The project "Math for daily life - Actions Aimed at introducing students to mathematics" was born from the need of the Institute Fermi-Gadda and the other partner schools (the HLW Schrödinger, the Valsts Ventspils 1.ģimnāzija and Solski Center Novo Mesto ) to make maths more attractive and improve students’ learning performance, because the development of mathematical skills is closely related to a successful performance in other key areas. Acting on mathematics learning process making it easier is a means to bring students closer to school, to increase the self-esteem and confidence in their abilities and prepare a program aimed at the social redemption of young generations. The main goal is common to all the participating schools considering that the Europe 2020 Strategy aims at lowering the percentage of 15 year-old students unable to read or study mathematics and science . Besides, the European labor market is increasingly demanding professional profiles related to the fields of mathematics, science and technology , so it is fundamental for the economy to increase the number of graduates with relevant skills in these areas. The partnership will collaborate to develop a less static approach in the teaching of mathematics and allow students to change their perception of this subject, making them live activities with a deeper awareness and interest. One way to counteract these criticisms and act on the factors affecting the academic performance is organizing lessons on interdisciplinary topics that would help establish links with daily life and other subjects. The project is open to students between 14-17 years of age and teachers of mathematics and/or subjects related to it. The main purposes are: - improving the teaching and learning of mathematics within the partner schools; - increasing students’ inclusion and motivation; - counteracting the belief that studying is tedious and unnecessary, and coping with the phenomenon of early school leaving; - increasing the number of students continuing their studies in the STEM disciplines; - favoring teachers’ acquisition of a more engaging communication style; - teaching mathematics using methodologies that foresee practical exercises and that can be available to everyone; - developing the learning of basic skills in conjunction with transversal skills and with the ability of mutual and intercultural understanding; - promoting the learning of foreign languages and the participation in a more European dimension of education, training and work. The partnership will organize four transnational meetings to be hosted at the partner schools and during which schools will be addressed all the relevant issues for the project management and exchange of best practices between the partner schools. During each meeting , special sessions will be held on every aspect of the project: budget control; carrying out of parallel activities within the school; dissemination activities; analysis of the reports prepared by the internal project team and of the data collected through monitoring and evaluation; risk and incident management. Two learning activities will be organized for students, the first at the Fermi-Gadda Institute (applicant) and the second at the headquarters of the institute HLW Schrödinger. The project foresees a significant impact on both the students and the teachers of the participating schools, as well as on every partner schools and on the partnership in general: - improvement of mathematical skills and of the ability to apply mathematical reasoning; - improving the approach to mathematics learning and changing the attitude of rejection of such discipline; - improving the skills necessary for the teaching of mathematics in a more modern and innovative key; - increased ability to engage students and prevent them to feel inadequate in their learning of mathematics; - developing the ability to work cooperatively to face educational challenges and becoming pioneers of innovative approaches; - reducing early school leaving and the number of non-admission to the following class; - reduction in the number of students who need follow-up classes in maths; - increase of students continuing their studies in the STEM disciplines.
"Math for daily life" (no. 2017-1-02KA21-9036781) was a project coordinated by the Polo Tecnico "Fermi-Gadda" with the participation of "Solski Center Novo Mesto" from Slovenia and "Ventspils Valsts 1 gimnāzija" from Latvia. The project improved the quality of the teaching/learning of mathematics within the partner schools, ending last 15th Oct. 2019, after 24 months (from October 2017) of interaction, organization and cooperation among all the partners. The project focus was the development of three "Short-term exchanges of groups of pupils": - Activity C1 carried out in Italy and hosted, in Naples, by the project Coordinator (May 2018); - Activity C2 in Slovenia and organized by the hosting partner "Solski Center Novo Mesto" (April 2019); - Activity C3 hosted in Latvia by "Ventspils Valsts 1 gimnāzija" and organized to facilitate the additional mobility of the Slovenian students (April 2019). Apart from the LTTAs, the project included 4 Transnational Meetings, which involved the representatives of each partner school and simplified the project management and the exchange of good practices. "Math for daily life" achieved the following objectives: - the project cooperation and activities contributed to the improvement of the teaching and learning of mathematics within the partner schools, making the subject less abstract and more connected to everyday life (music, art and architecture, etc.); - the participation of students from different socio-cultural backgrounds in the planned activities has favoured their inclusion within the (extra) curricular life, positively impacting on the development of soft skills such as team work, mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue; - the exchange among different student delegations had extraordinary effects on Language learning and acquisition and, therefore, allowed the improvement of students’ comprehension and expression in English; - the project updated the teachers’ communicative approach, which became more appealing. 60 students of different nationalities (Slovenian, Latvian and Italian), between 14 and 17 years of age, and characterized by varied socio-economic and linguistic-cultural backgrounds, participated in 5-day training activities abroad, supported by accompanying teachers selected from the staff of each partner school. Specifically identified project representatives, mathematics and language teachers of different age, facilitated the LTTAs and systematized the project results within a final e-book including all the exercises and tasks developed. The impact registered on students was measured both through ongoing monitoring actions and by means of an online questionnaire (created on Google Forms): - 86% of participants improved their approach towards mathematics and their attitude of rejection changed; - 86% of learners strengthened their logical and critical thinking; - 100% of participants improved their linguistic competence in English; - 100% of students are now more motivated towards study and their self-development. The impact on the participating teachers was: - improvement of teachers’ didactic skills for teaching mathematics in a modern and innovative way; - greater knowledge of the Italian, Slovenian and Latvian school systems and different learning environments; - strengthening of teachers’ linguistic skills as well as their ability to plan actions for school improvement in the context of European cooperation.