TEEN-IMMIGRANTS EXPLORE A MATH MOBILE APP

We present the pilot phase of the project "Teenagers Experience Empowerment by Numbers" (TEEN), which is funded by Politecnico di Milano through the Polisocial Award 2018 and concerns the development of a mobile app to teach essential mathematics to young immigrants. The project aims at preparing them for living in a conscious, autonomous way in a Western country, increasing their ability to deal with everyday tasks that require some mathematical understanding. We present the app, some materials and an activity with the learners who have interacted with that. The set of tasks, tested in small groups, is rooted in daily activities, such as shopping at the supermarket, choosing a mobile internet plan, planning a trip. Our theoretical background is related to existing research findings on teaching to immigrants, Rabardel’s instrumental orchestration and feedback

Teaching with emerging technologies in a STEM university math class

[EN] The aim of the research presented in this work is to investigate how innovative teaching formats, based on student-centred activities, may help first year university students to deal with the difficulties in the transition from the mathematics they are used to in high school, to the one they meet at university, which requires a significant shift to conceptual understanding, especially in Calculus courses. As part of this overarching goal, this presentation investigates the case of Taylor series, a topic that is taught in all calculus courses at university. This work shows the efficacy of a blended learning approach, highlighting the main difficulties concerning the deep understanding of functions by students. We discuss possible limitations, and we provide suggestions for best practices in university math classes.Andrà, C.; Bernardi, G.; Brunetto, D. (2019). Teaching with emerging technologies in a STEM university math class. En HEAD'19. 5th International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 963-971. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD19.2019.9179OCS96397

Investigating the complex relations among affective variables in the context of gambling

Gambling disorder is a dramatic phenomenon that is spreading, in Italy as well as around the world, among younger and younger people every year. Activities in mathematics lessons at school can help pre-vent it, but it is necessary to know with which attitudes and beliefs students approach such mathematics lessons, as well as the role of the social environment. Thus, in this study, within a sample of secondary school students who experienced gambling at various levels of addiction (from none to high), we investigate the role of: mathematics-related beliefs, emotions, social relationships, attitudes towards gambling and behaviour, through a set of calibrated self-report multiple-choice questionnaires. This represents for us an opportunity to understand the complex relations among affective variables in mathematics educational activities aimed at preventing gambling disorder. For example, we found a positive correlation between mathematics-related beliefs and gambling frequency, and a negative correlation between emotional regulation and gambling frequency. Hence, we can say that affective variables such as emotions and beliefs have an effect on gambling behavior

An analysis of freshmen engineering students’ notes during a preparatory mathematics course

International audienc

Sei un furfante o un cavaliere? Un modello per descrivere le argomentazioni dei bambini

La ricerca si propone di contribuire alla costruzione di modelli, in didattica della matematica, per l???analisi delle argomentazioni dei bambini. In particolare, si adotta un approccio semiotico e lo si integra con una prospettiva teorica che utilizza il linguaggio della logica sia come ambiente nel quale proporre esercizi e problemi, sia come strumento per analizzarne la correttezza formale, il grado di consapevolezza, il tipo di ragionamento (induttivo, deduttivo, per analogia, e così via). Il modello proposto è applicato all???analisi dell???intervista di una coppia di studenti di 11 anni, ai quali sono state proposte alcune frasi di tipo assertivo