The Institute for Social and Economic Analyses (ISEA) launched a project called Cool Math. The goal of the project is threefold: to increase awareness of society about the emerging problem of deteriorating results of Czech students in mathematics; to identify good practices in teaching math that increase both math skills and popularity of math among pupils; and to convey information about such practices to other teachers.
To achieve this, the project will not only highlight good teaching practices but it will also provide teachers with the necessary support and guidance to craft their teaching plans into shareable toolkits. Last but not least, the project will incorporate an empirical research component. By gathering varied data that map the acquisition of pupils’ math skills over time and teachers’ pedagogical dispositions the project, will also shed light on the alchemy of the educational process. While the project will be small in size and underlying costs, it has good potential to become a catalyst initiating large-scale and long-term nation-wide efforts in this area improving the knowledge and skills of Czech students and increasing their motivation to study mathematics and technical subjects. The project was initiated by the Czech entrepreneur Zbynek Frolik and is financially supported by Czech and international companies.
23 Mar 2012