Perceptually rich concrete manipulatives benefit mathematics learning. Because students should be challenged to consider connections between two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) perspectives of conics (NCTM 2000), this article describes hands-on teaching techniques that promote this type of student reasoning. This article aims to (1)…

Integrating science learning with game experience and physical manipulatives not only overcomes the rigidity of traditional teaching, but also makes the learning experience pleasant for students and improves their science inquiry ability. Today, with the popularization of mobile devices and technology, both the value and feasibility of gamified…

Supporting teachers' implementations of technology in the classroom is a critical and longstanding issue in mathematics education. As access to various technology resources grows, a need exists for professional development opportunities that prepare teachers to integrate technology effectively to support students' mathematical learning…

This research examined whether children's construals of mathematical manipulatives -- as toys or as tools for doing mathematics -- influenced their learning from a lesson with the manipulatives. Children (grades 2 and 3) were presented with a set of buckets and beanbags, and they were either given no information about the manipulatives (control)…

With the ever-diversifying digital landscape of the 21st century, terms such as 'information and communication technologies' (ICT), 'digital media' and 'technologies' are often used to refer to a broad set of digital devices and applications. However, the use of these umbrella-concepts in educational contexts has caused issues when used in…

This research examined the role of touch in creative media production in the context of educational and community makerspaces. Touch, while only recently explored in digital media production, is a crucial perceptive sense through which to experience the world, particularly in two- and three-dimensional making, and to explore texture, temperature,…

In this qualitative study, the aim was to examine early literacy materials used by teachers in preschool classrooms as well as teachers' practices that were related to early literacy instruction. The participants of this qualitative study were 52 preschool teachers working in 22 public schools in the city of Usak, Turkey. The Early Literacy…

In this paper, we document elementary school teachers' attitudinal and pedagogical changes during the rapid move from brick-and-mortar to virtual schooling initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We administered four online surveys (in September and October 2020, and in March and June 2021) to determine teachers' perceived challenges and successes in…

Mathematics educators and researchers have advocated for the use of manipulatives to teach mathematics for decades. The purpose of this article is to provide illustrative uses of a readily available manipulative rather than a complete list. From an Australian perspective, Pop-it fidget toys can be used across the mathematics curriculum. This paper…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a disruption in the educational world where schools across the nation had to shift to online learning very quickly with a lack of instructional strategies and how to differentiate instruction in an online learning environment. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to explore the perceptions of…

Design research was conducted to investigate the development of dynamic conceptions of area. Students used simple physical instruments, squeegees, and paint, to generate rectangular areas continuously as a sweeping motion of one length through another. Then, they dissected the resulting swept space into discrete units of measure by coordinating…

Much recent research has shown that children from age 4 onwards reveal a robust preference for reliable over unreliable informants when choosing whom to trust and learn from. Findings concerning selective model choice in children younger than 4 years have mostly been mixed. The present study developed a new touchscreen-based paradigm with reduced…

Wooden planks are a tool for developing youth skills through science, technology, engineering, and math exploration. These are small planks that can be stacked to create complex structures as youths explore math and physical relationships in an applied context. Building with wooden planks also cultivates planning, reasoning, and team skills as…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of inquiry-based instruction enriched with origami activities on 7th grade students' achievement in reflection symmetry and self-efficacy in geometry. Two classes, instructed by the first author of the paper, were randomly assigned as experimental and control groups. In order to gather data,…

In this paper, we describe an experiment that compared the use of a Tangible User Interface (physical objects augmented with digital information) and a set of Contrasting Cases as a preparation for future learning. We carried out an experiment (N = 40) with a 2 × 2 design: the first factor compared traditional instruction ("Tell &…