Category: General

We are very pleased to welcome Mittelschule Tabor as a new MathCityMap partner school!

At the beginning of this school year, a workshop day took place at the school: students from grades 2 to 4 explored their school building and schoolyard using MathCityMap trails. The four trails created by their teachers (trail codes 2329200, 6929201, 4929196 und 3429202) took the children on a mathematical discovery tour through their everyday environment.

Whether measuring tables and seating areas, estimating the amount of waste in the classroom, or comparing surfaces, tiles, and angles – the 11- to 14-year-old students experienced mathematics in a new and engaging way.

Working in small teams, the children collaborated with great motivation, searched for solutions, and supported each other. Their teachers reported high levels of concentration, enthusiasm, and team spirit during the trails. It was particularly emphasized that the activities not only strengthened mathematical skills but also promoted movement, communication, and cooperation.

We would like to sincerely thank Mittelschule Tabor for their commitment and wonderful collaboration – and we warmly welcome them to the MathCityMap community!

We are very pleased to share the following article by Patrick Schreiber, mathematics teacher at Vöhlin-Gymnasium Memmingen, which was recently published in a local newspaper. In his text, he describes how the MathCityMap app combines mathematics and city exploration in an exciting way.
We are delighted to feature the article here on our website – offering a glimpse into the practical implementation of our project.

The trail (4528465) created by him is now publicly available and invites everyone to discover Memmingen from a completely new – mathematical – perspective.

In the following you’ll find the complete newspaper article (translated from German):

The Vöhlin mathematics teacher Patrick Schreiber has, with the help of the MathCityMap app, created a trail for students and for all those who enjoy facing small and larger mathematical challenges while exploring Memmingen at the same time. The free software is provided by the team around Prof. Dr. Matthias Ludwig of the Goethe University Frankfurt. The GPS-guided tour through the city follows the route provided by the city information office under the title “Memmingen – City of Freedom Rights.” Stations include, among others, the Frauenkirche, the Freedom Fountain, and the Kramerzunft. It deals with geometric objects, combinatorial aspects, and functional relationships that are hidden behind concrete objects, in buildings, paths, and patterns.

At the stairs leading from Herrenstraße up to the Martinskirche, one has to calculate how many steps the staircase would need to be extended in order to reach the top of the Martinsturm. At the fountain on the marketplace, the task is to calculate the base area, with the measuring tape function on the smartphone providing assistance. Things get noticeably trickier at the Lotzerhaus.

Whereas math lessons in the classroom often make students’ heads spin and cause frustration, MathCityMap offers mathematics at concrete objects – outside, right in the middle of city life. And it’s all about teamwork: solutions are developed together, and successes are celebrated together. The whole thing can, of course, also be organized as a competition. And if the right idea or formula is missing, the app gives helpful hints – all without the pressure of grades. A great idea for a school excursion, a few math lessons in the fresh air, but also for locals of Memmingen or visitors. The app is available at www.mathcitymap.eu. The Memmingen Math Trail is publicly accessible there. Trails can be found for many locations across Europe.

You might have read it in our last MCM update post or come across it in the web portal already: Say hello to the Content Gallery — the newest source of inspiration for your MathCityMap tasks. Designed as a collaborative collection of the most creative, diverse, and high-quality public math tasks, this gallery showcases interesting tasks created by teachers, MathCityMap experts and developers.

Why a Gallery?

As educators explore their environments, they discover math in the most unexpected places — whether it is a tree, a sculpture, or a playground. Until now, these gems were scattered. The Content Gallery brings them together in one place, making it easier to browse, learn, and get inspired by real-world examples.

How to get there:

In the web portal, you’ll now find a new button in the menu bar at the top. Click on the image symbol, and the content gallery will open. You can browse tasks across different object categories. When you click on an object, related tasks in English and German will appear. If you’re looking for something specific, use the filters on the left side. By clicking on a task, you’ll access its detailed information — including the solution — and you can even copy the task to create a similar one in your own area.

Whether you’re looking to refresh your next trail or simply curious about how others integrate math into everyday objects, the Content Gallery is here to spark your creativity.

On the weekend of September 19–21, there was a festive atmosphere on Frankfurt’s Opernplatz: the Polytechnic Society Foundation celebrated its 20th anniversary—and MathCityMap was there!

It was a special honor for us to be part of these celebrations. The foundation recognized the potential of MathCityMap early on and provided us with active support, especially in the early days. We were therefore all the more delighted to be there with our team.

At our booth, we were able to introduce MathCityMap to numerous visitors – from people who happened to be passing by to math enthusiasts to representatives of other projects. Many were interested and enthusiastic about the idea of learning math outdoors.

Away from our booth, the anniversary celebration also offered a diverse and exciting program: numerous initiatives and projects presented themselves and ensured a varied weekend full of exchange, discoveries, and inspiration.

We would like to thank the Polytechnic Society Foundation for the invitation and support. It was a pleasure to be part of this special celebration!

We are delighted to welcome Základná škola sv. Marka as a new partner school in the MathCityMap network! Under the guidance of teacher Kristína Mrázová, the students regularly use mathematical learning trails to experience mathematics in a practical and creative way.

Three trails have already been published and can be accessed using the following codes:
1. ZŠ sv. Marka (Code: 3912202)
2. Jarná prechádzka na ZŠ sv. Marka (Code: 6815304)
3. ZŠ sv. Marka II. (Code: 1317889)

The teacher reports about the experiences she has made with her class:
„The pupils enjoyed solving mathematical trails outside the classroom. Working in groups, they applied their knowledge to real objects and practical examples. They supported each other, discussed different strategies and discovered that mathematics can be useful and fun in everyday situations. Mathematical trails are regularly used at our school, and this activity is very popular among the pupils.“

The package with the official partner school badge and the MCM measuring instruments is on its way and we are looking forward to receiving more applications from all over the world.

All further information on the partner school programme and the requirements for application can be found both in the article on the first MCM partner school and on the homepage of our MaSCE³ project.

We are very happy to announce the Colegio Internacional de Sevilla – San Francisco de Paula as a new MathCityMap partner school! They have created, tested and published two trails in the area of their school.

Trail 1: „Matemáticas por el centro de Sevilla” (Code: 051918)

Trail 2: „Plazas al cuadrado” (Code: 1328831)

Together, these two trails feature more than 15 tasks that encourage students to interact with their surroundings in mathematically rich ways—measuring, estimating, reasoning, and discovering patterns hidden in the architecture, spaces, and structures of the city.

According to their teacher Francisco Rodríguez Tamayo the students particularly enjoyed the tasks related to Fibonacci and the one called “A Plaza Nueva hay que volver” – a task for Betis football fans.

In the next academic year, MathCityMap activities will be included in the school’s curriculum as part of the Middle Years Programme.

We warmly welcome the school to our growing MathCityMap community and look forward to more inspiring tasks and trails from Spain!

The package with the official partner school badge and the MCM measuring instruments is on the way and we are looking forward to receiving more applications from all over the world.

All further information on the partner school programme and the requirements for application can be found both in the article on the first MCM partner school and on the homepage of our MaSCE³ project.

We are delighted to welcome HTL Steyr as a new MathCityMap partner school! They started working with our platform last school year and have already created and tested two trails.

Trail 1: Steyr city center (“Styr Innenstadt” – Code 4822049)

The trail was created as part of math class by 11th grade students under the guidance of their teacher. It leads through the historic city center of Steyr and focuses on geometric and everyday questions in public spaces. Two groups of 9th grade students then tested the trail and it was revised based on their feedback.

Trail 2: Trail around HTR Steyr (“Trail um die HTR Steyr” – Code 3728627)

This trail leads around the HTL school building and is located in a traffic-calmed area. It includes tasks from different subject areas, some of them relate to the building structures and outdoor facilities of the school and its surroundings.

Teacher Anja Schneiderbauer reports on her students’ experiences:

“The project was received positively across the board—both by the younger test groups and by the older students who were involved in the creation of the trails. Particular emphasis was placed on the change from the usual lessons and the opportunity to see and apply mathematics in a practical context. My personal fear that it would be more suitable for younger students was completely unfounded. On the contrary, the older students were enthusiastic about being able to apply mathematics outdoors.” 

We look forward to many interesting tasks and trails in Steyr in the future!

The package with the official partner school badge and the MCM measuring instruments is already on the way and we are looking forward to receiving more applications from all over the world.

All further information on the partner school programme and the requirements for application can be found both in the article on the first MCM partner school and on the homepage of our MaSCE³ project.

Dear MCM-Users! 

Greetings from the MathCityMap-Developer-Team! Thanks for using MathCityMap, for your continuous support and assistance in improving the system with your contact requests, feedback and experience. The latter has lead us to a rather large cumulative update of the MathCityMap app and web portal. First things first: PLEASE UPDATE YOUR MATHCITYMAP-APP! – if not already (automatically) done. We want to give you a brief overview of the new changes so that your prepared before your next MathCityMap-Session!

1. New Map Experience: Times are changing. ‘Till now we implemented a way of using maps for navigation that allowed to download a trail once and use it without internet connection henceforth (even upon app restart). But in times where students and in the best case schools, as well, can provide a stable internet connection and sufficient data volume, we adjust and draw from the benefits! Maps will now be freshly fetched everytime you start/continue a trail, which means that at least at the trail start an internet connection is required! But we promise you – the new map handling also comes with a fresh, more fluent and better looking map experience! Should you have only limited internet structure or possibilities at your school, the trail can still be used with the “old” map handling – which requires you to actively change the required setting for this specific trail in the web portal. 
2. Content Gallery: Did you know that playgrounds are often a playground for architects – which in turn leads to a colorful variety of mathematical tasks in the everyday life of your students! How colorful, you ask? Well we didn’t know either until we browsed through our new Content Gallery for the first time! It is the joined effort of teachers, MathCityMap-experts and us developers that brought together a collection of the best, most creative and diverse public MathCityMap tasks – a source of inspiration, so to speak! There is more to explore about a tree but it’s age 😀
3. QR Code Image Upload: The test phase for the qr code image upload concerning the task title image can be called successful. Thus, we expanded this feature to the trail image, task sample solution and task hints and to the task and trail editing views. We hope this speeds up your process and elevates your Student Account usage. Speaking of which…
4. Student Task Publication: Many contacted us being confused about not being able to publish trails with student task or rather not being able to complete these tasks in a way that a publication (review request) would be possible. That was clearly unintended and therefore high up on our todo list. It is now possible for teachers to edit any task in their learning group and to submit a trail with student tasks after all criteria were met. Note that you as teacher (for now) will not get any notification about any review feedback. Each student can see these notifications when entering the web portal via their student account. Yet, you as teacher are still able to look into each review message. We will continue improving this usage scenario but we hope this first adjustment resolves a lot of uncertainty.

There were of course many other small and larger improvements, which however will not impact your MathCityMap usage drastically (little styling, bugs, performance, maintenance, etc.) which is why they are not mentioned here. Yet, since many things were changed at the same time, problems might still occur from time to time. Should you encounter such, please write us detailled and with screenshots at info[at]mathcitymap.eu! Your feedback is precious and led to these improvements! Keep equipping your students with the MathCityMap math goggles and enjoy being outdoors!

With best regards,
your MathCityMap-Development-Team 😀

We are very pleased to welcome the Holbein-Gymnasium Augsburg as a new MathCityMap partner school!

Thanks to the commitment of teacher Matthias Hartmann, MathCityMap was not only successfully integrated into lessons during the past school year, but also established among the teaching staff and sustainably anchored with the school management.
A particularly significant milestone was the introduction of a fixed project day for the entire 10th grade: From now on, all tenth-grade students at Holbein-Gymnasium will complete a MathCityMap trail once a year.

Several creative trails have already been developed at Holbein-Gymnasium:

• “Schatzsuche Holbein” (Treasure Hunt Holbein – 3523479)
  This trail is aimed at 5th-grade students and leads them across the school grounds.
• “Mathe am Kuhsee” (Maths at the Kuhsee – 2428739)
  A trail for students from grade 7 onwards at a recreational area in Augsburg.
  It is particularly noteworthy that this trail is specifically used to review key content from lower secondary level (grades 5–7) – ideal preparation for the statewide grade 8 assessment test in Bavaria.

The first annual project day already took place at the end of the school year. The focus was on the trail “Mathe auf dem Campus” (Maths on campus – 0912164), originally developed by a former teacher training student at the University of Augsburg.
In addition to mathematical surveying exercises, this trail gives students the opportunity to gain their first impressions of campus life at a university.

The positive feedback from the first trial runs shows that MathCityMap is well received by the students:

“I thought MathCityMap was really cool because you don’t just do math at your desk, but also outside.”
“I thought MathCityMap was great because the tasks were totally different and in some cases more challenging than in the textbook.”
“I thought MathCityMap was awesome because you first had to go to the exact location and then solve the tasks there.”
“It’s crazy how MathCityMap shows that there’s so much math in everyday life.”

We are very happy about this addition to our network and look forward to many more ideas and trails from Augsburg!

The package with the official partner school badge and the MCM measuring instruments has already been delivered and we are looking forward to receiving more applications from all over the world.

All further information on the partner school programme and the requirements for application can be found both in the article on the first MCM partner school and on the homepage of our MaSCE³ project.

We are very pleased to welcome IES Universidad Laboral de Cáceres as a new partner school in the international MathCityMap network!

The school is located in the city of Cáceres in western Spain and features a large campus with extensive outdoor areas – ideal conditions for mathematical discovery tours in the open air. Teacher Laureano Serrano Muñoz shares his experiences with his students and presents his favorite tasks:

“I have been using MathCityMap for several school years, so at least 100 students have tried out one of these trails. I am always surprised at how difficult it is for them to transfer what they have learned in class to real life, and of course, they are pleasantly surprised when they manage to do so.
They are also very surprised at how much a small measuring error can influence the result, even if the procedure is correct.
So far, my impressions of using the app have been positive, and I believe that students achieve significant learning progress regarding the content covered in class.
The tasks ‘El reloj de sol de la Laboral’ (The sundial of the Laboral – 6726051), and ‘¿Cómo medir el techo?’ (How to measure the ceiling? – 2526046) are among my favorites, as they are clear examples that correspond directly to tasks from geometry lessons.”

The school’s trails can be found under the following codes:

• Universidad Laboral. Cuerpos en el espacio – Code: 583380
• Pitágoras y Tales en La Laboral – Code: 365267
• Números y geometría – Code: 1910598
• Trigonometría en La Laboral – Code: 3714868

We warmly welcome IES Universidad Laboral de Cáceres to our growing MathCityMap community and look forward to more inspiring tasks and trails from Spain!

The package with the official partner school badge and the MCM measuring instruments has already been delivered and we are looking forward to receiving more applications from all over the world.

All further information on the partner school programme and the requirements for application can be found both in the article on the first MCM partner school and on the homepage of our MaSCE³ project.