This case study examines how material resistance (limitations posed by the physical world) and graph interpretation intersected during a high school biology investigation using digital sensors. We use an extended episode from a small group to illustrate how, in an inquiry-based unit, measuring near the resolution limit of a sensor caused scaling…

It is widely recognized that we need to prepare students to think with data. This study investigates student interactions with digital data graphs and seeks to identify what might prompt them to shift toward using their graphs as thinking tools in the authentic activity of doing science. Drawing from video screencast data of three small groups…

Graphical literacy or graphicacy is a critical component of scientific literacy. Graphs are used to integrate and represent complex sets of information requiring abstraction from perceptual experience. They form essential parts of the Mathematics and Science curriculum across school curricular stages. A key to developing meaningful pedagogic…

In this paper, we pursue a materialist approach to tool use to account for the material dimensions of learning mathematics with technology while decentralizing the human body from activity. We root this vision in theoretical advances on embodied mathematics learning and tool use that have been recently offered as alternatives to traditional…

We design, validate, and administer a 24-item test to study student understanding of linear functions in 1D kinematics [x(t)] and mathematics [y(x)] in the 9th grade. The items assess identification and comparison of initial position and velocity in 1D kinematics and of the y intercept and slope in mathematics using a graph or an algebraic…

Despite holding wide-ranging experiences with constant velocity and non-zero acceleration, students wrestling with physical science concepts struggle to demarcate the two distinct characteristics of motion. In fact, this prior experience and loose familiarity with associated terminology often act as an obstacle toward a deep and robust…

Nitrogen- or phosphorus-based fertilizers, used in agriculture, can run off into nearby waterways during periods of heavy rain or high flow and cause harmful blooms (Paerl et al. 2016), low oxygen (Joyce 2000), and decreased biodiversity (Sebens 1994). Studies of the effects wetlands can have on water and habitat quality (Verhoeven and Meuleman…

There is concern about mathematics success and its related pedagogy. Society has seen rapid changes in the economy and technology with a call for these changes to be reflected within the classroom. New methods of teaching mathematics are being sought with the purpose to improve teaching and learning while making mathematics relatable to the new…

This study uses graphs of conductivity measured by a microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) to promote students' macro, micro, and symbolic representations when learning about net ionic reactions (NIR). A total of 54 students, aged 14-15 years old participated in this research, and were randomly divided into an experimental group (N = 27) and a…

Implementing an integrated sequence of concrete-representational-abstract depictions of mathematics concepts (CRA-I) can improve the mathematics achievement of students with disabilities, and explicit instructional strategies involving problem-solving heuristics and student verbalizations can help facilitate students' conceptual understanding of…

Introduction: Participants' perspectives are valuable in evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention. Methods: Interviews were conducted with teachers of students with visual impairments and students who completed an intervention designed to build graphics literacy skills. Results: Six themes were identified with corresponding subthemes. The…

Introduction: Participants' perspectives are valuable in evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention. Methods: Interviews were conducted with teachers of students with visual impairments and students who completed an intervention designed to build graphics literacy skills. Results: Six themes were identified with corresponding subthemes. The…

This study is aimed to construct a model to transform word "motion problems" in to an algorithmic form in order to be processed by an intelligent tutoring system (ITS). First; categorizing the characteristics of motion problems, second; suggesting a model for the categories were carried out. In order to solve all categories of the…

The topic of function transformations is a difficult mathematical topic for school and college students. This article examines how students conceive function transformations after working with GeoGebra, when this conceiving relates to the algebraic representation. The research participants were 19 ninth grade high achieving students who learned,…

This research addresses the issue of how to support students' representational fluency--the ability to create, move within, translate across, and derive meaning from external representations of mathematical ideas. The context of solving linear equations in a combined computer algebra system (CAS) and paper-and-pencil classroom environment is…