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Description
One of the aims of the project iTEM - Improve Teacher Education in Mathematics is to develop and make more intensive the fruitful cooperation between the employees of the Department of Mathematics and Didactics of Mathematics of the Faculty of Science, Humanities and Education of the Technical University of Liberec and the colleagues of the Faculty of Education and Arts of the NORD University in Bodo in the area of improving teacher education in Mathematics in both the partner universities.
The project has two objectives in unity. The first goal of the project is to prepare teacher students to master the challenges of the increasing diversity (including Roma inclusion) of students in a class. The second goal is to prepare teacher students to meet the challenges of using digital tools both as a subject and as a tool for teaching.
The impact of the project lies in several dimensions. In the short term, students experience and practice interesting motivating possibilities of using hardware and software such as mathematikus, GeoGebra, micro:bit, or 3D printing. They themselves use the software as a useful tool and practice learning by discovery during their studies.
It’s expected that the project will have a long-term positive effect on teaching and its results in the regions and beyond. Thanks to the results of the project, teachers will be better prepared to meet the different needs of heterogeneous groups of students. The project will help them to improve their diagnostic skills and use the software as a tool in the classroom. With the possibility of using software developed in the project, teachers will be able to enrich their lessons significantly and motivate students. They will be able to arouse the students'' joy and interest in learning mathematics.
Summary of project results
The Technical University of Liberec (TUL) and NORD University in Bodø jointly developed new solutions for the education and training of future mathematics teachers. The aim was to prepare these students for the increasing diversity of pupils in the classroom and to effectively use digital tools in education.
The project team developed the interactive Mathematikus website and tools for creating spatial tasks using freeware such as GeoGebra and Rhinoceros, as well as micro:bit programming and 3D printing. The main project activity was peer-learning which was crucial for producing deliverables. Additionally, it allowed the project teams to experience teaching in the partner country and learn about its education system.
The partners enriched each other with methods that have been successfully used in their universities. Notably, the Norwegian partner introduced block-based programming to the project, previously not taught at the Czech university, while the Czech partner provided expertise in creating virtual models and 3D printing.
Thanks to the project, both the academics and the student teachers, as well as the pupils in schools where the methods were tested and applied, increased their knowledge and competences. The project’s impact also extended to practising teachers who attended summer schools or conferences where project outputs were presented. Moreover, several diploma and bachelor theses were commissioned on topics addressed by the iTEM project, both in the Czech Republic and Norway.
Summary of bilateral results
Thanks to the reciprocal teaching of mathematics teacher-students at partner universities by project team members, we had a chance to gain first-hand experience in university-level mathematics education in another country. Importantly, mutual cooperation in the field of science and research yielded important benefits. The project team collectively authored 16 papers, with 3 published in peer-reviewed journals, 9 already included in conference proceedings and 4 submitted (following a successful peer-review process) for publication in the CERME13 conference proceedings. We are currently still working on other joint papers, and we expect to continue our cooperation in this area as well.