For many students' math is boring, abstract, lacking in creativity, complex and very difficult to understand. However, mathematical thinking is a competence, which equips young people for life. It is a powerful way of thinking about things in the world - logically, analytically, and with precision. In Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Germany, 22%, 24%, 42.6% and 17.2%, students are low achievers in mathematics. On the other hand, according to the U. S. Department of Commerce, STEM occupations are growing at 17%, while other occupations are growing at 9.8%. STEM degree holders have a also higher income. It is also known that low performance and grade repetition are also critical factors to early school leaving (ESL). The Portuguese, Spanish, Cyprus and Germany ESL rate are 12.6%, 18.3%, 8.6% and 10.1% in 2017, respectively. In this project, we want to help all students to succeed in the learning of mathematics. Goals for the project: 1) Improve motivation towards learning of mathematics, reduce inequalities and promote successful schooling for all, for children from 9 to 12 years. 2) Promote "Bring Your Own Device" technologies in the classroom. You can buy tablets starting at 50€. Schools can buy these devices for disadvantaged students. 3) Extend the classroom to a virtual classroom where students can study autonomously. Math curriculum often requires daily practice and review for mastery. Therefore, the completion of daily assignments is essential to learning the material. 4) Promote autonomous work of students. 5) Promote student self-assessment and self-regulation: to promote the ability of students to understand both learning intentions and success criteria. 6) Promote students peer-assessment: to develop their capacity to reflect on and critically evaluate their own learning and skill development; to support the development of critical thinking, interpersonal and other skills, as well as enhancing understanding within the field of knowledge of mathematics. 7) Promote the use of educational videos for learning; to provide feedback; when a student misses a math class; for flipped-classroom. 8) Train teachers in using digital technology. The OECD emphasizes in all of its reports: well-trained teachers are the main key to success. Teachers will play a key role for the success and implementation of the innovative tools and methodologies. 9) Develop Communities of Teachers Creators of Contents that are shared and open to the everyone. 10) Use Machine Learning to provide personalized learning to help all students to succeed in the learning process. 11) Develop an international framework of mathematical certifications. This project involves four countries: Portugal, Spain, Cyprus and Germany. They are facing similar problems: a decreasing interest of students in learning mathematics and low achievement. The partners involved in this project complement themselves. There are Universities, Schools and National Associations of Mathematics Teachers. It was chosen Portugal and Spain to take advantage from the previous Erasmus+ project MILAGE. Cyprus is a small country, with 42.6% of low achievers where we can evaluate project implementation and results at national level. Germany performs better than other partners but far behind Singapore with only 7.6% students low achievers and with 34.8% top performers. Germany is a larger country where we have to start everything and this will help understand the best approach to replicate project results globally. This is a disruptive project that will change globally the pedagogical practices in the classroom towards the XXI century.
1) Improve motivation towards learning of mathematics, reduce inequalities and promote successful schooling for all. 2) Promote "Bring Your Own Device" technologies in the classroom. 3) Extend the classroom to a virtual classroom where students can study autonomously. 4) Promote autonomous work of students. 5) Promote student self-assessment: to promote the ability of students to understand both learning intentions and success criteria. 6) Promote students peer-assessment and self-regulation: to develop their capacity to reflect on and critically evaluate their own learning and skill development; to support the development of critical thinking, interpersonal and other skills, as well as enhancing understanding within the field of knowledge of mathematics. 7) Promote the use of educational videos for learning; to provide feedback; when a student misses a math class; for flipped-classroom. 8) Train teachers in using digital technology. 9) Develop Communities of Teachers Creators of Contents that are shared and open to the everyone. 10) Use Machine Learning to provide personalized learning to help all students to succeed in the learning process. 11) Develop an international framework of mathematical certification
We applied to this project because many students have difficulties in mathematics and we want to help all students to succeed in learning. We had the experience with the MILAGE app and wanted to disseminate and develop it more. Partners found interesting to spread that work within an European context collaborating in a well balance team partnership, with university institutions, another teachers' associations and schools. For the school partners found it interesting, given the characterization of some the school population and its sociological context the prevalence of problems such as failure, absenteeism, indiscipline and early interruption of the school day will not be surprising. The results of the external evaluation of the national exams in the subject of Mathematics are a confirmation of the type of young people inserted in schools, with a growing lack of motivation for mathematics. There is the also the need to disseminate active learning approaches to motivate and promote students autonomy and pedagogical differentiation. Teachers needed to develop further digital skills to become producers of contents and being able to make educational resources and videos to be available for free for everyone.