Maths&Languages Erasmus Project

Project Title

Maths&Languages

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills

Project Summary

Following the success of the MatLan Erasmus + project (2014-2016), MATh.en.JEANS association (MeJ) was convinced that its twinned mathematics research workshops were a very good opportunity for transdisciplinary teaching. The Maths&Languages project was born with this desire to share, improve and develop this approach with (and for) mathematics teachers, foreign language teachers and researchers all over Europe by pairing 10 European high-schools.

Project background:
MATh.en.JEANS association implements mathematics research workshops since 1989, making mathematics less abstract by putting students in a researcher position, investigating exciting subjects (more than 4000 pupils participating in 2016-2017).

The MatLan project (2014-2016) contributed a series of new dimensions to the MeJ experience:
. the assessment of students’ skills (transversal skills and mathematical competences)
developed through MeJ workshops
. the inter-cultural aspect
. the multilingualism
. the possibility for including the MeJ workshop (non-formal education) into the school’s curriculum in Romania (formal education)

The Maths&Languages project (2017-2020), as a full-scale test for the MatLan approach, will:
. Go further in integrating foreign language teaching to the MATh.en.JEANS research workshops with the total involvement of a teacher from this discipline
. Benefit from the experience of teachers with varied backgrounds and different nationalities to optimise the approach throughout the three years of the project
. Assess students’ skills developed through the Maths&Languages workshops in mathematics and in foreign languages
. Create a guide for setting up a M&L workshop co-written by all the partners
. Disseminate the guide for setting up a M&L approach in the partner countries and beyond

Main objectives of the project:
– For High-school students:
. Improve their level of foreign language and mathematics
. Create a real European “young-researchers” community
. Discover research and university studies through contact with researchers
. Encourage them to pursue scientific higher studies giving them an insight of “real” mathematics

– For 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

– For 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

– For 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

To meet these objectives, the ten partner schools have been carefully selected for their characteristics and the motivation and skills of their teams. Moreover, to bring to light the strong link between secondary schools and upper studies and research in the project, nine universities (or research institutes) of origin of the researchers involved have been integrated as associated partners.

Project main activities:
. Six transnational meetings (two in France, one in Belgium, Italy, Poland and Romania)
. Ten students 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 the 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

Main expected results:
. Joint research productions by pupils from the twinned schools: posters, oral presentations and publications
. Improvement of mathematics, transversal and language skills of pupils
. Improvement of teachers’ capacities to cooperate, especially internationally
. Research subjects created by the researchers of the project (reusable and freely available)
. Set-up of M&L approach
. Guide for setting up M&L workshops
. Involvement of more schools and universities in this approach in the partner countries and beyond
. Reinforcement of the link between secondary schools and universities locally

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 241580 Eur

Project Coordinator

MATh.en.JEANS & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Colegiul National Emil Racovita
• Lycée Louis VICAT
• Collège Sainte-Véronique
• LYCEE POLYVALENT VACLAV HAVEL
• Colegiul National
• Liceo Scientifico Eugenio Curiel
• Lycée Général et Technologique François Arago