Seminar – Inquiry-Based Mathematics Education at University Level
Speaker: André Heck, Korteweg-de Vries Institute, University of Amsterdam
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12-05-2022 – Time: 15:30 – 17:00 |
Inquiry-Based Based Mathematics and Science Education (IBME/IBSE) at primary and secondary school level has proliferated since the Rocard project in 2007. However, university mathematics teaching has remained mainly traditional, especially in the first university years. But mathematics educators and lecturers at eight European universities from seven countries have started to explore inquiry-based approaches to mathematics teaching and learning during the Erasmus+ project PLATINUM in 2018-2021. Project results were published at the end of 2021 in the Open Access e-book Inquiry in University Mathematics Teaching and Learning: The PLATINUM Project, https://doi.org/10.5817/CZ.MUNI.M201-9983-2021
PLATINUM is an acronym for Partnership for Learning And Teaching IN University Mathematics, and partnership played indeed an important role in project through the concept of Community of Inquiry, which was together with the three-layer model of Inquiry adopted as cornerstones in the PLATINUM project work. Much of the project work consisted of designing inquiry-based mathematics lessons, trying them out in real practices, evaluating the teaching and learning, and reporting the findings. This has led to eight case studies in the above-mentioned e-book, ranging from teaching units in the context of teacher training and foundational courses up to mathematics service education. Special attention was spent to mathematics teaching of students with identified needs and the principles of Universal Design.
In this talk I will discuss the conceptual foundations of the PLATINUM project, the partners’ experiences with IBME, and the main outcomes of the project. The UvA case study, in which a basic mathematics course for biomedical students was cyclically designed, will be used to exemplify an inquiry into IBME of one of the partners in more detail.
