One Instructional Sequence Fits all? A Conceptual Analysis of the Applicability of Concreteness Fading in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology Education

The Role of Prior Knowledge and Intelligence in Gaining from a Training on Proportional Reasoning

We explored the mediating role of prior knowledge on the relation between intelligence and learning proportional reasoning. What students gain from formal instruction may depend on their intelligence, as well as on prior encounters with proportional concepts. We investigated whether a basic curriculum unit on the concept of density promoted students’ learning in a training on proportional reasoning. A 2 × 2 design with the factors basic curriculum unit (with, without) and intervention context to introduce proportional reasoning (speed, density) was applied in two consecutive, randomized classroom studies (N1 = 251, N2 = 566 fourth- and fifth-graders; 49%/56% female). We controlled for intelligence and mathematical achievement. We expected the combination of having received the basic curriculum unit on floating and sinking and proportional reasoning introduced via density (a familiar problem-solving context for this group) to be especially favorable. Whereas this hypothesis was not supported, we showed that mathematical achievement mediated the relation between intelligence and proportional reasoning and enabled learners to better exploit the learning opportunities.

Using Augmented Reality to Enhance Students’ Representational Fluency: The Case of Linear Functions

Using multiple representations is advocated and emphasized in mathematics and science education. However, many students have difficulty connecting multiple representations of linear functions. Augmented Reality (AR) may affect these teaching and learning difficulties by offering dynamically linked representations. Inspired by this, our study aims to develop, implement, and evaluate an AR-based multi-representational learning environment (MRLE) with three representations of linear functions. The data were collected from 82 seventh graders from two high-performing classes in an urban area in China, through a pre-test, a post-questionnaire, and follow-up interviews. The results reveal that students were satisfied with the AR-based MRLE, which assisted in enhancing their understanding of the real-life, symbolic, and graphical representations and connections among them. Regarding students’ interactions with multiple representations, apparent differences in learning sequences and preferences existed among students in terms of their representational learning profile. In sum, learning in the AR-based MRLE is a complex interaction process between the mathematics content, forms of representations, digital features, and students’ representational learning profile.

Designing Exhibits to Support Relational Learning in a Science Museum

Science museums aim to provide educational experiences for both children and adults. To achieve this goal, museum displays must convey scientifically-relevant relationships, such as the similarities that unite members of a natural category, and the connections between scientific models and observable objects and events. In this paper, we explore how research on comparison could be leveraged to support learning about such relationships. We describe how museum displays could promote educationally-relevant comparisons involving natural specimens and scientific models. We also discuss how these comparisons could be supported through the design of a display—in particular, by using similarity, space, and language to facilitate relational thinking for children and their adult companions. Such supports may be pivotal given the informal nature of learning in museums.