Life tables are mathematical tables that document probabilities of dying and life expectancies at different ages in a society. Thus, the life table contains some essential features of the health of a population. Probability is often regarded as a difficult branch of mathematics. Life tables provide an interesting approach to introducing concepts…

An essential component skill of monitoring and reflection during problem solving is work checking, a process used by experts while solving problems to determine if their solution is achieving the goal. The results of work checking may reveal errors or inconsistencies, indicating a need for iteration. Using think-aloud interviews, the authors…

Jennifer Miller is a special education preschool teacher at Grant Elementary School in Muscatine, Iowa. In this article, she describes how she created and implemented a learning center with three-to-five-year-old students in an integrated morning class (nine students; four on IEPs) and an integrated afternoon class (10 students; four on IEPs) to…

This conceptual article explores teaching as design work, arguing that a critical thing teachers do is design systems that enable their students to learn. Designing occurs when teachers generate new learning activities or modify curricular programs to create coherence for themselves and their students. Nonetheless, few teacher education programs…

Most educators who teach the advertising campaigns course require students to work as groups. A review of cooperative learning and group dynamics literature, however, suggests that unless students are systematically prepared for group work instructional goals will be difficult to achieve. This article describes how pre-training activities in group…

This study investigates collaborative meaning making by analyzing breakdowns and repairs of understanding in an online, open, peer production environment (Open Source Software). Guiding theoretical frameworks include Roschelle and Teasley's Joint Problem Space and Stahl's Group Cognition. It uses an ethnomethodologically-influenced discourse…

Service-learning can provide a range of literacy learning experiences for children as they work to solve real world problems and engage in inquiry, collaboration and reflection. Rather than being an extracurricular activity, service-learning projects are designed to meet standards and align with existing curriculum. This article explores how…

In this article the authors describe an instructional unit designed and taught in two classes of kindergarten children. The goals of the unit were to present a "driving question" to motivate the process of statistical investigation, to genuinely engage children in the stages of statistical investigation, and to facilitate them in…

Paper folding, or origami in Japanese, is a traditional craft that has been enjoyed by both children and adults for hundreds of years. Mathematicians have long studied the mathematics of paper folding. They use square papers to construct mathematical shapes (for example, folding an equilateral triangle from a square paper or trisecting an angle),…

This study focuses on the investigation of the effects of computer simulation and animation (CSA) on students' cognitive processes in an undergraduate engineering course. The revised Bloom's taxonomy, which consists of six categories in the cognitive process domain, was employed in this study. Five of the six categories were investigated,…

This paper discusses the use and impact of formative feedback and scaffolding to develop outcomes for complex problem solving in a required first-year course in engineering design and practice at a medium-sized research-intensive Canadian university. In 2010, the course began to use team-based, complex, open-ended contextualised problems to…

The flipped-classroom approach has gained increasing popularity and interest in engineering education. The purpose of this study was to investigate (a) student perspectives on the flipped-classroom approach in a transportation-engineering course and (b) how students used the in-class time dedicated to collaborative problem solving. To this end,…

Technology is a school subject that forms part of the compulsory curriculum for high school learners in South Africa, and is a core theme in the subject Design and Technology in Botswana high schools. Knowledge and production skills acquired in the subject are applied to solve real-life problems consistent with the steps of the design process. The…

In this study, it was aimed to analyze the structure of prospective middle school mathematics teachers' problems posed with regard to given symbolic representation including addition and subtraction operations with integers. The study conducted with 96 last grade elementary school mathematics teacher candidates studying in Faculty of Education of…

This study explored the effectiveness of online instructional modules for providing supplementary instruction in basic mathematics and physics concepts. The modules were developed in accordance with a cognitive apprenticeship model. Participants (N = 47) were students enrolled in a required Statics course at a midwestern university. Participants…