Games And Mathematics in Education for Adults – Compendiums, Guidelines and Courses for Numeracy Learning Methods Based on Games Erasmus Project

Project Title

Games And Mathematics in Education for Adults – Compendiums, Guidelines and Courses for Numeracy Learning Methods Based on Games

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 adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills

Project Summary

Context, background and objective of the project:
Due to the fact that more than 13% of adults in the EU can not read, write and do arithmetic, i.e. are functional illiterates, the project idea was born to seek a new pedagogical approach for the part of arithmetic learning, namely learning of calculating through the motivational use of games. This “game-based methodology for learning maths” is the basis of the project. For this purpose, suitable games had to be found and it had to be shown which mathematical contents could be explained “playfully” by these games. The result was a synopsis, which shows the connection between the games on the one hand and the mathematical content on the other hand. Of course, learning through play can not only be used in adult education, because many of the content is included in elementary school mathematics, so the results of this project can also be used in other schools. However, the Math-GAMES project is primarily aimed at teachers and lecturers in all adult education institutions to provide them with methodological means of achieving the learning objectives of leading adults out of functional illiteracy.

Number and profile of participating institutions:
Initially, 10 institutions were represented in the application, but due to various circumstances, the partner from Turkey had to leave the project, so that 9 partners from 8 countries were involved in the project until the very end: Volkshochschule Schrobenhausen (coordinating institution) and the agency Kultur München (both from Germany), Krug Art and Youth Center Kardzhali (Bulgaria), Association Connexion Roumanie from Paris (France), 2nd Gymnasium of Messini, Kalamata (Greece), Istituto Comprensivo Cena, Rome (Italy), Asociatia Femeilor Jurnaliste din Romania, Bucharest (Romania), Center Public d’Educacio de Persones Adultes Beniassent, Valencia (Spain) and Kypriaki Mathimatiki Etaireia (Cyprus Mathematical Society) Nicosia (Cyprus). Almost all partners come from the public or state education sector (general education schools, adult education centers and universities), but some partners also work in the field of journalism or the culture of the respective country. This diversity of project partners has enriched the content of the project.

Description of the main activities carried out:
The project “MathGAMES – Games and Mathematics in Education for Adults – Compendiums, Guidelines and Courses for Game-Based Numeric Learning Methods” created a compendium and a guide in 9 languages ​​to answer the following questions:
1. How can we reduce the number of under-qualified adults to promote social inclusion and participation in our society?
2. How can we increase incentives for adult education through games?
3. How can we provide individual learners with tailored learning opportunities through the use of games?
4. How can we provide information about access to adult education services?
5. Quasi as a side effect the question was also answered: How can we preserve traditional and famous games in different countries from loss and repression by computer games?

Achieved results and effect:
All set goals were achieved and they led to the following results:
– Compendium printed in 9 languages ​​(English, German, Spanish and Valencian, Italian, French, Bulgarian, Greek and Romanian) and as PDF download
– Handbook printed in 9 languages ​​and as PDF download
– Teacher Training Course in English only as download of PPT files. This course is the template for further European training courses.
– Test and evaluation report printed in English and as PDF download
These results were created with much effort and they already showed considerable impact and attention among the participating teachers at the dissemination events. Furthermore, all results are also suitable for download from the website: www.math-games.eu and under creative common license.

Long-term benefit:
For the teaching: The long-term benefits are high because all materials and books are still available. Many teachers will be inspired by the methodical explanations in the field of Numeracy Learning with the help of games to use this in their own lessons.
For the learners: The learners are taken out of their isolation, created by their illiteracy, and can contact and learn new things through the games used.
Against forgetting: These games, which are an important cultural asset in each country, are kept from oblivion as more and more computer games displace other classic games.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 399853,74 Eur

Project Coordinator

VOLKSHOCHSCHULE SCHROBENHAUSEN EV & Country: DE

Project Partners

• CENTRE PÚBLIC D’EDUCACIÓ DE PERSONES ADULTES BENIASSENT
• Yeni Kusak Educators Association
• KRUG Youth Center (Krug Art Movement)
• Asociatia Femeilor Jurnaliste din Romania “Ariadna”
• Istituto Comprensivo Cena
• Agentur Kultur e.V.
• Kypriaki Mathimatiki Etaireia