In the U.S. the fifth-grade mathematics curriculum is largely devoted to building fraction skills, providing an essential foundation for future success in mathematics (National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008). Unfortunately, students in the U.S. struggle with fraction proficiency (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2022; Organisation…

Amongst important and under-researched questions are how introductory lessons can be designed for teaching initial proofs to junior high school students, and how such lessons enrich students' understanding of proofs. With a view to improving the learning situation in the classroom, in this paper we report on the various functions of introductory…

Recent research on the scaffolding of instruction has widened the use of the term to include forms of support for learners provided by, amongst other things, artefacts and computer-based learning environments. This paper tackles the important and under-researched issue of how mathematics lessons in junior high schools can be designed to scaffold…

Learning how the periodic table has developed over time can provide an important foundation for students' future science learning, as they begin to explore the explanatory power of other models in science. In this activity, students are given the opportunity to investigate the generation of the modern periodic table, through a process of creating…

A logic model, also called a conceptual model and theory-of-change model, is a visual representation of how a program is expected to "work." It relates resources, activities, and the intended changes or impacts that a program is expected to create. Typically, logic models are diagrams or flow charts with illustrations, text, and arrows that…

Little research has been conducted on how students work when they are required to plan, build and evaluate artefacts in technology rich learning environments such as those supported by tools including flow charts, "Labview" programming and Lego construction. In this study, activity theory was used as an analytic tool to examine the social…

Coordinate graphs of time-series data have been significant in the history of statistical graphing and in recent school mathematics curricula. A survey task to construct a graph to represent data about temperature change over time was administered to 133 students in Grades 3, 5, 7, and 9. Four response levels described the degree to which students…