PROJECT AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The main aim of the project is to produce materials for pre- and in-service teacher training, and for teaching in schools, that allow teachers to teach mathematics and science in an interdisciplinary way, as well as to collaborate with each other in several ways, both in preparing and in executing their teaching. Numerous evidence (e.g. Jones/Rasmussen/Moffitt 1997: "A collaborative approach to interdisciplinary learning", Bransford et al. 2005: "Foundations and opportunities for an interdisciplinary science of learning", as well as several works from Resnick or Schoenfeld) shows that this will foster learning and improve achievements in both mathematics and science. This is done by developing and collecting materials that are showing a variety of methods, approaches and contexts. The context will be relevant and meaningful to students, and can contain out-of-classroom activities, real-life situations, nature of science issues. Several of these materials will be supported by interactive ICT products.

Specific objectives:

  • to collect ideas for materials within national groups, with inputs of mathematics and science teachers and teacher educators
  • to bring together these ideas and select suitable ones (particularly those which can be used/customised for use in partner countries and other European countries, and those which are suitable for an interactive ICT support)
  • to team up in 2-partner-transnational workgroups for further development of these ideas into concrete materials
  • to have these materials externally reviewed by two experts
  • to pilot and have workshops to give raw materials to teachers, students and teacher trainers in science and mathematics to work with, for feedback to improve their quality
  • to improve the materials based on the piloting process and the external reviews
  • to produce a book and webpage with the materials, including ICT support
  • to produce a poster and a folder with project description and sample materials, and distribute it to teachers, teacher trainers and other stakeholders
  • to use materials in teacher training, inform about and make them available in printed form and online to stakeholders (teachers, teacher trainers, curriculum coordinators, mentors, subject boards)
  • for each partner to link up with an institution in a country outside the partnership to customise and disseminate the outcomes more widely, and publish the customised materials on the webpage
  • to organise an international conference and international workshop for presentation and interactive work with outcomes, with teachers, teacher trainers, mathematics and science educators, curriculum coordinators, mentors, and initiation phase supervisors
  • to disseminate the materials to teachers and teacher trainers outside the consortium, using several regional (e.g. teacher education day, open house day, information day), national (e.g. ministry of education, teacher union), and international (e.g. conferences, Comenius courses) dissemination channels