3/14/2011 Budapest eTwinning Conference 2011 Maria Teresa Asprella Rosanna Russo Irina Vasilescu Challenging pupils with Maths in eTwinning

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest `And you do Addition?' the White Queen asked. `What's one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one?' `I don't know,' said Alice. `I lost count.' `She can't do Addition,' the Red Queen interrupted. `Can you do Subtraction? Take nine from eight.' `Nine from eight I can't, you know,' Alice replied very readily: `but -- ' `She can't do Subtraction,' said the White Queen. (Lewis Carrol - Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There)

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest How eTwinning can help us motivate students in the study of Mathematics Enhances collaborative learning and learning communities, i.e. PEER EDUCATION Promotes a “multiple-intellingences” approach to teaching, involving students’ different skills Uses ICT naturally

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest Why do students find the study of Maths boring? Because it is taught as: Static Far from everyday life Mechanic Ripetitive

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest Maths, instead, can be very INTERESTING It Is creative Makes difficult situations simple Is dynamic/ever changing Is flexible Can surprise us Is fun Is intriguing Makes us curious Is part of the world cultural heritage

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest Which alternative approaches with eTwinning? CREATIVITY Carroll’s story seemed to us a good starting point, because it exalts fantasy with its numerous Maths allusions.

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest CURIOSITY In the sections Strange Maths and Alice’s Maths of Maths in students have enjoyed looking for and solving strange Maths riddles and they have played with paradoxes, special numbers, odd coincidences… Which alternative approaches with eTwinning?

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest EVERY DAY MATHS For example, Maths has been applied to biology studies and daily situations. onderland/?str=40&artCat=1&artID=77 Which alternative approaches with eTwinning?

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest PERSONAL/DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS Maths games are a wonderful resource. Two or more teams can solve riddles using different/original/personal ways/methods/ strategies/ideas/reasoning. After, they can compare solutions and learn DIVERGENCE. Which alternative approaches with eTwinning?

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest CHALLENGING EACH OTHER Mutual challenges can make the collaboration more active and enhance the students’ motivation and competition spirit. Their teamwork skills will also be stimulated. Our students challenged each other both in the blog and in the audioblog.blogaudioblog Which alternative approaches with eTwinning?

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest GENDER Gender mainstreaming is a EU priority! The project has made students aware of stereotypes in the scientific field (are girls worse than boys at Maths??). Which alternative approaches with eTwinning? Biographies of Women mathematicians have helped students see that the history of Maths has also been made by intelligent and bright women!

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest EMOTIONAL FOCUS Maths can be made “emotional” if teachers show it has been created by persons and has changed in time, if students read about personal stories of men and women mathematicians, their difficulties... In the section History of Maths students have found about the history of PI, they have studied about Phythagoras’s ideas and have “performed” the crisis of his science. Which alternative approaches with eTwinning?

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest PERFORMING MATHS Making videos has made learning more effective and “active”. Conventional teaching asks students to STUDY topics. Maths in has asked students to “DRAMATIZE” learning, to put themselves in scientists’ shoes, to make Maths experiences, experiments, personal tragedies “live”... Which alternative approaches with eTwinning?

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest CLIL AND EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP Studying Maths in a second language is not so common in our schools. Etwinning promotes L2 empowerment by offering students and teachers occasions to use it in communicative and real contexts. Communication is understanding and dialogue. Which alternative approaches with eTwinning?

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest ICT ROLE ICT has made students and teachers from distant countries collaborate and work together by creating cooperative learning environments. It has empowered different forms of communication: audiofiles, videos, images, magazines, animations. Which alternative approaches with eTwinning?

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest NEW TOOLS AND MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES By using the tools they are familiar with, students’ involvement can be enhanced Mobile technologies allow them to study anywhere, anytime, at their own pace. This is what we tried to do with our iPod Maths. Which alternative approaches with eTwinning?

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest Conclusions Due to the specific features of Math projects and to the “arid” nature of the subject, they should have an incentive aspect, that can be achieved though the types of activities that are planned, the degree of collaboration and the tools that are used. Mathematics can thus become a “vehicle” for learning about the partners and for the mutual understanding of their cultural environment. Moreover, it will no longer be just a rubric in the timetable, but a learner-friendly school subject.

3/14/2011eTwinning Conference, Budapest THANK YOU!