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    Research group in Mathematics Education

    Scientific coordinator:

    Members:

    • Giancarlo Artiano
    • Antonio D’Onofrio
    • Roberta Martino

    ISI WEB Categories:

    • Mathematics
    • Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications
    • Physics, Multidisciplinary
    • Multidisciplinary Sciences
    • Education & Educational Research
    • Education, Scientific Disciplines

    SSD:

    • MAT 04 - Matematiche Complementari (Didattica della Matematica)
    • FIS/08 - Didattica e Storia della Fisica

    ERC Categories:

    • PE1_6 - Geometry and Global Analysis
    • PE1_21 - Application of mathematics in sciences
    • SH3_11 - Social aspects of teaching and learning, curriculum studies, education and educational policies
    • SH3_14 - Social studies of science and technology
    • SH4_1 Cognitive basis of human development and education, developmental disorders; comparative cognition
    • SH4_6 Learning, memory; cognition in ageing
    • SH4_7 Reasoning, decision-making; intelligence
    • SH4_13 Philosophy of science, epistemology, logic

    Research Keywords:

    • Students’ difficulties and misconceptions
    • Problem solving and text comprehension
    • Inquiry model and decision making
    • Science education in formal and informal contexts
    • E-learning
    • Visual programming
    • Computer-based environments and digital technologies
    • Learning interfaces
    • Teachers’ professional development

    Research Profile:

    • Students’ difficulties and misconceptions on symmetries. Visual programming and computer-based environments.

    The researchers involved in the research group, in collaboration with researchers from other universities, Ph.D. Students and Research Fellows, investigated students’ difficulties and misconceptions on symmetries, and designed educational activities for students at all school levels, with the aim of overcoming them. The students were introduced to the study of isometries starting from the observation of the aesthetic properties of real-world objects, such as rosettes, ornamental friezes, flooring, and wallpapers. Based on these experiences, didactic activities have been designed and implemented, also exploiting the potential and characteristics of computer-based environments, in particular of the Scratch programming language, which represents a didactically suitable tool as it allows students to interact dynamically with the environment. 

    • Learning interfaces

    Over recent years research in mathematics education has focused on the design of Vygotskian Computer-Based Learning Activities inspired by the Vygotskian educational model so as to foster the development of students’ competences. These learning activities are usually implemented on e-learning platforms, e.g., Moodle. Despite research highlighted the effectiveness of these products, their dissemination in schools and their use in teaching/learning practice with students is still weak. Considering that the re-design of learning activities requires very experienced users, teachers could encounter several challenges trying to use them autonomously. The main aim of this research is to develop learning interfaces for the engineering of Vygotskian computer-based learning activities, in order to make them accessible and usable by teachers - or trainers - and to promote their wide dissemination in schools.

    • Problem solving and text comprehension

    Problem solving is an activity that causes difficulties for many students, regardless of school order, often related to the phase of understanding the text of the problem itself. The national indications for the secondary school highlight the need to plan interdisciplinary activities to enhance students’ ability to use natural language to understand texts of various types. In this regard, learning activities were designed and experimented with the aim of improving students’ skills in interpreting a mathematical text. Analysis of the experimentation data shows that designed learning activities seem to be effective in promoting the activation of appropriate solving processes by the students, as well as the production of arguments in support of the given answers. Most students, after working on text comprehension, improved the correctness of their answers and/or produced arguments to support them.

    • Inquiry model and decision making

    The current historical context requires that the school recognizes as fundamental the equality of educational opportunities and promotes the achievement of appropriate levels of knowledge and skills by all, to ensure to all students high levels of mastery, or at least fully appropriate, of the basic skills in the educational curricula. Therefore, a convergent personalization is fundamental, with respect to which the differentiation of educational paths and the programmed and opportunely diversified technical solutions allow everyone to achieve common educational goals. Thus, from an operational point of view, teaching becomes a decision-making problem. An interesting research question is whether decision theory applied to mathematics teaching/learning can be an effective tool for developing personalized educational strategies for students with SLD. The development of a decision model that considers both the relevant results of research in mathematics education and the hierarchical analytical method of Saaty and the enforcement of this model to a case study made it possible to build a personalized teaching strategy that appeared to be effective.

    • How are problem solving processes activated?

    Problem solving is one of the required competencies for students in the 21st century.  Metacognition is essential in problem solving because it is instrumental in building an appropriate representation of a given problem and monitoring the solution processes for solving it. Metacognitive experiences have an effect on decisions which students make in learning situations regarding effort allocation, time investment or strategy use. Collaboration can enhance the problem-solving process since the distinct ideas of group members can foster greater creativity and quality of solutions. Students, interacting with each other, explain, argue and debate, and this can foster the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills in students in accordance with a socio-cultural approach. The aim of the research is to investigate how problem solving processes are activated in group work using digital technologies.

    • Teaching mathematics with digital tools

    In recent years we have witnessed rapid technological and digital changes that inevitably affected mathematics education as well. The aim of this research strand is to understand what teachers mean by digital technologies, especially in this period of digital revolution also amplified by the pandemic, and whether they are trained in the use of digital technologies. This research seems to reveal a belief of teachers, namely, that knowing digital technologies is sufficient to be able to teach mathematics with technologies.

    • Mental Imagery in STEM Thought 

    What are the origins of scientific concepts? What is the role of mental imagery in discovering and constructing theories? Because these problems go right to the heart of the age-old inquiry of how we construct knowledge through interacting with the world we live in, they have long occupied scientists and philosophers and, more recently, researchers in mathematics and physics education and cognitive psychologists. This research strand aims to investigate to what extent the enhancement of visuospatial skills in university students can favor the development of specific competencies in mathematics and physics, also considering the possible role of personality traits, such as the systematization, of starting visuospatial and intuitive knowledge of mathematics and physics. Several longitudinal studies showed the effectiveness of visuospatial skills enhancement courses in university students of STEM subjects: the enhancement would be able not only to improve visuospatial skills but also to reduce the observed gender differences in these skills and to improve curricular performance.

    • Science Education in Formal and Informal Contexts

    What role does scientific knowledge play in large-scale science education? This is one of the many questions that we have been pondering over. In 2021, Nobel Prize for Physics Giorgio Parisi raised a serious alarm on the relationship between science and society in Italy. This statement is confirmed by national surveys of science learning at all levels of education. This research strand aims to develop resonate models of teaching and learning STEM disciplines. This means, on one hand, to constitute communities of practice (researchers in physics and mathematics, educators, psychologists, teachers, and families) that share an effective methodology of doing STEM disciplines in formal and informal context and, on the other, to identify significance mediators such as everyday language, socio-cultural contexts experiences and good scientific teaching practices to favorite a scientific dialogue. The involvement of the educating communities represents the main long-term strategy and is essential for a conscious dissemination of science education on a large scale.

    • Teachers Education Models

    This research strand aims to develop science education models for teachers. STEM disciplines are perceived as difficult as well as not understandable by many students. This idea was born in elementary school and extends through middle and high school. Most students do not voluntarily attend scientific high school or university because they do not feel suited to scientific study. The chain of events described above has other serious consequences for our entire society (gender inequalities and minorities, low participation in public affairs). One way to address this problem is to update the education of prospective and practicing teachers at all grade levels. STEM teachers in Italy prefer to use a teacher-directed approach rather than mixing well different approaches as many literature works suggest. The aim is to propose, at a local and national level, new education courses in which researchers, pre-service and in-service teachers adopt an action-research methodology and the approach of design experiments to develop experimentation materials that can improve scientific teaching practice in schools of all grades.

    • Facilitating the learning and teaching of modern physics at high school level

    In the last years, the Italian Ministry of Education has been recommending that modern physics should be part of any high school physics curriculum. As well known, however, there are many peculiar obstacles to overcome to comply with those recommendations, namely the lack of mathematical knowledge that is necessary to treat ordinary and partial differential equations in a rigorous way. Also, it has been often remarked that high-school physics reduces to an arid enumeration of laws, a list of fragmentary pieces of information related to each other only by the chronological order of their "discovery". The aim of this line research is to propose the study of dynamical equations of both ordinary and unconventional physical systems as iterative process. This approach wants to foster the connection between phenomena that very often appear in a fragmented way and tries to bypass technical difficulties involved in the rigorous treatment of differential equations. 

    Current research projects:

    • “Comprendere il testo matematico” (Understanding mathematical text), Department of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, in collaboration with CIDI of Potenza
    • BrEW Math 01 (Brixen Education Workshop on Storytelling in STEM disciplines at the crossroads of science and humanities,) organized by the MultiLaB of the Faculty of Education of the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano and the PhD program in General Pedagogy, Social Pedagogy, General Education and Disciplinary Education of the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano
    • “Il ruolo delle abilità visuo-spaziali nei processi di apprendimento in Matematica e Fisica” (The role of visuo-spatial skills in learning processes in Mathematics and Physics) In collaboration with researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”
    • SPAM - Young Minds Section of the European Physical Society, at University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”  
    • N:OTE. Agenzia per la coesione territoriale. Coordinated by TRAPARENTESI APS (https://www.traparentesiaps.it/ ) with Department of Physics - Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II 

    Other research projects (2020-2023) 

    • GoAL Project (Groups: overlappings between Algebra and Geometry, Logic and Mathematics Education) -  Macro Area: PE1 Mathematics; Area PE1_1 (Logic and Foundations); PE1_2 (Algebra); PE1_5 (Geometry) 
    • “Toward a more efficient teaching in numeracy and literacy: a search for a way to improve student’s capabilities”, cod.  uff.  8  CUP B94F17006170001 
    • “From the competence to the performances: improving students’ knowledge and capabilities in literacy and numeracy”, cod. uff. 10 CUP B94F17009650001 (Eva Ferrara Dentice)

    Recent publications (2020-23) 

    1. Dello Iacono, U. & Spagnolo, C. (accepted). What do teachers think about students’ approach to collaborative problem solving? Comparison among teachers’ beliefs at different school grades. 29th Conference of Mathematical Views (MAVI29), Vercelli (Italy), 19-22 september 2023.
    1. Bolondi, G., Dello Iacono, U., La Ferrera, A., & Spagnolo, C. (accepted). Come si attivano i processi di problem solving? Un’esperienza laboratoriale con l’uso di tecnologie digitali. Atti del convegno Incontri con la Matematica XXXVII, Castel San Pietro Terme, 10-12 novembre 2023.
    1. Bassi, C., Brunetto, D., & Dello Iacono, U. (accepted). Mathematics teachers’ views towards design: an exploratory study in the Italian context. 29th Conference of Mathematical Views (MAVI29), Vercelli (Italy), 19-22 september 2023.
    1. Bassi, C., Brunetto, D., & Dello Iacono, U. (accepted). Designing with digital technologies: the influence of a professional development program on teachers’ beliefs. Conference on Digital Tools in Mathematics Education (CADGME 2023), Catania.
    1. Artiano, G., Balzano, E. (in press) Teaching and Learning Physics in Formal and Informal Contexts. Il Nuovo Cimento - Colloquia and Communications in Physics.
    1. Amabile, A., Annunziata, A., Artiano, G., Figari, R., & Balzano, E. (in press). An intuitive introduction to the evolution of physical systems. Il Nuovo Cimento.
    1. Cocozza, M., Russo, A. (2023). Quanti sono i gruppi di ordine 2023?. Periodico di Matematiche, 99, 77-84.
    1. Brunetto, D., & Dello Iacono, U. (in press). Teaching mathematics with digital tools: an Italian high school teachers’ perspective. International Journal for Technology in Mathematics Education. 
    1. Crisci, R., Dello Iacono, U., & Ferrara Dentice, E. (in press). A computer programming-based digital artifact to introduce axial symmetry in primary school: an instrumental approach, International Journal for Technology in Mathematics Education.
    1. Ventre, V.; Martino, R.; Castellano, R. and Sarnacchiaro, P. (2023) The analysis of the impact of the framing effect on the choice of financial products: an analytical hierarchical process approach. Annals of Operations Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-022-05142-z 
    1. Amabile, A., Annunziata, A., Artiano, G., & Balzano, E. (2022). Experimentation and Research in the Physics Course for the Preparation of Primary School Teachers in Naples. Education Sciences, 12(4), 241. DOI: 10.3390.
    1. Annunziata, A., Artiano, G., & Balzano, E. (2022). La Sperimentazione nella Didattica della Fisica a Scienze della Formazione Primaria a Napoli. Giornale di Fisica, VOL. LXIII, PLS-Fisica-FIP. DOI 10.1393
    1. Annunziata, A., Artiano, G., & Balzano, E., P. Piccialli (2022). Challenges to Fight Educational Poverty. Scholarly Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences. DOI: 10.32474
    1. Dello Iacono, U. (2022). Promoting online collaborative learning on moodle platform with the “quick chat” plugin. HUMAN REVIEW. International Humanities Review/Revista Internacional de Humanidades, 11(Monográfico), 1-10. DOI: 10.37467/revhuman.v11.3946
    1. Brunetto, D., & Dello Iacono, U. (2022). Teachers’ understanding of digital technology. Proc. of Conference on Digital Tools in Mathematics Education (CADGME 2022), Jerusalem (pp. 87-88).
    1. Crisci, R., Dello Iacono, U., & Ferrara Dentice, E. (2022). Axial symmetry in primary school through computer programming: an instrumental approach. Proc. of Conference on Digital Tools in Mathematics Education (CADGME 2022), Jerusalem (pp. 58-59).
    1. Crisci, R., Dello Iacono, U., & Ferrara Dentice, E. (2022). A digital artefact based on visual programming for the learning of axial symmetry in primary school, Twelfth Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME12), Feb 2022, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy. hal-03748428
    1. Dello Iacono, U. (2022). “Quick chat” plugin:  promoting online collaborative learning on Moodle platform. In D. Caldevilla Domínguez (Ed.) Libro de actas del CUICIID 2022 (Congreso Universitario Internacional sobre la Comunicación en la profesión y en la Universidad de hoy: Contenidos, Investigación, Innovación y Docencia), (p. 553), Editorial: Fórum Internacional de Comunicación y Relaciones públicas (Fórum XXI).
    1. Dello Iacono, U. (2022). An e-learning collaborative environment to support the move from argumentation to proof in mathematics. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching (JCMST), 41(2), 29-43.
    1. Ventre, V., Dello Iacono, U., Ferrara Dentice, E. & Martino, R. (2022). Models and theories for the choice of teaching strategies in mathematics. Italian Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics, 48, 125-144. https://ijpam.uniud.it/online_issue/202248/09%20Ventre-Iacono-Dentice-Martino.pdf
    1. Dello Iacono, U., Ferrara Dentice, E., Mannillo, C. V., & Vitale, M. L. (2022). Dalla comprensione del testo alla risoluzione del problema: un’esperienza nella scuola secondaria di secondo grado, Didattica della matematica. Dalla ricerca alle pratiche d’aula, (12), pp. 9-21. https://doi.org/10.33683/ddm.22.12.1
    1. Dello Iacono, U., D’Onofrio, A., & Russo, A. (a cura di) (2022). Promuovere le competenze di matematica nella scuola secondaria di secondo grado. Collana di Logica Matematica, Algebra e Geometria Alef, Aracne Editrice, ISBN: 9791259946041
    1. Ventre, V.; Cruz Rambaud, S. ; Martino, R. and Maturo F. (2022). A behavioral approach to inconsistencies in intertemporal choices with the Analytic Hierarchy Process methodology. Annals of Finance. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10436-022-00419-6 
    1. Ventre, V.; Martino, R. (2022). Quantification of Aversion to Uncertainty in Intertemporal Choice through Subjective Perception of Time. Mathematics, 10, 4315. https://doi.org/10.3390/math10224315  ISSN 2227-7390 pp. 1-16 
    1. Ventre, V.; Martino, R. and Maturo, F. (2022). Subjective Perception of Time and Decision Inconsistency in Interval Effect. Quality & Quantity, Springer. doi 10.1007/s11135-022-01581-9 pp. 1-15 
    1. Ventre, V.; Cruz Rambaud, S.; Martino, R. and Maturo, F. (2022). An analysis of intertemporal inconsistency through the hyperbolic factor. Quality & Quantity, Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-022-01352-6, pp. 1-28. 
    1. Albano, G., Dello Iacono, U., & Mariotti, M.A. (2021). An E-Learning Innovative Approach for Mathematical Argumentative Thinking. International Journal for Technology in Mathematics Education, 28(1), pp. 3-14, DOI: 10.1564/tme_v28.4.01.
    1. Albano, G., Antonini, S., Coppola, C., Dello Iacono, U., Pierri, A. (2021). ‘Tell me about’ - A logbook of teachers’ changes  from face-to-face to distance mathematics education. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 108(1), 15-34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-021-10108-2
    1. Annunziata, A., Artiano, G., & Balzano, E. (2021). Educazione scientifica nella scuola primaria. La sperimentazione e la cooperazione nella formazione iniziale e in servizio degli insegnanti. Atti del X Convegno SIRD. Studi e ricerche sui processi di apprendimento e insegnamento e valutazione. ISSN 2612-4971
    1. Dello Iacono, U., Pierri, A., & Polo, M. (2021). An online collaborative approach for fostering argumentative thinking in mathematics. International Journal for Technology in Mathematics Education, 28(3), 153-162. https://doi.org/10.1564/tme_v28.3.05
    1. Albano, G., Coppola, C., Dello Iacono, U. (2021). What does ‘Inside Out’ mean in problem-solving?. For the learning of mathematics, 41(2).
    1. Dello Iacono, U. (2021). From argumentation to proof in geometry within a collaborative computer-based environment. Digital Experiences in Mathematics Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40751-021-00090-y.
    1. Dello Iacono, U., Amorese, T., Cuciniello, M., & Mannillo, C.V. (2021). User-friendly interfaces for Vygotskian computer-based learning activities. Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (JSCI), 19(2), 23-29.
    1. Dello Iacono, U., Amorese, T., Cuciniello, M., & Durand, D. (2021).  Moodle plugin to promote students’ interactions for Vygotskian computer-based learning activities. In L. Gómez Chova, A. López Martínez, I. Candel Torres (Eds.) ICERI2021 (International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation 2021) Proceedings, (pp. 2441-2446), IATED Academy. ISBN: 978-84-09-34549-6, ISSN: 2340-1095
    1. Ventre, V; Longo, A; Maturo, F. (2021). The role of the communication and information in decision-making problems. DOI:10.1007/978-3-030-61334-1_20. pp.407-419. Algorithms as an approach of applied mathematics - ISBN:978-3-030-61334-1. In STUDIES IN FUZZINESS AND SOFT COMPUTING - ISSN: 1434-9922 vol. 404
    1. Albano, G., Dello Iacono, U., & Fiorentino, G.(2020). A Technological Storytelling Approach to Nurture Mathematical Argumentation. In H. Chad Lane, Susan Zvacek and James Uhomoibhi (Eds.), Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2020) - Volume 1, (pp. 420-427). ISBN: 978-989-758-417-6.
    1. Dello Iacono, U., & Ferrara Dentice, E. (2020). Mathematical walks in search of symmetries: from visualization to conceptualization. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology. DOI:10.1080/0020739X.2020.1850897.
    1. Albano, G., Arzarello, F. & Dello Iacono, U. (2020). Digital Inquiry Through Games. Technology, Knowledge and Learning, 26(3), 577-595. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-020-09459-1.
    1. Albano, G., Coppola, C., Dello Iacono, U., Fiorentino, G., Pierri, A., & Polo, M. (2020). Technology to enable new paradigms of teaching/learning in mathematics: the digital interactive storytelling case. Journal of E-Learning and Knowledge Society, 16(1), 65-71. https://doi.org/10.20368/1971-8829/1135201.
    1. Maturo, F; Ferguson, J; Di Battista, T; Ventre, V. (2020). A fuzzy functional k-means approach for monitoring Italian regions according to health evolution over time. DOI:10.1007/s00500-019-04505-2. pp.13741-13755. Soft Computing, ISSN:1432-7643 vol. 24 (18)
    1. Ventre, V., Ferrara Dentice, E., & Martino, R. (2020). Teaching as a decision-making model: strategies in mathematics from a practical requirement, Ratio Mathematica, 39 (2020), pp. 111-136. https://doi.org/10.23755/rm.v39i0.559.
    1. Dello Iacono, U. (2020). Analisi del testo di un problema e narrazione matematica nella formazione dei futuri docenti di sostegno. L’insegnamento della matematica e delle scienze integrate (IMSI), 43B(1), 33-59.
    1. Albano, G., Capobianco, G. & Dello Iacono, U. (2020). An online environment for promoting mathematical argumentation in primary school. Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 39(3), 185-206.
    1. Russo, A. (2020). La Matematica come pratica di libertà.  Periodico di Matematiche, 12(3), 135–149.

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