Detailed description

The Maths&Languages Erasmus + project will be a full-scale test for MatLan approach, it will go further in linking MATh.en.JEANS mathematics research workshops and language teaching and will be an incubator for teachers and researchers from 5 European countries to optimise this approach.

What is a MATh.en.JEANS mathematics research workshop? –

The concept is based on twinning two groups of volunteer pupils in two different schools.

  1. In each school, volunteer pupils meet for one session per week. They work in groups of three or four, each group dealing with the same topic, introduced by the researcher.
  2. Four « seminars » bring the teams of the two schools together, to exchange in the presence of the teachers and the researcher (may be done via Skype if needed).
  3. An annual congress is organised to communicate their work and results to an audience made from other schools’ workshops, teachers and researchers.
  4. Written articles (produced after the conference) will be published the following year.

M&L added value –

Pairing 10 European high-schools and accompany them into its mathematics research workshops. These workshops will integrate the MATh.en.JEANS approach and foreign language learning following the model of the MatLan project. M&L workshops is inspired from a real research approach. High level mathematical research like science research in general is based on international cooperation.

Carrying out this project internationally with this 10-school community allows us to reproduce the interactions researchers have during their careers about research topics they share with their peers in the world. We think that this strategy is proposing pupils a real immersion in doing maths as researchers do it that will lead to achieve our goals in terms of mathematics and language learning and international cooperation.

Main project activities –

  • Six transnational meetings gathering teachers and researchers of the project (two in France, one in Belgium, Italy, Poland and Romania).
First transnational meeting group picture.
    • Short term exchanges (each school will host its twinned school once during the project).
    • Weekly Maths&Languages workshops involving volunteer pupils and mathematics teachers, languages teachers and mathematics researchers to accompany them
    • Collaborative work between teachers, researchers and volunteers from MATh.en.JEANS association during the transnational meetings and beyond to set up, test and approve the M&L approach and produce a guide
    •  International congress gathering all the participants and stakeholders of the project organised by MATh.en.JEANS association in 2020

  • Dissemination of the approach driven by MATh.en.JEANS association

Detailed objectives –

High-school students:

1/ Improve their level of foreign language and mathematics by:

  • Providing them with opportunities to develop their mathematics skills through maths research and collaboration with students from another European country.
  • Giving them the opportunity to use the foreign language they learn to communicate with students from another European country on everyday and mathematics topics.
  • Linking mathematics and language teaching in order to develop their desire to learn those topics.
  • Using language as a tool for mathematics research interests.
  • Developing their transferable/soft skills (communication, group work, etc.).

2/ Create a real European “young-researchers” community by:

  • Allowing pupils to share their love of science and particularly mathematics
  • Cooperating with other young European citizens on real mathematics research problems
  • Encouraging the discovery of other cultures and languages through research collaboration
  • Discover research and university studies through contact with researchers . Encourage them to pursue scientific higher studies giving them an insight of “real” mathematics

Teachers:

  • Implement mathematics research workshops for high-school students in a foreign language
  • Enhance/improve their ability to develop CLIL activities and lead transdisciplinary programs
  • Share experiences and practices of teaching with colleagues in other curricular area
  • Improve their teaching practices by cooperating with European colleagues

Schools:

  • Develop interdisciplinarity or transdisciplinarity by giving an example of a successful project
  • Encourage cooperation with schools in other countries
  • Reinforce their links with local universities
  • Enhance capacities to engage in European projects

Teachers, schools and MATh.en.JEANS:

  • Set-up and test M&L approach
  • Test and promote Maths&Languages math research workshops (M&L workshops) as CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) activity
  • Provide MATh.en.JEANS association with feedback on its method from teachers coming from different school systems