Central Baltic program 2011 – 2013

Ralph-Johan Back

To improve learning results in mathematics in the participating regions, by teaching mathematics with structured derivations in a web based learning environment

Participants◦ City of Turku (lead partner)◦ City of Stockhom ◦ City of Tallinn◦ City of Mariehamn◦ Abo Akademi University, IT department◦ University of Turku, IT department

Project duration: May 2011 – December 2013

Project funding: 2.3 miljon euros

1. Train teachers in structured derivations, so that they can use the method when teaching mathematics in high school (WP3)

2. Build a web based learning environment for mathematics based on structured derivations (WP5)

3. Provide course material for piloting structured derivations in high school mathematics courses (WP4)

4. Carry out pilot studies of using structured derivations at high school level (WP2)

5. Create a web based resource center for teachers that want to use structured derivations in teaching (E-math center) (WP5)

6. Support regional innovation by creating a technological platform for a business market in education technology (WP5)

Provide course material on structured derivations for teachers education (reusing and adapting existing teaching material)

Organize courses on structured derivations for teachers, in Turku, Stockholm and Tallinn

Organize regular seminars for teachers, where ◦ teachers participating in the project can share experiences,

and ◦ new topics in mathematics education can be presented and

discussed

A number of teachers in each participating city are familiar with the new methods and know how to implement them in practice

A cross-boarder community of teachers who can share experiences in mathematics teaching

Course material for teachers education is freely available at the E-math center

Tutorials for teachers education already exist (Imped tutorials)

We already have experience from a reasonable number of courses for mathematics teachers (Oph, Optek)

Reworking and updating the tutorials in autumn 2011 Tutorials need to be adapted to the web based learning

environment, autumn 2011 The tutorials are written in Swedish, have to be translated

into Finnish and Estonian, spring 2012 Need to organize teachers training courses for the

participating cities (time, place, participants, course length, content, method)

Teachers training courses will be carried out in spring 2012

Build a web based learning environment based on structured derivations◦ Course material in the form of an electronic text book◦ A work book with an editor for writing solutions to home

exercises◦ Course management, to support the teacher when giving

the course Train teachers in using the learning environment Improve the environment based on feedback from

teachers and students Include social media in the learning environment,

to facilitate student interaction, motivation and cooperation during the course

Increased familiarity with using computers and the web in mathematics education

Students know how to use e-books in mathematics education

Students write solutions to their assignments on a computer

Experiences with new forms of web based teacher-teacher, teacher –student and student-student interactions

Teachers know how to carry out a mathematics course in a web based environment

Existing results, from earlier research projects:◦ An e-book format has been built◦ An editor for structured derivations has been built◦ Experience from using Moodle as the course management system

Second version of the editor will be finished in autumn 2011◦ new functionality added to it, and ◦ it will be piloted in some university courses at Åbo Akademi and U. of

Turku. Second version of the ebook format will be finished in autumn

2011◦ adapt existing teachers education material to the ebook format◦ start creating ebooks for specific first year courses

Course management system built in spring 2012 Social media integration also in spring 2012

Create course material based on structured derivations Primary target is first year high school math courses Decide on the course material that will be needed for the

pilot courses in the participating cities Course material will be continuously updated and

maintained Teachers will be able to customize the course material for

their own teaching The project will build a collection of modules, each

covering a specific mathematics topic The material for a course will be built out of these modules Each module will be provided in Finnish, Swedish and

Estonian

A basic repository of mathematics modules based on structured derivations (Fi, Sw, Es).

A basic repository of course material in the form of e-books, to be used in the pilot courses (Fi, Sw, Es)

Experiences in using customizable e-books in mathematics teaching

Design and implementation of a module structure for e-books in mathematics

Earlier research: ◦ two math courses built as web courses with

structured derivations, at junior high school level (K7 and K9)

Make an overview of first year math courses in participating cities, autumn 2011◦ Provide a list of math modules that need to be built◦ Provide a list of math courses that need to be

compiled from modules Organize translation of modules and course books,

autumn 2011 Start writing first math modules in autumn 2011 Most math modules will be written during year 2012

Select a number of pilot schools in each city that participate in the project

Select teachers in these schools that are interested in participating in these experiments

Train participating teachers in using structured derivations

Teach courses using structured derivations and web based mathematics in pilot schools

University researchers will support the teachers in their teaching

Collect and analyze the experience gained from these courses

Experience of using structured derivations in practice in school teaching

Survey of teachers and students attitudes to the new teaching methods

Feedback of the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed teaching methods

Insight into whether to continue with the experiments and extend the approach to other schools

Pilot courses start in autumn 2012 Pilot courses given at least in autum 2012

and spring 2013, possibly also in autumn 2013◦ project ends in december 2013.

Preparations for pilot courses during autumn 2011 and spring 2012

University researchers will help teachers with their teaching ◦ specific form of help that is needed is still to be

determined

Existing results: Learning and Reasoning lab at ÅA and TY has already created a resource center (Imped)◦ center is tri-lingual (Finnish, Swedish and English)◦ provides information and resources for teaching mathematics

and programming E-math center would be similar to Imped, but focus on

teaching mathematics only◦ The center is essentially a collection of web pages providing

ebooks for courses, tutorials, software, presentation slides, research articles, announcements of events, links and references

◦ Center is organized and run by the E-math project Material is freely available to teachers in participating

cities

An agreement between partners on ◦ how to set up the resource center, what it should provide, how it

should be run, and how it should be maintained after the project finishes

A fully functional web portal for ◦ information about the E-math project and its results◦ material that can be freely downloaded and used in teaching,

also in schools that are not participating in the project◦ software that supports teaching of structured derivations (e-

book format and the editor) A web server that supports the teaching of the pilot

courses◦ The course management system runs on the server◦ Participating teachers and students have accounts on the server

We will start building the E-math center in autumn 2011

The center should be fully functional by the time the teachers education courses start

The center will be improved continuously during the project, based on feedback from the users

Design the e-book format so that it can be used by external parties to build their own modules and course books◦ private companies that want to sell e-books ◦ teachers who want to build their own course books◦ an open source community that want to build free text

books The licensing agreements have to be made in such

a way that both companies and private persons are interested in contributing to the platform

Details to be worked out during project Work schedule still open