Plenary speakers

Giovannina Albano  

Giovannina Albano is Associate Professor at the University of Salerno (Italy). Her research interests concern the problem of the integration between technology, in particular e-learning, and the research in Mathematics Education. She is President of AIRDM (Italian Association of Research in Mathematics Education), member of the Scientific Commission of the Italian Mathematical Union (UMI) and principal investigator of the UMI working group DIGiMATH. She is author of many scientific papers published in international journals, proceedings, books as well as speaker in many international conferences in mathematics education. She is teacher in many courses, both at the University level (mathematics for engineering, mathematics education for pre-service primary teachers) and post-university level (in-service teacher training and Ph.D. in mathematics, with reference to the use of the technology). 

She will speak at CADGME with a talk entitled: Technology-enhanced narrative practices in mathematics: opportunities and challenges for students and teachers 

Abstract: The integration of technology into everyday educational practice can offer the possibility of making visible and further exploit a substantial part of the ongoing teaching-learning process that would otherwise be hidden. We will discuss the key elements of a technology-enhanced teaching organization  where students and teachers are engaged in narrative activity as sense-making process during problem solving. All participants face a challenging object: on the student side it consists of the mathematical problem and the features needed to be a good problem-solver; on the teacher's side the challenge is the very role of the teacher, that is all the issues concerning how the teacher should act with respect to the mathematical narratives produced by the students. Technology can make the narratives co-constructed by the participants overt, accessible and exploitable as educational resources, so highlighting the complexity and richness of the problem-solving process.

Zoltan Kovacs

Zoltán Kovács is an associate professor at the Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Eger, Hungary. He obtained his Ph.D. in differential geometry, and then his research interest turned to research activities in mathematics education. His research topics now include the application of technology in mathematics learning, mathematical problem solving and problem posing, and the professional development of mathematics teachers 

He will speak at CADGME with a talk entitled:Is technology changing the way we solve mathematical problems? And if so, why not? 

Abstract: 

Problem-solving continues to be a crucial focus for education in countries

worldwide. Research on mathematical problem-solving, initially inspired by the influence of György Pólya, has recently expanded into several new areas. Among others, considerable interest has been in understanding the relationship between technology and problem-solving. In his talk, the author first gives an overview of how the impact of technology is reflected in research on mathematical problem-solving. Afterward, he will deal with the current Hungarian practice. The practical implementation of technology integration in Hungarian school mathematics textbooks is presented alongside the perspectives of curriculum designers, textbook authors, academic researchers, and practicing teachers. The author will weave into the presentation elements of his current interest, problem-posing, which is very closely related to both the focus areas of the talk, problem-solving and the use of technology.

Christian Mercat

Christian Mercat is professor of math didactics at the university Claude Bernard Lyon 1. His research interests at the S2HEP laboratory are in popularization of mathematics and creativity in math teaching, especially using technology. He is a teacher trainer in INSPE, responsible for the master in math education and vice director of the Institute for Research in Math Education (IREM).

He will speak at CADGME with a talk entitled: Embodied Mathematics and Technology   

Abstract: Internet is the place where nobody knows that you are a dog. Technology is often seen as screening off reality, your real self and especially your body. I will present different elements where technology, far from being oblivious to the body, fosters creativity, embodiment and situated learning.

Robert Weinhandl

Robert Weinhandl is a post-doctoral researcher at the Linz School of Education, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria. His research focuses on learning mathematics in technology-enhanced learning environments and student-centred approaches such as personas to explore the characteristics and needs of mathematics students. 

He will speak at CADGME with a talk entitled: Student-centred development of digital learning resources in the second decade of the 21st century   

Abstract: 

New technologies in mathematics education enable, among other things, students to learn in an individualised and autonomous way. For students to be able to learn in an individualised and autonomous way, it is necessary that technology-enhanced learning environments meet specific quality criteria and standards. One way to enable students to design their learning environment is to offer them the possibility to investigate mathematical content differently. Another feature a technology-enhanced learning environment designed to support autonomous learning should have is that the learning environment provides feedback to the learner. Feedback, in this case, can be straightforward, such as knowledge-of-correct-response, or complex and extensive, such as attribute-isolation.

For developers of digital learning environments or learning resources to know what learners need from digital learning environments or resources, it is necessary to collect and present information about learners' requirements and characteristics. Personas and persona techniques are one way to gather information about groups of students and present it using a prototypical student for each group of students. Personas, a person-centred approach to educational research, is an extension and complement to established cluster approaches in educational research and a link between user experience and educational research.