MOOC | MathCityMap

Introducing the next MCM patner school

We are more than happy to welcome the next MCM partner school! The “Jaime Cortesão Secondary School” has successfully passed the application process and is now the first MCM partner school in Portugal. The teachers of the school were inspired by the MCM MOOC last year and the trails were created by master students working […]

We are more than happy to welcome the next MCM partner school! The “Jaime Cortesão Secondary School” has successfully passed the application process and is now the first MCM partner school in Portugal.

The teachers of the school were inspired by the MCM MOOC last year and the trails were created by master students working at the school and tested with the students.

The package with the measurement tools and the official partner school badge is now on its way to the school and we are very much looking forward to receiving more applications from schools.

A short report from the school on the application process can be read further down in this article and all further information on the partner school program can be found in the article on the first MCM partner school.

Together with the supervising teacher, the interns developed the activity “MathTrails” for the students from Escola Secundária Jaime Cortesão. This activity was created using the platform MathCityMap, explored in one of the interns’ subjects from the Math Teaching Masters Degree Course from the University of Coimbra.

The created trails are called “Matematicando por Coimbra” (Code: 497843) and “ π–sando as ruas de Coimbra” (Code: 697842). Our students transferred the app into their phones which gave them access to the trails and to the digital classroom that was used by the interns to control them and check their scores. The students were given a participation diploma after completing all their tasks. The winners of the activity were also rewarded with medals created by the interns.

In general, the students liked the activity, stating that the tasks had the right amount of complexity and that said tasks allowed them to recall some of the concepts learned in previous years. They also agreed that the activity was useful in order to cement their new acquired math knowledge.

The interns’ goal was to show the students that math is everywhere through a different and dynamic activity where they could explore the world that surrounds them. According to the students that goal was successfully achieved.

MathCityMap: News from Indonesia

In 2014 MathCityMap was introduced to Indonesia with a pilot study conducted by Goethe University Frankfurt in collaboration with Universitas Negeri Semarang involving several schools in the city of Semarang. Just three years afterwards in 2017, the Mobile Math Trails Research Group was established to become a center for the study of math trails […]

In 2014 MathCityMap was introduced to Indonesia with a pilot study conducted by Goethe University Frankfurt in collaboration with Universitas Negeri Semarang involving several schools in the city of Semarang. Just three years afterwards in 2017, the Mobile Math Trails Research Group was established to become a center for the study of math trails with digital technology in Indonesia. Since then MOOCs are offered and teacher trainings are organized in collaboration with teacher organizations and the Education Offices in several cities. At some universities, MathCityMap is part of the courses taught to prospective mathematics teachers and is a topic investigated in several theses.

At the end of 2021, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology invited the Mobile Math Trail Research Group to collaborate in organizing a teacher training on strengthening literacy and numeracy skills using MathCityMap. The speaker in the training was Professor Matthias Ludwig as the founder of MathCityMap who explained the MathCityMap concept, and the technical details of the webportal and the app in collaboration with Dr Adi Nur Cahyono, the coordinator of MathCityMap in Indonesia, and his team.

Participants in this training were 240 teachers from 34 provinces in Indonesia. Primary and secondary school teachers who were selected from 6500 applicants to the teacher training. The training was conducted in four stages and each stage was carried out in 4 days in Jakarta and Bandung. The training was realized with offline sessions which consisted of an indoor theory lesson and an outdoor practice in the famous city parks in the two cities, namely the Bogor Botanical Gardens, Jakarta Old Town, Banteng Field, Kencana Park.

As a follow-up, the trainees returned to their respective areas and held multiplier trainings for their colleagues. They also created a mathtrail in their area with the local cultural context and implement it with students and the public. Communication with the teachers is maintained to discuss and share implementation experiences through the MathCityMap Indonesia Community forum.

MathCityMap trails and users in Indonesia have increased significantly and continue to grow as a positive impact of dissemination through MOOCs, lectures at teacher education institutes, teacher trainings and communities. In 2022, the Directorate General of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia will provide training on numeracy and literacy skills using MathCityMap for 22,000 university students who will undertake internships in schools throughout Indonesia.

MOOC: Teachers’ experiences with MathCityMap

On May 30, our great MathCityMap MOOC within the Erasmus+ project MaSCE³ ended. In this article we present experiences of teachers from all over the world. Experiences with MathCityMap: In the following statements, the teachers participating in the MOOC review on the course and their made experiences with doing mathematics outdoors with their classes. […]

On May 30, our great MathCityMap MOOC within the Erasmus+ project MaSCE³ ended. In this article we present experiences of teachers from all over the world.

Experiences with MathCityMap:

In the following statements, the teachers participating in the MOOC review on the course and their made experiences with doing mathematics outdoors with their classes.

Edinéia Zarpelon (Brazil, Upper secondary level):
I proposed the trail to my high school students and a couple of friends, math professors at the university. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, only a few student volunteers walked the trail. Still, it was a very worthwhile experience and their feedback was very positive and encouraging. I am determined to continue using MCM in my classes.

Monika Haupenthal (Germany, Upper secondary level):
Repeating old things, gaining new knowledge and having fun – all this combines outdoor learning. This is what the students in my Q11 course experienced on the trail.
Slogan: Be ready, be careful, be correct, calculate, check, correct. The slogan is derived from the first letters of the stations.

Margherita Motteran (Italia, Secondary level):
We had fun trying to solve problems in reality mathematically. In order to determine the dimensions of real objects, students used different strategies that they developed themselves. This activity stimulated their imagination and increased their math skills. We plan to use MCM often in the future.

More statements of participating teachers from all over the world can be found here.

MOOC: MathCityMap all over the world

Yesterday the great MathCityMap MOOC within the Erasmus+ project MaSCE³ ended. In this article we present experiences of teachers. And of course, we also want to thank all participants and in particular all organizers of the MOOC. Experiences with MathCityMap: In the following statements, the teachers participating in the MOOC review on the course […]

Yesterday the great MathCityMap MOOC within the Erasmus+ project MaSCE³ ended. In this article we present experiences of teachers. And of course, we also want to thank all participants and in particular all organizers of the MOOC.

Experiences with MathCityMap:

In the following statements, the teachers participating in the MOOC review on the course and their made experiences with doing mathematics outdoors with their classes.

Veronica Sambataro (United Kingdom, Secondary level):
I attended this course as a postgraduate student and a future teacher. For testing the math trail, I decided to involve my households – and it was very fun. Some of them told me that it was really fun discovered new formulas and enjoying with math! I will use MathCityMap for sure when I will be a teacher a day!!

Gina Patricia Paz Huamán (Peru, University level):
Today I applied with a group of students of Higher Education the “Mathematical Route in Pueblo Libre” that I prepared with the MathCityMap application. This experience has been positively valued by them who consider that it will be very motivating to use it with the students of Basic Education for whom the activity was prepared. It has been very exciting to use the digital classroom in this activity, to see how the groups are formed, the progress of each one of them and how they solve the challenges posed.

Margherita Motteran (Italia, Secondary level):
Today we had fun trying to solve problems in reality mathematically. In order to determine the dimensions of real objects, students used different strategies that they developed themselves. This activity stimulated their imagination and increased their math skills. We plan to use MCM often in the future.

Thanks a lot!

The entire MathCityMap team Frankfurt would like to thank the main organisers of the MOOC. Within the MaSCE³ project, the MOOC was prepared, guided and accompanied by:

Eugenia Taranto (Italy), Christian Mercat (France), Elisabete Cunha (Portugal), Claudia Lázaro (Spain), Andrus Rinde (Estonia) and Simone Jablonski (Germany).

Thank you very much for your commitment!

The great MCM MOOC: Math Trail in Tours

The great MathCityMap online training series is now coming to an end on May 31. As part of our MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), more than 100 teachers from all over the world have become real MathCityMap experts! The teachers not only created tasks and math trails themselves and received many valuable tips through our […]

The great MathCityMap online training series is now coming to an end on May 31. As part of our MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), more than 100 teachers from all over the world have become real MathCityMap experts!

The teachers not only created tasks and math trails themselves and received many valuable tips through our expert review, but also tried out their own trails with their classes.

In addition to the pirate trail from Alcobendas in Spain, we would like to present Anne-Laure Migné’s maths trail in Tours as a representative of the many creative trails that were created during the MOOC: The “Parcours mathématiques et patrimoine à Tours” offers eight exciting tasks on the cultural heritage of the French city of Tours and leads the mathematicians through the city’s contemporary history: We start with the Gallo-Roman wall from the 4th century. Then the medieval cathedral and the historic old town are visited. Finally – welcome to the modern age – the Wilson Stone Bridge and the Hôtel de ville are visited. For more information on the mathematical city walk by Anne-Laure Migné, visit the website of the city of Tours.

The math trail “Promenade mathématique dans Bayeux“ by Flavie Aubourg is another French trail which was created during the MOOC. It was presented in the local news by Ouest France.

Thanks a lot!

The entire MathCityMap team Frankfurt would like to thank the main organisers of the MOOC. Within the MaSCE³ project, the MOOC was prepared, guided and accompanied by:

Eugenia Taranto (Italy), Christian Mercat (France), Elisabete Cunha (Portugal), Claudia Lázaro (Spain), Andrus Rinde (Estonia) and Simone Jablonski (Germany).

Thank you very much for your commitment!

Our great MCM online teacher training starts today!

Today marks the start of our MCM online teacher training! In our MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), participating teachers will learn over the next twelve weeks, … learn how to use the MathCityMap system for out-of-school mathematics education with the help of digital tools, … create their own tasks and math trails with MathCityMap and […]

Today marks the start of our MCM online teacher training! In our MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), participating teachers will learn over the next twelve weeks,

… learn how to use the MathCityMap system for out-of-school mathematics education with the help of digital tools,
… create their own tasks and math trails with MathCityMap
and to conduct their own lessons in the MathCityMap digital classroom.

Of course, sharing one’s own teaching experiences is also in the foreground in this international teacher training. More than 400 teachers from all over the world are participating. We are very happy about this great response to our free MOOC, which is co-funded by the European Union within the Erasmus+ project MaSCE³.

Note: All interested persons can still register for our MOOC up to and including 28th March on http://dimamooc.unict.it/.

MOOC: Register this week for our Online Teacher Training

* You can register until 28th March! The MOOC starts on 8th March!* Are you interested in doing outdoor mathematics with your students? Do you search for interesting and motivating ways of teaching? Do you want to get in contact with teachers all over Europe? Then our MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on how to […]

*** You can register until 28th March! The MOOC starts on 8th March!***

Are you interested in doing outdoor mathematics with your students? Do you search for interesting and motivating ways of teaching? Do you want to get in contact with teachers all over Europe?

Then our MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on how to create math trails with MathCityMap is the right choice for you! Register now!

With our MOOC, we intend to

introduce the system MathCityMap® for teaching mathematics outdoors with digital tools,
show you how you create your own tasks and trails in the system and honour the best tasks with badges,
share experiences on an international level.

We kindly invite all mathematics teachers to take part in this MOOC. It is part of the Erasmus+ project MaSCE³, co-funded by the European Union and therefore free of charge.

Basic information:

Start: 8th March 2021
Duration: 12 weeks
Language: English
Enrollment: http://dimamooc.unict.it/ (starts on 15th February 2021)
Certification: Certificate after completing the course (30 hours) + badges on DiMa Platform that you can put in your own wallet on http://badgr.com + an analog certification from MathCityMap

For more information please visit the project website www.masce.eu/mooc and watch our video https://youtu.be/Kc7CbZleq4A

We hope you are interested to join our MOOC and learn more about tasks, outdoor math and digital tools. It will be our pleasure to welcome you online on 8th March!

In case of questions, do not hesitate to contact your national organizing person:

Estonia: Andrus Rinde andrus.rinde@tlu.ee
France: Christian Mercat Christian.mercat@univ-lyon1.fr
Germany: Simone Jablonski jablonski@math.uni-frankfurt.de
Italy: Eugenia Taranto Eugenia.taranto@unict.it
Portugal: Elisabete Cunha elisabetecunha@ese.ipvc.pt
Spain: Claudia Lázaro lazaroclaudia@gmail.com

Information: The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “Task Design for Math Trails” is presented by the Erasmus+ funded MaSCE³ project.

Online Course: Task Design for Math Trails

The Erasmus+ funded MaSCE³ project proudly presents its Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Task Design for Math Trails. Are you interested in doing outdoor mathematics with your students? Do you search for interesting and motivating ways of teaching? Do you want to get in contact with teachers all over Europe? With our MOOC, we […]

The Erasmus+ funded MaSCE³ project proudly presents its Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Task Design for Math Trails.

Are you interested in doing outdoor mathematics with your students? Do you search for interesting and motivating ways of teaching? Do you want to get in contact with teachers all over Europe?

With our MOOC, we intend to

introduce the system MathCityMap® for teaching mathematics outdoors with digital tools,
show you how you create your own tasks and trails in the system and honour the best tasks with badges,
share experiences on an international level.

We kindly invite all mathematics teachers to take part in this MOOC. It is part of the Erasmus+ project MaSCE³, co-funded by the European Union and therefore free of charge.

Basic information:

Start: 8th March 2021
Duration: 12 weeks
Language: English
Enrollment: http://dimamooc.unict.it/ (starts on 15th February 2021)
Certification: Certificate after completing the course (30 hours) + badges on DiMa Platform that you can put in your own wallet on http://badgr.com + an analog certification from MathCityMap

For more information please visit the project website www.masce.eu/mooc and watch our video https://youtu.be/Kc7CbZleq4A

We hope you are interested to join our MOOC and learn more about tasks, outdoor math and digital tools. It will be our pleasure to welcome you online on 8th March!

In case of questions, do not hesitate to contact your national organizing person:

MathCityMap at New Horizons in Teaching Science Workshop in Italy

On 18 June 2018, the “New Horizons in Teaching Science” workshop was held in Messina, Sicily. On this occasion, Eugenia Taranto spoke about the MathCityMap project and the collaboration with the Math MOOC UniTo (Massive Open Online Course University Turin) project. Many different tasks, which were prepared by Sicilian teachers within the MOOC “Relations and […]

On 18 June 2018, the “New Horizons in Teaching Science” workshop was held in Messina, Sicily.

On this occasion, Eugenia Taranto spoke about the MathCityMap project and the collaboration with the Math MOOC UniTo (Massive Open Online Course University Turin) project.

Many different tasks, which were prepared by Sicilian teachers within the MOOC “Relations and Functions”, were shown.

A lot of interest was shown and we hope that the number of Sicilian and Italian tasks will continue to increase!

Task of the Week: Height of the Building

Through cooperation with the MOOC Working Group of the University of Turin, we are looking forward to the first MCM tasks in Italy, which is part of today’s Task of the Week. Task: Height of the Building (task number: 2045) Determine the height of the building. Give the result in meters. The height can be […]

Through cooperation with the MOOC Working Group of the University of Turin, we are looking forward to the first MCM tasks in Italy, which is part of today’s Task of the Week.

Task: Height of the Building (task number: 2045)

Determine the height of the building. Give the result in meters.

The height can be approximated in various ways, e.g. by estimation or the intercept theorems. The task can be solved elegantly by looking for structures and patterns in the building facade. In this building, the horizontal strips, which can be found up to the roof, are noticed directly. For the total height, it is therefore only necessary to determine the height of a horizontal strip, as well as to count the number of strips. Minor deviations from the pattern can be approximated using estimates.

With this method, the task can already be solved by class 6 students. In the case of older pupils, the different solutions can be discussed and assessed with regard to simplicity and accuracy.