Although the development of digital competencies has become increasingly important in higher education, integrating digital literacies in the college classroom has occurred at a slow pace. Honors programs and colleges represent one area of the academy that typically values a more traditional approach to skill development while resisting…

This is a study about the didactical organization of a research based group of activities designed using APOS theory to help university students make constructions, needed to understand and graph two-variable functions, but found to be lacking in previous studies. The model of the "moments of study" of the Anthropological Theory of…

Terms to be familiar with before you start to solve the test: transcription, pre-mRNA, RNA processing, RNA transport, RNA polymerase II, direct and indirect immunofluorescence staining, cell fractionation by centrifugation, oligo(dT)-cellulose chromatography, washing and elution of the column, ribonuclease, SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis,…

This article points out a simple connection between related rates and differential equations. The connection can be used for in-class examples or homework exercises, and it is accessible to students who are familiar with separation of variables.

The emergence of non-Euclidean geometries in the 19th century rocked the foundations of mathematical knowledge and certainty. The tremors can still be felt in undergraduate mathematics today where encounters with non-Euclidean geometry are novel and often shocking to students. Because of its divergence from ordinary and comfortable notions of…

This study looks at a mixed ability group of 21 Year 5 primary students (aged 9-10 years old) who had previously never had formal instruction using letters to stand for unknowns or variables in a mathematics context; nor had they been introduced to formal algebraic notation. Three lessons were taught using the computer software "Grid Algebra"…

This article discusses the "lessons learned" from an attempt to establish an interdisciplinary education research group. The growth, development and dissolution of the group are treated as an instrumental case study. Current literature on interdisciplinary collaboration is synthesized in order to provide a frame for analysis. Data was collected…

This paper describes the utility of using simulated, rather than real, student solutions to problems within a peer-assessment setting and whether this approach can be used as a means of improving performance in chemical calculations. The study involved a small cohort of students, of two levels, who carried out a simulated peer-assessment as a…

Organic chemistry has the long-standing reputation as a challenging course, and organic synthesis is an aspect of organic chemistry that requires students to make the most links between concepts and requires the highest order of thinking. One-on-one interviews were conducted with students from a second undergraduate organic chemistry course in…

Within the "Australian Curriculum: Mathematics" the Understanding proficiency strand states, "Students build understanding when they connect related ideas, when they represent concepts in different ways, when they identify commonalities and differences between aspects of content, when they describe their thinking mathematically and…

Teachers typically teach subjects separately, but integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculums that focus on real-world practices are gaining momentum (NAE and NRC 2009). Before release of the "Next Generation of Science Standards" ("NGSS") (NGSS Lead States 2013), 36 states already had a…

As young adolescents, middle grades students experience a wide variety of changes related to their cognitive capabilities, social and emotional well-being, and use of self-regulation strategies. Authentic performance tasks challenge students to apply their knowledge and skills to realistic problems to create products or performances--consistent…

This is the report of an investigation in partnership with a team of junior secondary classroom teachers of the potential of posing more challenging tasks to their students. A range of data sources are used to represent the experience of teachers and students in a unit of work that incorporated a range of challenging tasks. Students learned the…

Rural schools face challenges that are often different than nonrural schools. Resource constraints are particularly acute in rural schools, and they struggle to offer advanced courses and extracurricular programs. The purpose of this paper is to present a descriptive, instrumental case study of an inclusive rural science, technology, engineering,…

As teachers strive to make sense of and implement knowledge of creativity that is available from the research community, school librarians are called upon to help turn rhetoric into reality. Developing the creativity habit is far more meaningful and effective if the classroom activity is representative of the real-world problem-solving process.…