E - m ath Improving Competence in Mathematics using New Teaching Methods and ICT

1. E-mathImproving Competence in Mathematics using New Teaching Methods and ICT Central Baltic program 2011 – 2013 Ralph-Johan Back

2. General project goal To improve learning results in mathematics in the participating regions, by teaching mathematics with structured derivations in a web based learning environment

3. E-math project • 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

4. E-math: specific goals • Train teachers in structured derivations, so that they can use the method when teaching mathematics in high school (WP3) • Build a web based learning environment for mathematics based on structured derivations (WP5) • Provide course material for piloting structured derivations in high school mathematics courses (WP4) • Carry out pilot studies of using structured derivations at high school level (WP2) • Create a web based resource center for teachers that want to use structured derivations in teaching (E-math center) (WP5) • Support regional innovation by creating a technological platform for a business market in education technology (WP5)

5. Goal 1: Train teachers in structured derivations • 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

6. Goal 1: Expected results • 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

7. Goal 1: Work schedule • 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

8. Goal 2: Build a learning environment for mathematics • 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 teachersin 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

9. Goal 2: Expected results • 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

10. Goal 2: Work schedule • 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

11. Goal 3: Create course material • 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

12. Goal 3: Expected results • 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

13. Goal 3: Work schedule • 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

14. Goal 4: Carry out pilot studies • 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

15. Goal 4: Expected results • 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

16. Goal 4: Work schedule • 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

17. Goal 5: E-math center • 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

18. Goal 5: Expected results • 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

19. Goal 5: Work schedule • 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

21. Goal 6: Create a technological platform for a business market • 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