Meletiou-Mavrotheri, Maria

This chapter explores the potential of dynamic statistics software for supporting the teaching and learning of the Common Core Standards for Mathematics. It shares the experiences from a teaching experiment that implemented a data-driven approach to mathematics instruction using the dynamic data-visualization software InspireData © (Hancock, 2006), an educational package specifically designed to meet the learning needs of students in the middle and high school grades (Grades 4-12). We report on how a group of Grade 4 (about 9-year-old) students used the affordances provided by the dynamic learning environment to gather, analyze, and interpret data, and to draw data-based conclusions and inferences. The role of the technological tool in scaffolding and extending these young students' stochastical and mathematical reasoning is discussed.

In this study, we aimed to determine Cypriot primary mathematics teachers’ perspectives and lived experiences during the transition to emergency remote teaching (ERT) in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. An in-depth online survey combining closed-ended and open-ended questions was administered to sixty-two (n = 62) educators teaching mathematics in public primary schools during the first lockdown in spring, 2020. The data from closed-ended questions were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, whereas, for the open-ended questions, a thematic analysis approach was employed. Our findings provide useful insights regarding teachers’ self-reported technology backgrounds and levels of instruction regarding the use of technology in mathematics prior to the pandemic, as well their level of preparedness for ERT and the main challenges they faced in implementing ERT of mathematics. Our findings also indicate teachers’ levels of satisfaction with their ERT practices and their beliefs concerning the extent of achievement of the curriculum learning objectives through ERT, and how these varied based on teachers’ self-reported levels of familiarity with technology, their self-reported levels of preparedness for teaching at a distance, and their engagement (or non-engagement) in synchronous instruction during ERT. Teachers’ suggestions, based on their experiences from the lockdown period, regarding how to transform mathematics teaching and learning in the post-COVID-19 era are also presented.

Declining interest in mathematics and the need to raise the educational standards of youth in this discipline set a critical agenda for the revision of pedagogical practices. Tablet PCs and other mobile devices hold a lot of promise as tools for improving education at all levels. The research discussed in this chapter comes from an ongoing, multifaceted program designed to explore the potential of tablet technologies for enhancing mathematics teaching and learning at the primary school level. The program is taking place within a private primary school in Cyprus and aims at the effective integration of one-to-one tablet technologies (iPads) into the mathematics school curriculum. It has adopted a systemic approach to the introduction of iPads in the school setting that focuses on the broad preparation and on-going engagement of all key stakeholders involved in the educational process. In the chapter, the authors report on the main experiences gained from Phase 1 of the program, which involved the design and organization of a professional development workshop targeting the school teachers. The authors describe the content and structure of the workshop and discuss its impact on teachers' knowledge, skills, and confidence in incorporating tablet technologies within the mathematics curriculum.

Background: The advent of new and emerging technologies and industries has highlighted the need to equip youth with a unique skillset necessary to cope with a rapidly changing and complex digital era and adapt to modern societies' demands. This need has led to the development of teaching approaches to equip students with creative and innovative skills to help prevent any future skills gap. This shift has fuelled the growth of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) Education worldwide. Objectives: Our goal was to engage in a systematic review of the literature to identify the application and prevalence of emerging technologies within the landscape of STEAM Education. Methods: We engaged in a systematic review of the literature. Following the application of exclusion criteria to 461 studies, 43 studies were extracted and analysed. Findings and Conclusions: Analysis of these studies provides evidence of the fast-growing use of innovative emerging technologies within the STEAM landscape across all levels of education, from early childhood to college-level settings. Our analysis reveals an emphasis on developing STEAM-related disciplinary knowledge and the desire to develop students' 21st-century skills with a notable lack of targeted emphasis on developing understandings in the arts disciplines. We identify the need for carefully designed intervention studies involving collaboration between multidisciplinary STEAM experts that use high-quality measures which support the development of inferences relating to learning outcomes arising from such interventions.

Inspired by the emerging technologies of Augmented and Mixed Reality (AR/MR), the Enlivened Laboratories in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (EL-STEM) project aims to develop a new approach, integrating these technologies into school laboratories, for encouraging secondary school students’ STEM engagement. In particular, EL-STEM’s main objectives are to attract students who might not be interested in STEM-related studies/careers, enhance the interest of those who have already chosen these fields of studies/careers, and improve students’ performance in STEM-related courses. Moreover, EL-STEM provides teachers with high quality professional development opportunities to acquire knowledge and skills to effectively embed AR/MR in teaching and learning. This book chapter aims to provide an overview of the EL-STEM project and describe use cases of Augmented Reality in STEM education.

This chapter discusses an attempt to empower teachers to 'augment’ students’ reading experiences as part of the project The Living Book, Augmenting Reading for Life (Erasmus+). The project’s overall aim is to address the under -achievement of European students in reading by developing an innovative approach that combines offline activities promoting reading literacy with online experiences of books’ 'virtual augmentation.’ More specifically, recognizing the important role of teachers in any educational reform effort, the project aims at strengthening teachers’ profile and competences in adopting the Living Book approach and in dealing with diversified groups of learners, and particularly with pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, through a series of training sessions. The chapter outlines the theoretical premises of the Living Book and provides an overview of the theoretical framework underlying the design of the 'Augmented Teacher’ professional development course. It also describes the content and structure of the course, and the process of evaluation currently taking place in the project partner countries.

In this chapter, we argue for the importance of embedding computer programming into existing mathematics curricula through the use of educational games apps. We illustrate the apps' opportunities by showing how programming was incorporated into a task undertaken by a group of 10-11 year old students. This was their first experience of computer programming at the primary level. The results of this study contribute to understanding a) the development of students' reasoning about mathematical concepts and procedures throughout the participants' engagement with A.L.E.X. app, and b) students' articulated impressions about educational games apps with mathematical content, including students' acknowledgment of the pedagogical role that an iPad could play.

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study that compared the learning experiences of a group of students from a technology-based college-level introductory statistics course with the learning experiences of a group of students with non-technology-based instruction. Findings from the study indicate differences with regards to classroom experiences, student enjoyment of statistics, and student understanding of the many roles that technology plays in statistics. However, no significant differences were found between technology-based and non-technology-based instruction on students' grasp of fundamental statistical concepts. In particular, these findings agree with the findings of several other studies, which indicate that incorporation of statistical software in the introductory statistics classroom might not always be very effective in building student intuitions about important statistical ideas related to statistical inference.