Designing challenging online mathematical tasks

Overview

The purpose of this project is to strengthen pre-service teachers’ mathematical knowledge, particularly higher order thinking capabilities such as mathematical problem solving – a significant issue in Australian and German education (e.g., Office of the Chief Scientist, 2012; Kunter et al., 2011). Strong mathematical knowledge is essential for pre-teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom.

This project takes account of the rapid expansion towards on-line delivery of pre-service teacher education programs by generating a Framework for Designing Challenging Online Mathematical Tasks (FDCOMT) – activities that promote problem solving capabilities in addition to basic mathematical skills.

The study will (i) develop a FDCOMT and (ii) test the effectiveness of FDCOMT for generating new Challenging Online Mathematical Tasks (COMT).

Research team

Professor Regina Bruder, Ulrike Roder (Darmstadt Technical University, Germany)

Professor Vince Geiger (ACU)

Dr Jodie Miller (The University of Queensland)

Dr Jill Fielding-Wells (ACU)

Funding

Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme $50,000