In this article, the author describes two lessons in which students applied the scientific knowledge learned from studying offshore oil drilling to construct a fact-based argument on the topic and then communicate it to their policy makers, since public commentary was solicited. The students practiced using their scientific knowledge to…

There is growing interest in the field of education for leveraging emerging digital technologies to support teachers' learning in online or blended settings. This paper builds on Clarke and Hollingsworth's (2002) "Interconnected Model of Professional Growth" by investigating an alternative instantiation of "professional…

It is often difficult for students to develop an intuition about molecular processes, which occur in a realm far different from day-to-day life. For example, thermal fluctuations take on hurricane-like proportions at the molecular scale. Students need a way to visualize realistic depictions of molecular processes to appreciate them. To this end,…

The focus on quality improvements by institutions for better online and blended teaching can be delivered in different ways. This article reports on the implementation of this process and the approaches taken first, in terms of the design of new learning materials, and second, when reviewing the existing curriculum. The study aims to ascertain…

Sixty years of research have not added up to a concordant evaluation of the influence of spatial and manual abilities on dental skill acquisition. We used Ackerman's theory of ability determinants of skill acquisition to explain the influence of spatial visualization and manual dexterity on the task performance of dental students in two…

The first data structure that first-year undergraduate students learn during the programming and algorithms courses is the one-dimensional array. For novice programmers, it might be hard to understand different algorithms on arrays (e.g. searching, mirroring, sorting algorithms), because the algorithms dynamically change the values of elements. In…

Although the psychological literature has demonstrated that spatial reasoning and mathematics performance are correlated, there is scant research on these relationships in the middle years. The current study examined the commonalities and differences in students' performance on instruments that measured three spatial reasoning constructs and two…

This paper explores young children's drawings (6 years old) in early number and addition activities in Malaysia. Observation, informal interviews and analysis of drawings revealed two types of drawing, and gave insight into the transitional process required for children to utilise drawings in problem solving. We argue the importance of valuing and…

This report summarises the research activities and findings from the TLRI-funded project entitled "Visualising Chance: Learning Probability Through Modelling." This exploratory study was a 2-year collaboration among two researchers, two conceptual software developers/interactive graphics experts, three university lecturers/practitioners,…

From random interviews of mathematics teachers, the researchers are conscious that students have difficulties in solving problems regarding compound body volume measurement. The researchers found the main factor involved in the difficulties was incomplete spatial concepts. Augmented reality (AR), which is a kind of educational technology, has been…

The purpose of this paper is to explore and explain students' achievements in solving context-based gas exercises comprising the macroscopic and submicroscopic levels of chemical concepts. The influence of specific variables, such as interest in learning, formal-reasoning abilities, and visualisation abilities, is a significant factor that should…

A project called Mobile City Science (MCS), a partnership between the University of Washington, New York Hall of Science, the Digital Youth Network, and two high schools, leverages young people's proclivity for on-the-move digital engagement to re-place and mobilize learning through public, community settings that youth identify as being relevant…

This paper presents the findings of visual analyses conducted on 369 sketch ideas generated in three 6-3-5 visual brainstorming sessions by a total of 25 participants, following the same design brief. The motivation for the study was an interest in the thematic content of the ideas generated as groups, and the individual representation styles used…

The augmented reality (AR) sandbox bridges the gap between two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) visualization by projecting a digital topographic map onto a sandbox landscape. As the landscape is altered, the map dynamically adjusts, providing an opportunity to discover how to read topographic maps. We tested the hypothesis that the AR…

This article describes the development and validation of a newly designed instrument for measuring the spatial ability of middle school students (11-13 years old). The design of the Spatial Reasoning Instrument (SRI) is based on three constructs (mental rotation, spatial orientation, and spatial visualization) and is aligned to the type of spatial…