LEMA (Comenius / University of Education Freiburg / 2006-2009)
Throughout Europe people are growing increasingly aware of the fact that students have to learn how to apply mathematics both critically and deliberately in order to meet the demands of a responsible citizen and of a productive member of society. In order to be able to guarantee this, teachers’ competencies have to be broadened so that they are, unlike in today’s current situation, in the position to integrate modelling into their everyday lessons.
This project aimed to support math teachers in the development of their pedagogical and didactical competencies through teacher training on the topic of connections to reality and mathematical modelling.
The primary goal was to establish professional development concepts which can be flexibly transferred to other countries and which comply with the requirements of both involved partner nations and other European nations.
The different experiences made by participating countries with innovative ways of teaching have been incorporated into the project. The teacher training program should address both practicing teachers and those studying to become primary and middle school teachers.
The training was developed, tested, evaluated and optimized by means of a need assessment, which were developed particularly for this project. During the project, the Europe-wide communication took place on an internet platform which is used even after the project is over. Among other things, a DVD was provided containing miscellaneous materials and sample videos of lesson sequences from the individual partner countries. This DVD, in this way, emphasize the European dimension of this project as well as contribute to the distribution of its results.