In this paper, we give a detailed account of the design principles and construction of activities designed for learning about the relationships between position, velocity and acceleration, and corresponding kinematics graphs. Our approach is model-based, that is, it focuses attention on the idea that students constructed their own models--in the…

Teachers of first-year college mathematics and engineering courses must often spend considerable time reviewing material originally taught in high school. Instead of this being a mere exercise in repetition, this article suggests that such a review can enrich and revitalize by unifying some of the subjects that need to be re-taught. In the example…

Static, animated, and interactive visualizations are frequently used in electronic learning environments. In this article, we provide a brief review of research on visuospatial cognition relevant to designing e-learning tools that use these displays. In the first section, we discuss the possible cognitive benefits of visualizations consider used…

In this article, the authors present a laboratory exercise in data collection and statistical analysis in biological space using clustered stomates on leaves of "Begonia" plants. The exercise can be done in middle school classes by students making their own slides and seeing imprints of cells, or at the high school level through collecting data of…

Cross-sectional and longitudinal data from students as they advance through the middle school years (grades 6-8) reveal insights into the development of students' pattern generalization abilities. As expected, students show a preference for lower-level tasks such as "reading the data," over more distant predictions and generation of abstractions.…

A study of the effect of science teaching with a multimedia simulation on water quality, the "River of Life," on the science conceptual understanding of students (N = 83) in an undergraduate science education (K-9) course is reported. Teaching reality-based meaningful science is strongly recommended by the National Science Education Standards…

Learner centred design methods highlight the importance of involving the stakeholders of the learning process (learners, teachers, educational researchers) at all stages of the design of educational applications and of refining the design through an iterative prototyping process. These methods have been used successfully when designing systems…

Doubling the Number of college graduates in Kentucky by 2020 will be challenging, but it is a worthy and achievable goal, and will make a real difference in the lives and livelihoods of Kentuckians. This report, a biennial publication of the Council on Postsecondary Education, shows how every county in the state can contribute toward this goal and…

One skill that elementary students need to acquire is the ability to analyze spatially distributed data. In this activity students are asked to complete the following tasks: (1) plot a set of data (related to "mud-sharks"--an imaginary fish) on a map of the state of Alabama, (2) identify trends in the data, (3) make graphs using the data…

This computer software program helps to make classroom worksheets, take home assignments, and school mathematics tests easy to design and manufacture. The accompanying printed teaching guide provides technical information for setting up and using the program, along with sample worksheets and instructions on how to create them using the software.…

This investigation into the effects of configural properties (properties determined by the interrelationships existing between component parts) used a selective attention task to determine whether intersection is a primary encoding feature or is constructed after slopes and heights are perceived. The method for encoding feature identification,…

The way that graphs can be used to make calculations that are commonly used by institutional researchers is described using specific examples, and the technique of constructing computational graphs (and nomographs) is outlined. It is shown that once a calculation involving several variables has been represented by a computation diagram or a…

The value of including a unit on graph theory in the elementary school mathematics curriculum is discussed. A module for use in teaching graph theory to elementary school teachers is presented. (SD)

Activities involving set union and intersection, graphing solutions of open sentences, and negation are described. These activities afford students with opportunities for computational practice as well as instruction on equations and inequalities. (SD)

The mathematics of the game "Instant Insanity" is described in terms of graph theory, a part of combinational mathematics. (SD)