Survey of projects

PRIMAS - Promoting inquiry in mathematics and science education across Europe  01/10 - 12/13
COMPASS - Common problem solving strategies as links between mathematics and science  11/09 - 10/11
STRATUM – Strategies for teaching understanding in and through modelling 09/07 – 08/10
LEMA - Learning and education in and through mathematical modelling 10/2006 – 9/2009
2006
What beliefs do teachers have about mathematics and mathematics education? 2007 - 2008 
What beliefs do low achieving students have about mathematics? – An empirical study 2005 - 2006
Mathematical modelling in lessons - an empirical study 2001-2003

PRIMAS - Promoting inquiry in mathematics and science education across Europe

Project coordinator: Katja Maaß
Team:
Silke Mikelskis-Seifert, University of Education, Freiburg
Jean-Luc Dorier, University Genf
Michiel Doorman, Henk van der Kooij, Freudenthal Institut University Utrecht
Malcolm Swan, Daniel Pead, Len Newton, MARS, University Nottingham
Fco. Javier Garcia Garcia, Ana Abril Galego, University Jaen
Sona Ceretkova, Martin Bilek, UKF Nitra
Csaba Csikos, Erzebet Korom, University Szeged,
Nicholas Mousoulides, Toula Onoufriou, Technical University Zypern
Cettina Axiak, Deborah Chetcuti, Michael Buhagiar, University Malta
Morten Blomhoej, Tinne Hoff Kjeldsen, Roskilde University
Geoff Wake, Graham Hardy, Andrew Howes, University Manchester
Szilárd András, Anna Soós, Zoltán Néda, Babés Bolyai University
Birgit Pepin, Ragnhild Lyngved, Sor Trondlag University-College
Manfred Euler, IPN Kiel
Project assistance: Diana Wernisch, Martina Brandenburger, Sven Ernst

This project is being implemented in Germany in close cooperation with the Regional Council in Freiburg.

The project is supported by the European Union as part of its 7th Framework Programme “Science in Society”.

The goal of this project is to effect changes in methods of teaching and learning mathematics and the natural sciences. The pupils should learn how to independently examine problems and phenomena, reach their own conclusions and solutions, work in groups and be able to justify and present their approaches, procedures and results. Particular emphasis is placed here on cross-linking mathematics and the natural sciences and connecting these subjects to reality. The pupils should experience their lessons as having relevance for their own lives. By doing so, pupils acquire competencies which are absolutely necessary for dealing with our ever-changing world. Among these are: the ability to be flexible and gain new skills in their future professional lives, apply their knowledge and skills in specific situations and be able to work in teams.
The central question to the setting and achievement of this aim is: how can such a change in teaching and learning actually be realized? One of the fundamental hypotheses of Project PRIMAS is that this goal can only be reached by involving as many individuals as possible who will be affected by the changes at schools and institutions in the process and thereby, create an atmosphere that is conducive to change. That is why the activities undertaken in Project PRIMAS target teachers, parents, pupils, school administrators and politicians.
One method of providing teachers with the further training they need to implement changes in their teaching methods is the creation of supervised school teams. These will be in place for one to two years and help ensure that training is both effective and has lasting results. Disseminators will also be trained to work with the teams with the goal of reaching as many teachers as possible. A one-day, large scale event will also be used to encourage teachers to get on board.
Beyond this, informational events will be used to target other groups (parents, pupils). Within the framework of a so-called National Advisory Committee, school administrators, disseminators, and teaching seminaries will be included in the project work in a targeted manner. Here, the German Advisory Committee is working closely with the Freiburg Regional Council.  
One distinctive feature of PRIMAS is the interaction between work at the international level and work done on-site by regional authorities and at schools.

http://primas.ph-freiburg.de/






COMPASS - Common problem solving strategies as links between mathematics and science

Project coordinator: Katja Maaß
Team: Silke Mikelskis-Seifert, University of Education, Freiburg, Fco. Javier Garcia Garcia, Ana Abril Galega, University Jaen, Michiel Doorman, Henk van der Kooij, University Utrecht, Janka Melusova, Sona Ceretkova, UKF Nitra, Geoff Wake, Graham Hardy, Andrew Howes, University Manchester, Nicholas Mousoulides, Toula Onoufriou, University Cypern
Project assistance: Alexander Oettlin

This project is supported by the EU as part of its Lifelong Learning Programme.

The goal of this project is to develop teaching materials and exercises that make possible the interdisciplinary combination of mathematics and the natural sciences in classrooms. Such materials demonstrate to pupils that these subjects do not stand side by side in isolation. Rather, the pupils learn applications in which they combine knowledge from various subject areas to help them solve problems. Because the exercises and materials are linked to reality, they show pupils how these subjects are relevant to their lives.

These materials will be developed in close cooperation with teachers and schools. The piloting phase of the materials will begin with a teacher training session. Afterwards, the teachers will have the chance to try out the materials. Feedback from the teachers will then be used to help optimize the new materials.

 




Stratum Logo

STRATUM – Strategies for teaching understanding in and through modelling

Projectcoordination: Katja Maass and Christoph Mischo
Projectassistant: Dagmar Karrer
Partners: The regional board of Freiburg (Regierungspräsidium Freiburg), Neunlinden-Schule Elzach, Fritz-Boehle-Hauptschule Emmendingen & University of education in Ludwigsburg.
This project is sponsored by "Forschungsverbund Hauptschule, Baden-Württemberg".
 
This study’s main focus is on developing and testing teaching units on the topic of “reality-based mathematics” for the Hauptschule1, which undergo a summative and formative evaluation throughout the entire process. As part of the evaluation, a multitude of variables on the part of the teachers and students receive attention.
www.stratum-projekt.de
 




LEMA Logo

LEMA - Learning and education in and through mathematical modelling
This study is carried out in cooperation with Geoff Wake, University of  Manchester; Richard Cabassut, IUFM Strasbourg; Francisco Javier Garcia Garcia, Jaen University; Ödön Vanco, Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest, Nicholas Mousoulides, University of Cyprus and Anke Wagner, University of education in Ludwigsburg.

The project is sponsored by the EU.
Throughout Europe people are growing increasingly aware of the fact that students have to learn how to apply mathematics both critically and deliberately in order to meet the demands of a responsible citizen and of a productive member of society. In order to be able to guarantee this, teachers’ competencies have to be broadened so that they are, unlike in today’s current situation, in the position to integrate modelling into their everyday lessons.
This project wants to support math teachers in the development of their pedagogical and didactical competencies through teacher training on the topic of connections to reality and mathematical modelling.
The primary goal is to establish professional development concepts which can be flexibly transferred to other countries and which comply with the requirements of both involved partner nations and other European nations.
The different experiences made by participating countries with innovative ways of teaching have been incorporated into the project. The teacher training program should address both practicing teachers and those studying to become primary and middle school teachers.
The training will be developed, tested, evaluated and optimized by means of a need assessment, which will be developed particularly for this project. During the project, the Europe-wide communication takes place on an internet platform which should be used even after the project is over. Among other things, a DVD will be provided containing miscellaneous materials and sample videos of lesson sequences from the individual partner countries. This DVD will, in this way, emphasize the European dimension of this project as well as contribute to the distribution of its results.
www.lema-project.org



What beliefs do teachers have about mathematics and mathematics education?

The University of Education in Freiburg sponsored this study.
Teachers’ beliefs about mathematics and math class are viewed as a main influencing factor on what takes place during the lesson. Therefore, this explorative study focused on and collected teachers’ beliefs. It was designed as a qualitative study in which guided interviews were carried out. Twenty teachers teaching at a Hauptschule and twenty teachers from a Gymnasium were interviewed. The interviews were evaluated using the qualitative content analysis. The evaluation of the interviews produced a description of the main beliefs as well as connections between these beliefs. Typologies were created in reference to the teachers. The results show that there are essentially two types of teachers. There are teachers who consider learning to be an active process, whereas others view learning as receptive. Differences between teachers at a Gymnasium and a Hauptschule were marginal. However, connections were established between beliefs about effective lessons on the one hand and beliefs about mathematics as a science on the other hand. Furthermore, connections exist between goals of a math lesson and how students experience the lesson.



What beliefs do low achieving students have about mathematics? – An empirical study (2005 – 2006)

This study is carried out in cooperation with Gerald Wittmann, Univerisity of Education in  Schwäbisch Gmünd


The teaching and learning processes as well as students’ ideas of mathematics are considered to be closely connected. Furthermore, the knowledge and appropriate handling of students’ concepts are also important when trying to improve the methods used in school.
A separate study at the Gymnasium1 has shown that students’ beliefs can be the reason for a vehement refusal and disapproval of mathematics (Maaß 2004). So far, only a few studies have taken a closer look at the mathematical beliefs of low achieving students. Due to this small number of preliminary studies, a qualitative study was carried out which gives new insights into these complex connections. The goal of this study is to describe and record students’ beliefs about mathematics and the development of possible approaches to changing the teaching patterns. The study was carried out with about 60 fifth and sixth graders from Hauptschulen (school for low achieving students) and about another 60 eighth and ninth graders from Hauptschulen.
The results show that mathematics for students from Hauptschulen mainly consists of the teacher explaining rules and theorems followed by exercises. In many cases, students consider the teacher’s main task to explain the facts once or several times, if necessary. The desire for the teacher to explain the facts several times is closely connected to a fear of failing, which often becomes clear in the students’ statements. In doing so, the students would like the problems to correspond to their mathematical abilities. Students like exercises that are easy to do and reject the more difficult problems.
In addition, the study showed that many students have definite ideas of how mathematics can be useful; especially with regard to their career and that they enjoy working on reality-based problems. However, a math problem’s connection to reality only played a subordinate role. The decisive factor was whether or not the problem was easy to do.

Reference:
Maaß, Katja & Ege, Patrick (2007): Mathematik und Mathematikunterricht aus der Sicht von Hauptschülern. - In: mathematica didactica 2007 (2).


Mathematical modelling in the classroom - An empirical study (2001-2003)

In the field of didactics, the integration of references to reality and modelling is seen as a possible method for promoting students’ competencies in applying mathematics. In addition, it is thought to encourage an appropriate image of mathematics as a science. However, there are very few comprehensive studies and almost no practical knowledge based on every day school life to provide information on whether the set goals are reached. On the basis of the most recent developments, this study looks into the consequences of integrating modelling into math lessons.
This study positions itself within the field of qualitative research in order to do justice to the complexity of the analyzed subject matter. Over a period of 15 months, six modelling units were integrated into the math lessons of two eight grade classes. During the entire survey period, the students’ ideas of mathematics and their modelling competencies were monitored using a variety of methods (interviews, tests, learning diaries, etc.). Based on synoptic comparisons and “case contrasting” analyses of the data, typologies explaining the meaning of the context were developed.
The results show that when modelling is integrated, the set goals can be reached under certain conditions. At the end of the study, almost all of the students had learned how to model independently unfamiliar problems and many students had broadened their ideas of mathematics. At the same time, it became clear that close connections exist between attitudes towards modelling examples and beliefs of mathematics as well as to change during the course of the study. Furthermore, typical error patterns could be reconstructed which also seem to be connected with the attitudes towards modelling examples.

Reference:
Maaß, K. (2007). Modelling in class: What do we want students to learn? - In: C. Haines, P. Galbraith, W. Blum, S.Khan (Hrsg.): Mathematical Modelling - Education, Engeneering and Economics. Chichester: Horwood, 2007, p. 63-78.
Kaiser, G. & Maaß, K. (2007). Modelling in Lower Secondary Classrooms - Problems and Chances. - In: W. Blum, P. Galbraith, H. Henn, M. Niss (Hrsg.): Modelling and applications in mathematics education. New York: Springer, 2007, p. 99-108.
Maaß, K. (2006). What do we mean by modelling competencies? In ZDM, 2006 (2).
Maaß, K. (2004). Mathematisches Modellieren im Unterricht – Ergebnisse einer empirischen Studie. Hildesheim: Franzbecker


www.franzbecker.de