PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING AND MATHEMATICS: RETHINKING LABORATORIES AT THE TIMES OF CRISIS

As in other papers presented at previous IATED conferences, we start from the assumption that the use of active learner-centered methotologies at school, especially with the use of pedagogical laboratories, is essential for an effective teaching of mathematics. In order to stimulate the use of active methodologies in future teachers, the pre-service teacher training program at the university of Milano-Bicocca includes compulsory laboratories, that, at least for the math discipline, are implemented according to Problem-based learning (PBL) principles. The design of such laboratories is conceived so to allow for group work and to promote intensive peer interaction between students. The lab class consists of at most 30 students, who are split into smaller groups. Each group is assigned the problem and has to tackle it, trying to provide a solution, being given the necessary amount of time. The tutor walks around the classroom among the desks, observing the students, listening to their argueing and answering their questions when necessary. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 emergency, the laboratories scheduled for April and May 2020 had to be redesigned in order to be remotely held. An analysis of the laboratories realized in the last 10 years has been carried out in order to highlight the essential features that contributed to the effectiveness of such laboratories. Then a deep study was made in order to identify which of the available ICT tools could allow to reproduce these characteristics online. The following features were considered essential: - Group work and cooperation: sharing ideas is the foundation of the learning process in a PBL environment. An online working environment that allowed for a easy interaction had to be selected. Such an environment had to be used both for synchronous and for asynchronous interactions, and for multi-hands cooperative writing of documents. - The role of the problem: in a PBL environment the problem is the source of the learning process. An analysis has been carried out in order to understand which of the problems used in the previous experiences would better exploit the use of ICT. Some of these had to be adapted, e.g. introducing some meta questions, in order to make better use of the new online environment. We will describe in detail the design and implementation of a laboratory on Symmetry held remotely on April and May 2020, highlighting the ICT tools chosen in order to better enhance the laboratory's PBL setting.