The project ‘Maths Matters’ is to boost students’ practical maths knowledge to be applied in other fields of science and everyday situations and to develop teachers’ competence in innovative maths teaching methodology. Students lack practical maths skills, their mathematical knowledge gained at school is too theoretical and they cannot apply it in real life situations, although they can solve problems in exam papers. They have problems with interpreting data or graphs. As they are more and more demanding traditional methods are not effective enough and do not appeal to computer-hungry minds. Teachers lack innovative and effective methods and find it difficult to show the importance of practical maths in a way which would appeal to or be attractive to students who live in technology-oriented world. There are few multimedia educational programs that could be attractive for students and stimulate them to perceive maths problems practically. The project objective is to introduce and test innovative methods, such as Inquiry-Based Method, and to make use of logical board and computer games and strategy-based tasks during lessons. Our target groups are 150 students and 24 Maths, Science, Arts and IT teachers from schools where maths education is of great importance. In some areas the unemployment rate is high and young people tend to leave the region because of poor employment perspectives. The project activities will contribute to bigger employment opportunities in the future. The project will make it easier for target groups to exchange ideas and practical experience through local activities carried out simultaneously in five partner countries, transnational meetings and short-term exchanges as each partner to the project comes from different economic background, has different facilities but shares the same objective of increasing students’ maths practical competence and enhancing their further scientific education. The international cooperation is necessary as German partner’s already implemented effective educational programmes which other partners can benefit from. They have established a fruitful cooperation with modern and well-established companies and have links with scientific centres that are willing to exchange good practices across Europe. Moreover, successful ideas of other partners and their cooperation with local institutions will be spread transnationally. Through mobilities students and teachers will develop and try out most effective, engaging and creative methods and interactive maths games. Students will gain practical maths knowledge that can be implemented in everyday life and boost their self-esteem through peer-to-peer tools and become more aware of the practical knowledge they have. They will develop skills of creative and critical thinking, strategic planning and decision making to solve problems through international team work. They will also improve their IT skills. Innovative logical board and computer games, encouraging students to ask questions, will facilitate practical application of maths. Great support from the experienced German partner will help to develop teachers’ competence in creative and innovative maths teaching methodology. Through shared experience teachers will work out effective methods, tools and lesson plans to meet demands of modern technology oriented world. Project activities will prompt new approach and changes in maths curriculum to make it more practical. The activities will take place at local, regional and international levels. Workshops for teachers and students and cooperation with scientific centres will enhance the participants’ knowledge and become the basis for future cooperation in the field of maths education. Tangible results of the project will be available for partner school communities and will be useful source of information for other students, teachers, parents, other community members after the project completion. The project results will be disseminated at local, regional and European levels to make sure our ideas are available for everyone. Erasmus+ dissemination platform will help to show the impact and outcomes of the project, sharing good practice and experience within schools, communities and regions, allowing others to learn from it. The project will bring longer term benefits. Activities promoting practical maths skills will be part of school curricula. Schools will continue their cooperation with local institutions and project partners. Project online groups will still be active making background for further discussions and future cooperation. Students will become familiar with culture and natural heritage of other countries. The participants will improve linguistic skills. This will facilitate creating new European Union program projects in the field of education through exchange of good practices and results. Cooperation of international groups will also break down barriers and prejudices against other nations.
The main objective of Maths Matters project was to enhance 15 and 16-year-old students practical Maths knowledge to be applied in other fields of science and everyday situations and also to equip teachers with innovative and effective teaching methods to support mathematical and scientific education to meet demands of modern technology-oriented world. Students lacked practical maths skills and they couldn't apply it in real life situations, although they could solve problems in exam papers. Teachers lacked innovative and effective methods and found it difficult to show the importance of practical Maths in a way which would stimulate students to perceive maths problems practically or appeal to them. The project objective was to introduce and test innovative methods, such as Inquiry-Based Method, and to make use of logical board and computer games and strategy-based tasks during lessons. Our target groups were 150 students and 24 Maths, Science, Arts and IT teachers from schools where Maths education is of great importance. Main local activities involved logical board games, creating and interpreting graphs and mathematical models, designing 4 innovative “Maths Quest” logical board games, designing simple computer games (using graphs of functions, geometry or vectors), sharing presentations and videos to show how Maths is related to true life situations and other fields of science, organising problem solving maths contests and drawing up innovative inquiry-based lesson plans. Virtual activities included project logo contest on Facebook, online workshops for teachers, sharing videos and presentations. Internationally, there were conducted workshops and seminars for students and teachers organized by local educational or scientific institutions combined with study visits at scientific centres, observing lessons to see how to use inquiry-based method in class, testing each of 4 “Maths Quest” logical board games, working on “Maths Rulez” e-guidebook. There were also organized City Game, Maths survival and Maths, music events and other field games. All of the above activities involved practical application of Maths knowledge and other scientific subjects. The project made it easier for target groups to exchange ideas and practical experience through local activities carried out simultaneously in five partner countries, transnational meetings and short-term exchanges. Project partners shared the same objective of increasing students’ Maths practical competence and enhancing their further scientific education. Innovative logical board and computer games, encouraging students to ask questions through innovative and specially designed lesson scenarios and other project activities facilitated practical application of Maths. Great support from the experienced German partner helped to develop teachers’ competence in creative and innovative Maths teaching methodology. Through shared experience teachers worked out effective methods, tools and lesson plans to meet demands of modern technology- oriented world Project activities prompted new approach and changes in maths curriculum to make it more practical. Through mobilities students and teachers developed and tried out most effective, engaging and creative methods and interactive Maths games. Workshops for teachers and students and cooperation with scientific centres enhanced the participants’ knowledge and became the basis for future cooperation in the field of Maths education. Students gained practical Maths knowledge that could be implemented in everyday life and boosted their self-esteem through peer-to-peer tools and stimulated their awareness of practical Maths and the scientific knowledge they have. They developed skills of creative and critical thinking, strategic planning and decision making to solve problems through international team work. They also improved their IT and linguistic skills. This will facilitate creating new European Union program projects in the field of education through exchange of good practices and results. Cooperation of international groups helped to break down barriers and prejudices against other nations. The project had a visible impact on all the target groups, who started to become more aware of universality and practicality of Maths. Tangible results of the project that are available for partner school communities will be useful source of information for other students, teachers, parents, other community members after the project completion. Erasmus+ dissemination platform will help to show the impact and outcomes of the project, sharing good practice and experience within schools, communities and regions, allowing others to learn from it. Activities promoting practical maths skills will be part of school curricula. Schools will continue their cooperation with local institutions and project partners. Project online groups will still be active making background for further discussions and future international cooperation.