Dipartimento di Matematica "Giuseppe Peano"

Descrizione del progetto

The Klein project is coached by a Design team, appointed by IMU and ICMI jointly, whose members are:

Michèle Artigue, Université Paris Diderot, France

Ferdinando Arzarello, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy

Bill Barton, The University of Auckland, New Zealand (chair)

Graeme Cohen, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

William (Bill) McCallum, University of Arizona, USA

Tomas Recio, Universidad de Cantabria, Spain

Christiane Rousseau, Université de Montréal, Canada

Hans-Georg Weigand, Universität Würzburg, Germany

It is a project commissioned by IMU and ICMI, which fund it. Its aim is to revisit the intent of Felix Klein when he wrote Elementary Mathematics from an Advanced Standpoint one hundred years earlier. The purpose is twofold:

-        to produce a book for upper secondary teachers that communicates the breadth and vitality of the research discipline of mathematics and connects it to the senior secondary school curriculum;

-        to produce a series of mathematical vignettes (short readable pieces on a single topic)  available on a Blog;

-        to deliver workshops for teachers, where the status of the project is illustrated and they possibly become involved in it.  

The 300-page book, prepared in more than 10 languages, will be written to inspire teachers to present to their students a more informed picture of the growing and interconnected field represented by the mathematical sciences in today's world.

We expect this will be backed up by web, print, and DVD resources.

The book cannot be either comprehensive, nor definitive of the field. The text will emphasise links between branches of the field and generic themes (such as the impact of computing). Insights from mathematics education will not be addressed specifically but will be implicit in many places.

The 21^st Century Klein Project is about contemporary mathematics: its themes, its problems, its excitements, and its applications. It must also relate to the educational environment of the 21^st Century—which is very different from the environment in which Klein worked.

The international Klein Project seeks to reach ALL upper secondary teachers—not just those who are already enthusiastic mathematicians, but it must also entice those who can rediscover their love for mathematics.

Both mathematicians and mathematics educators have important roles to play in the project: they work together, and inclusively in order to really make a difference.

The Klein Project is neutral with respect to the school curriculum: its structure, content,  assessment, teaching modes, philosophy. Klein materials are not classroom resources—they are materials for teachers.

We need to produce material and deliver workshops that are:

•   …mathematically important;
•   …relates to contemporary mathematics and contemporary applications;
•   …at a mathematical level suitable for secondary teachers; and
•   …that teachers will WANT to read or attend.

Each Vignette must keep teachers’ attention.
Our research tells us that:

The mathematical level is vital:

• Start from what is well known
• Move to significant mathematics (“the point”)
• Contain something new

The style is just as vital:

• Well written teacher style (not mathematician style)
• “walking beside” not “talking at”

Each Vignette must enable teachers to follow up their reading. Each Vignette must have a variety of Associated Documents:

• Historical notes
• Extended mathematical references
• Further applications
• Relations with other areas of mathematics
• Curricular commentary
• Links to classroom materials       …..and?

Klein Workshops are places where secondary mathematics teachers, mathematicians and mathematics educators come together to work on Klein Project materials.

What is produced is important, but, as with all Workshops, what happens in the interactions is equally important.