The acronym "WWM" in this application stands in a double sense for both "Ways with Maths" and "World Wide Maths". The project "WWM" wants to establish a transnational form of cooperation, aiming at the improvement of the quality of pedagogical processes and forms of organization in the participating institutions. The main subject of WWM's work is the use of media and media literacy in mathematical education. Henca the project particularly focusses on new media and new technologies such as the "open source" software GeoGebra. GeoGebra offers the possibility to handle and solve vividly application-related tasks, such as the localization of an epicenter of an earthquake. Multinational student teams will be producing tutelage videos for specific GeoGebra files enableing future students to work independently with these files. In the context of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, we would like to deal with the following questions: Where do we recognize the European heritage in our cities, villages and cultural landscapes? What connects us? What can we learn? What do we rediscover again and in how far does that surprise us? What do we want to change? It will be interesting to investigate urban planning and architecture of houses. We will examine historical places or buildings in our project cities not only culturally but also under mathematical aspects, such as position, form, symmetries. GeoGebra will be used as a tool in this mathematical analysis. WWM strengthens the European dimension through the mutual exchange of comprehensive information on the functioning of the respective education systems and the importance of computer-based teaching media in the partner countries. In doing so, WWM takes account of the cultural and linguistic diversity of the project partners involved. One of the main objectives of the project is to collaborate with and learn from each other in mutual respect and esteem by understanding history and culture, the natural beauty of the countries, customs, traditions and school life. The field of mathematics provides a particularly suitable basis for the joint transnational work of the involved project partners for several reasons: 1. Mathematics is applied in a universal jargon, which facilitates understanding between the project partners of different nations. 2. Mathematics is a formal science and provides an important tool to describe interrelations and processes in science and technology. Our environment can not be understood without the "tool" of mathematics. 3. GeoGebra is an "open-source" software that offers a variety of applications for the subject of mathematics, the application of which can be tested in daily teaching. 4. Pupils and especially female students still suffer from a certain inhibition threshold, sometimes even from fear of mathematics. Here the use of "new media" can be a possible lever to reduce or even disintegrate this inhibition threshold. 5. To look at historical places not only culturally but also from the point of mathematical analyses is an exciting new approach. This list could be extended without much effort. As with many other subjects the teaching of mathematics undergoes currently massive changes due to the availability of new media. There are many new technologies (tablet PC, white and smart boards, educational software, Internet) available whose application possibilities in the classroom seem to go to infinity. However, the actual value that new media can offer for learning and teaching also depends on the media competence of the individual teachers. Thus "WWM" seeks to strengthen and expand individual competences by working together on and with GeoGebra, movie maker and other software. At least 30 students and 10 teachers from each country, adding up to 180 students and 60 teachers alltigether will be involved in the project. Due to the diversity of the participating schools ranging from Spain, Iceland, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy to Greece the WWM project offers a broadening of horizons. In order for the different experiences of the institutions involved to develop as widely as possible, the WWM members will act as multipliers not only within the project group but also on the outside. Students and teachers will publish and share the results of WWM on a common Internet platform, a twinspace on e-Twinning. The project will constantl be evaluated in an ongoing process. After each meeting, students and teachers can share their impressions, experiences and suggestions in the Twinspace on a pin board. At the end of the project, we will also be organizing an eTwinning event to evaluate the project as a whole, but also to inform other eTwinners about our project.
The acronym “WWM” will be used to denote both “Ways with Maths” and “Worldwide Maths”. The “WWM” project, a trans-national cooperation, has broken new ground in its use of digital media and new technologies in everyday school life. The improvement in the quality of the educational processes as well as that of the forms of organisation in the participating institutions was of particular note. The results of the project have proven themselves to be very useful with regards to the distance learning currently in use and can be applied to the students’ self-study. Central to the work of WWM was the use of media and the media literacy seen in maths lessons. Thereby we mainly focussed on the open-source software GeoGebra and also used a Twinspace on eTwinning. One of the features offered by GeoGebra is applied modelling, which we used to recreate the mosaics of the Alhambra. Thereby short educational films were created by multi-national teams, to be used by future students. In the context of the European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018 we examined cultural aspects of our respective countries alongside and amongst mathematical issues. To begin with we put together a timeline with the help of our students featuring well-known mathematicians of our and our partner school’s nationalities, in order to discover more about the historical development of mathematics in our respective countries. Throughout the duration of the project, we presented and examined notable examples of architecture in each other’s own towns, a task aided by presentations that were made available for all on Twinspace. With the help of the newly acquired information a Kahoot was produced, which we found to be an entertaining means through which to teach the school community about our partners in the project. For example, GeoGebra has helped to examine and model mosaics in Spain, to sketch amphorae in Greece, and to produce vibrant parquet in the style of M.C. Escher, as well as allowing boats to be wave tested and bridges constructed in the Netherlands. In this context trans-national aspects of the mathematics curriculum were covered, for example observing symmetries or classes of functions. One of the large positives of our project was the structural continuity with regards to how the work was organised. The respective host students would produce informational videos before the meetings, with which the other participants of the meeting could prepare themselves for the work in multinational teams. Moreover, these videos have and will be used as example solutions to mathematical problems in numerous courses and classes, as well as of course disseminating the results of the project work. Maths, as is the case with other subjects, finds itself in a time of upheaval with regards to media usage. There is now a plethora of new technologies and devices (Tablet PCs, Smartboards, educational software, internet) on the market, whose possibilities for implementation into the classroom appear to be endless. What forms do sensible implementations of technology take? What opportunities would be available to respond individually to students who require special support? Last but not least, the students should be taught how to think in the abstract in maths, without them feeling that it becomes too conceptual. The actual usefulness of digital media is largely dictated by the competence of the individual teachers and students. It was noticeable that those teachers and students participating in the “WWM” project during this period of distance learning greatly benefitted from the e-learning and blended learning experience. The project work has led to more familiarity and greater command in dealing with media such as online conferences, educational videos, and online courses. The results of “WWM” are available to view online, one such location being on eTwinning at: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/72066/home