Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of Professor Edward A. Friedman, Scientist and Educator

On September 29, 2015, the doyen of the Editorial board of Serdica Journal of Computing, Prof. Edward Friedman, celebrated his 80 th anniversary. This special issue is dedicated to the birthday boy in recognition of his numerous contributions: to science, to promoting effective strategies in integrating digital technologies with mathematics and science education, to adapting a software sys tem for the health treatment of rural patients in India and Sub-Saharan Africa, and most recently—to the development of new university courses on raising the awareness of the threat of nuclear terrorism

Along the Traces of the Conic Sections

Based on a geometry problem by Ivan Salabashev we demonstrate an exploratory process leading to conic sections as a locus of points. We work for the purpose with the GeoGebra dynamic software making use of different objects’ representations for explorations related with conic sections

Achievements and Problems in the In-service Teacher Education in Inquiry Based Style

Report published in the Proceedings of the National Conference on "Education and Research in the Information Society", Plovdiv, May, 2015The paper deals with the experience of the authors in promoting the Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) in mathematics and science education within international and national projects. The emphasis is on in-service teacher education. Various types of activities and resources in support of all levels of IBL are considered, e.g. professional development courses, seminars, workshop, and performances; implementation of resources stimulating students to behave like working mathematicians. The first visible positive effects and potential problems in the implementation of IBL in the Bulgarian schools are discussed.Association for the Development of the Information Society, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Plovdiv University "Paisii Hilendarski

Teaching for lifelong learning, and lifelong learning for teaching

When re-thinking the design of the curriculum for pre-service teachers (in our case in Informatics and Information technologies) we should start with the main question – what these teachers-to-be should prepare their students for? The authors’ provide arguments in support of the belief that the school should be oriented to building competences identified as crucial for the citizens in a knowledge/creativity-based society. The paper presents authors’ experience in applying some good European practices focusing on lifelong learning in the context of the pre-service and in-service education of ICTteachers in Bulgaria

The-more-it-changes-the-samer-it-gets Principle in the Context of Mathematics and Informatics Education

The paper presents some observations from the authors’ teaching experience with teachers and students in a Logo and a Toon Talk environment. The effect of having different representations of the same notion is explored in the context of some important mathematics and informatics concepts and structures. A comparison is made between using visual (TT-like) and script based programming languages for educational purposes

WebLabs: Virtual collaborative learning experience for researchers, teachers and students

The paper presents experiences from a 3 year international project, WebLabs: New representational infrastructure for e-learning, in which researchers, teachers and young students from UK, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Sweden, Portugal and Italy participated. The project explored innovative pedagogy based on the integration of constructionist learning approach and virtual co-learning. For the purposes of the project a visual programming environment, Toon Talk, and a virtual collaborative system, Wplone, were adopted, and special instruments - webreports - were designed and developed. The experience proved that mathematical and science concepts, usually considered as difficult and unattainable for young children, can be made accessible and meaningful to them, by using different representations as well as group co-learning and reflection

When I*Teach means I*Learn: developing and implementing an innovative methodology for building ICT-enhanced skills

The paper presents research findings and pilot experiences related to the development and validation of an innovative methodology for building ICT-enhanced skills. The concept of ICT-enhanced skills and the essence of the methodology are explained. The process of methodology validation – via a pilot teacher training course – is presented by offering the reader a dual perspective: that of a teacher and that of a learner. The main insights and conclusions are illustrated by authentic teachers’ impressions