Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has been successfully implemented in many countries around the world, including Vietnam. Admittedly, it appears that Vietnamese teachers are encountering several obstacles and challenges as they adopt STEM education in their classrooms. The purpose of this study was to use the Delphi method to figure out the obstacles and challenges that teachers in six northern mountainous provinces of Vietnam encounter when teaching STEM education. As per research findings, teachers confront 11 obstacles and challenges when integrating STEM education in their classrooms, including: Teacher competency, time consumption in lesson planning and guiding students to produce STEM products, teachers' beliefs regarding STEM education, inflexible programs, insufficient facilities, examination pressures, lack of timely rewards and encouragement for effective teachers, teachers’ self-funding teaching STEM, students’ competence, students’ cultural, economic and social background, and disagreements from student’s parents. These findings assist administrators and teachers in developing future strategies for successfully implementing STEM education in Vietnam.

The problems in education in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) vary from country to country. The differences between "upper class" and "lower class" countries in PISA assessment results have led to a research gap. The purpose of this study was to (a) test students' mathematical literacy skills on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test and compare the results using the sum of means across OECD countries; (b) examine the relationship between students' mathematical competence, precision, and self-perception of mathematical literacy skills in the PISA test; and (c) analyze the gaps that exist between the implementation of mathematics instruction in school and the mathematical literacy as measured on the PISA test. This study was designed as a mixed method with an explanatory sequential design. The data collection methods included test procedures, questionnaires, and interviews. The result of this study showed that the overall mean score obtained was below the OECD average. In general, the respondents achieved only level 2 mathematics proficiency. A significant relationship was found between mathematical competence, precision, and self-perception in mathematical skills. On the other hand, there was a gap, namely the difference at the implementation level, where mathematical literacy measured by PISA differed from the measurement of mathematical learning achievement by teachers in school. The results showed that teaching that emphasizes only problem-solving procedures affects low mathematical competence and is not useful enough for students to deal with the PISA mathematics test.

In recent years, educational robotics has gained ground in educational policy around the world, and primary education is no exception. However, there has not yet been a thorough synthesis of methodologically appropriate empirical research on the effects of robotics upon cognitive performance among primary school students, which this paper attempted to do. Following literature screening, a total of eight studies published between 2018 and 2022 with a sample size of 567 children met inclusion criteria and were meta-analyzed. Resultantly, a medium aggregate effect size in favor of robotics experiments emerged (standardized mean difference of .641), which was significantly higher compared to non-robotics learning (p <.01). No between-study heterogeneity was detected. Subgroup analysis revealed a slightly larger overall effect for interventions on first- to third-graders rather than those in grades 4-6. Additionally, the analysis indicates that in order to enhance cognitive abilities in primary students, robotics interventions should be no longer than four weeks and involve robot construction. Based on the findings, implications, and suggestions are outlined for future research and practice.

Mathematical confidence and critical thinking are essential in preparing preservice teachers. Thus, this study explored the perceived confidence and critical thinking levels in mathematics of elementary and secondary preservice teachers. A descriptive-correlational-comparative research design was employed, with a sample of 107 randomly selected preservice teachers enrolled in the Bachelor in Elementary and Secondary Education programs of a state university in West Philippines. The study used arithmetic mean, standard deviation, Spearman’s rank-order correlation, and independent samples t-test to analyze and draw conclusions from the data. The findings revealed that the preservice teachers have high confidence and critical thinking skills. Their program significantly correlates with their perceived critical thinking and confidence level. Besides, the preservice teachers’ confidence levels and perceived critical thinking skills significantly correlate. Further analysis found significant confidence and critical thinking differences favoring the secondary over the elementary preservice teachers. These findings provide insights that would benefit mathematics educators in providing priority programs to enhance the preparation of future math teachers.

This study aims to analyze the effects of working memory capacity and learning styles of prospective mathematics teachers on their ability to solve higher-order thinking problems. In the present study, learning style was considered students' tendency to learn visually or verbally. In addition, the types of higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) problems are complex and non-complex. Multiple regression tests were used to analyze the effects of learning style and working memory capacity. An ANOVA test was also conducted to analyze the ability of each group to solve each HOTS problem. In addition, one hundred twenty-six prospective mathematics teachers voluntarily participated in this study. The study found that learning styles only affected visual problems while working memory capacity (WMC) only affected the ability to solve complex problem-solving skills. Furthermore, WMC affected the ability to solve complex HOTS problems, not non-complex ones. The ability of visual students to solve HOTS problems will greatly increase when the problems are presented in visual form. On the other hand, the obstacle for visual students in solving verbal problems was to present the problem appropriately in visual form. The obstacle for students with low WMC in solving complex HOTS problems was to find a solution that met all the requirements set in the problem.

<p>&lt;p style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;This study aims to explore the impact of outdoor education on senior elementary school students&amp;#39; perceptions of scientific literacy and learning motivation. 42 senior elementary school students (25 males, 17 females; average age = 11.6) were enrolled and divided into experimental (N = 21) and control (N = 21) groups. Participants were taught the same content about science for four weeks. The control group adopted traditional indoor teaching, whereas the experimental group adopted outdoor education. Before and after the course, each student completed the 23 items of scientific literacy and the 6 items of learning motivation scale. The results show that the experimental group had significantly higher perceptions of scientific literacy and learning motivation. The outdoor education teaching method has positive effects on the higher levels of awareness and creative development of students. These findings imply that outdoor education has a positive effect on improving students&amp;#39; perceptions of scientific literacy and learning motivation.&lt;/p&gt;</p>

<p style="text-align:justify">This study aimed to assess the geometric knowledge of student teachers from a university in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The study used a sample of 225 first-year student teachers who completed school mathematics baseline assessments on a computer- aided mathematics instruction (CAMI) software. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design, using quantitative data to measure student teachers&rsquo; geometry achievement level, and qualitative data to explain the challenges encountered. The results show that student teachers exhibited a low level of understanding of school-level geometry. The low achievement levels were linked to various factors, such as insufficient grasp of geometry concepts in their secondary school education, difficulty in remembering what was done years ago, low self-confidence, and lack of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) skills along with the limited time for the baseline tests. These results suggest that appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that student teachers acquire the necessary subject-matter knowledge to teach effectively in their future classrooms.</p>