The CORMEA project, partly financed by NordplusVuxen, is a Nordic cooperation of professionals who work with Mathematics Education. The main purpose is to bridge the gap between teachers and researchers. We have a special interest in Mathematics Education for adults but all the experience of research-teacher contacts is of interest to us. If You wish to contribute to this project, please start by answering our questionnaire.
The members of the group work in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. We all have a common interest in finding ways to make school teachers and researchers work more closely together. An important step in achieving this is to map their experiences of and attitudes towards Mathematics Education. Furthermore, we wish to use this knowledge to match teachers and researchers who share the same interest.
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In the project
- experience of, a desire for and an interest in cooperation between researchers in Mathematics Education and teachers are investigated by a Questionnaire.
- contacts, cooperation and development projects between researchers and teachers/other people working in schools will be initiated in seminars in January and June 2008. You can find information about these events through the link Activities.
- information is provided about Mathematics Education researcher-teacher contacts through the links Worth reading and Organisations.
The participants of the project are organisations and schools that work with education in mathematics for adults. You will find more information about these organisations through the link About us.
Knowledge of mathematics is essential both to the individual and to society. The individual needs it both for work and to take an active part in the democratic society. Society needs educated citizens who are qualified to make well-founded decisions. International comparative studies have led to the conclusion that education in mathematics needs to be improved in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. This concerns the educational system as well as the didactics and teaching methods on all levels. At the same time, Mathematics Education research is an expanding and developing area. Many important research findings have been presented in research reports in all three countries.
However, the dialogue between researchers and teachers seems to be limited. Many research conferences on Mathematics Education, both nationally and internationally, have relatively few participating teachers. Furthermore, teachers seldom take part in or influence Mathematics Education research. Important research reports don’t always reach the schools. Another problem is the fact that teachers often have difficulties finding research solutions to their own urgent problems. Even though existing Mathematics Education research findings are interesting, they are not always regarded as the most relevant ones. There seems to be a gap between teachers in mathematics and researchers in Mathematics Education.
The object of this project is to bridge the gap between teachers and researchers. We are aiming not only to make Mathematics Education as a research area better known among teachers, but also to improve contacts between researchers and teachers. This way, researchers can influence the development of the teaching in schools and teachers can influence the problem choices, and perhaps methods, in Mathematics Education research.
