The purpose of this study was twofold. First, to explore middle and high school students' intuitively-based (mis)conceptions in probability, particularly availability and representativeness heuristics. Second, to investigate teachers' awareness of these intuitively-based (mis)conceptions and the effectiveness of their instructional practices to…

It's often useful extending students beyond the limiting geometry of triangles and quadrilaterals to regularly consider generalizations of results for triangles and quadrilaterals to higher order polygons. A brief heuristic description is given here of the author applying this strategy, and which led to an interesting result related to the…

Genetics is a core topic in the biology curriculum of many countries. Learning genetics is difficult for multiple reasons, including the need to reason about complex mechanisms--and to link mechanisms--that occur at different time and space scales. Previous research in genetics education explores students' understandings of inheritance patterns or…

Building from the concept 'sponsors of literacy', the authors revisit three empirical studies to argue for mobilising notions of sponsorship beyond fixed conceptions of individual sponsors and literacy to lifewide perspectives that take into account sponsoring relations across the broader learning lives of youth. The authors take up the…

The authors explore foundational ideas of disciplinary literacy and articulate a research-based heuristic for teaching disciplinary literacy in English language arts: generating, weaving, and curating. The authors apply the heuristic to the classroom, arguing that high school teachers should explicitly enhance students' opportunities for…

There has been a large amount of research about the impact of dynamic geometry software (DGS) on the learning of mathematics mainly related to different representations of mathematical concepts and functional dependences. This paper goes beyond these investigations by suggesting meaningful connection and integration of DGS with physical resources…

Purpose: Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) that can be extended and modified in various ways, is a practical and realistic type of problem and forms the basis for the visual and spatial solution of many optimization problems. In this study, 15, 25 and 35 nodes Travelling Salesman Problems were solved by secondary school, high school and…

Ethical theories are key principles that determine right decisions and actions in morally problematic situations. Using phenomenological method of data collection, explication, and interpretative, the adolescent interviewees in this study revealed the essential nature, structure, content, and meaning of their personal moral beliefs and other…

A more motivating way of introducing students to probability theory is through real-world problems. Since heuristics play an important role in our probabilistic judgement, knowing how to avoid incorrect probabilistic reasoning, which leads to several biases, could help students to develop more critical thinking skills. In this paper, we present a…

One of the major aims of STEM education is the development of mathematical thinking. The common misconception is that "doing mathematics" is the same as getting involved in "mathematical thinking". Rallying to such argument, many would agree that mathematics should be taught as a thinking activity. Thus, this study endeavours…

Community service education (CSE) in developing countries still remains under-represented in research. Addressing this gap, this article reports a study that investigated a CSE activity at a secondary school in Sri Lanka. The participants of this study comprised 10 English as a second language (ESL) teachers from four secondary schools, 68 Grade…

Across various forms of media, Muslims are often portrayed as a homogenous group prone to violence, yet scholars have increasingly called upon schools and teachers to transcend stereotypes and prepare students to understand Muslims in more thoughtful and nuanced ways. This qualitative case study recounts how students and a teacher in a high school…

The periodic table is recognized as one of the most powerful tools in science. While it is included in virtually all high school and undergraduate general chemistry curricula, it remains a mystery to many chemistry students who find it impossible to decode. Students are often able to predict periodic trends concerning atomic radius, ionization…

The process of proofs and refutations described by Lakatos is essential in school mathematics to provide students with an opportunity to experience how mathematical knowledge develops dynamically within the discipline of mathematics. In this paper, a framework for describing student processes of proofs and refutations is constructed using a set of…

A partnership was created between psychologists and computer programmers to develop a computer-based assessment program. Psychometric concerns of accessibility, reliability, and validity were juxtaposed with core development concepts of usability and user-centric design. Phases of development were iterative, with evaluation phases alternating with…