The aim of the "CiviMatics" project is to develop materials for mathematical modelling of political (especially social and ecological) issues, especially in teacher training. Modelling is understood here as the application of mathematics to reality and is one of the educational goals in schools and universities. At present, mathematical education ignores the social importance of assumptions and simplifications in modelling. Similarly, in political education the mathematical background of modelling is not adequately reflected, so that the significance of such assumptions and simplifications is not recognised, alternative modelling is not apparent and results often have to be understood as unquestionable facts. Without a reflection on the role and impact of certain assumptions, the results of the modelling then prove to be mathematically forced by the unambiguous calculation. Possible weightings and value judgements in the modelling remain hidden behind the reduction to the real model. As a result, relevant points for discussion are lost and the societal scope for action can only be insufficiently democratically negotiated. CiviMatics will therefore develop both a didactic framework for how to deal with these complex and normative models in higher education and concrete scenarios and teaching/learning materials. Current topics from climate and environmental protection will be addressed, e.g. the modelling of CO2 emissions attributable to food. The focus will not be on carrying out mathematical calculations, but on the main assumptions and possible alternatives. By discussing these questions, it will become clear which results from models are generally valid and which results depend essentially on assumptions or points of view. This allows a more qualitative and critical discussion of the social significance of the results. In essence, the awareness of the possibilities and limitations of statements obtained with the help of mathematical models should be sharpened in the context of democratic decision-making. Based on these results, students, but also other multipliers (such as journalists), should be enabled to make normative and complex models discussable for high-school students and citizens. Both the subject-specific and didactic framework for the development of complex or normative models and the materials are developed cooperatively by experts from mathematics and political science or their didactics and tested in university teaching in various contexts and courses with up to 150 participants per course. This will result in already evaluated materials and a handbook for their use, which will enable teachers at universities to integrate normative modelling into their own teaching concepts. The results will be communicated directly to relevant groups and discussed with them in multiplier events. We are working towards making the project connectable to schools. In the long term, important multipliers (university teachers and pre-service teacher students) will be reached and supported in their education by essential key competences, which they will pass on to future generations.
In the context of a progressive mathematization of society, it is important not to understand mathematics and society as separate fields, but to make the existing connections visible and usable for educational processes. In this context, understanding the role of mathematics for society also has a democratic relevance. Accordingly, this project should be a first starting point for the development of a mathematical-political education, which aims at enabling learners to understand, evaluate, reflect and use the relevance of mathematics in society. The target group is on the one hand student teachers and on the other hand teachers at universities in the field of teacher training. For the latter, materials are to be developed that can be used in the area of university teacher training for an interdisciplinary teaching of mathematics didactics and political didactics. These materials are intended to qualify future teachers to teach central social challenges - such as climate change - in which mathematics and politics play a central role, in an interdisciplinary way.
The technical, social and scientific processes of modern societies are essentially shaped by mathematics. Whether in the optimization of manufacturing processes, the prediction of environmental events, private or public communication, or the democratic formation of wills - mathematical tools of varying complexity are used in each of these areas, and the importance of mathematics for society continues to be reinforced by ongoing digitization. However, despite or perhaps because of the ubiquity of mathematical principles in modern societies, they are in many cases invisible. As a result, the role of mathematics for society and the assumptions and effects associated with it are not sufficiently discussed and reflected upon. This is also insufficiently addressed in school and university educational processes. This project was applied for in order to address the interface of mathematics and society in the context of university educational processes in the area of teaching staff and to develop materials and approaches for the didactics of mathematics and politics that include interdisciplinary approaches to this subject area.