PREP), a long-term authentic plant research project, in conjunction with explicit verses implicit instruction can change high school students' conceptions of the nature of science (NOS). The participants included a total of 134 students comprised…

The purpose of this study was to measure the difference in achievement between those students enrolled in a beginning-level, university Algebra course in southeastern Idaho university the spring semester of 2012 who received an Algebra Exponents and Polynomials instructional unit in a traditional face-to-face setting and those students who…

The dissertation investigates the effect of a concept-based approach to teaching the Chinese temporal system to English-speaking university learners at the elementary level. The pedagogical framework, Systematic-Theoretical Instruction (STI), adopted in this study was proposed by Piotr Gal'perin and originated from Vygotsky's…

The research described in this dissertation explores the impact of utilizing a LEGO-robotics integrated engineering and mathematics program to support fifth grade students' learning of ratios and proportion in an extracurricular program. The research questions guiding this research study were (1) how do students' test results compare for students…

The purpose of this study was to determine (1) strategies students use when solving composition problems and the difficulties they encounter; (2) conceptions and/or misconceptions students have with respect to composition of functions; and (3) the effect of using dynamic visualization during instruction on students' understanding of composition of…