Newcastle University

Utrecht University participates in FaSMEd with researchers from the Department of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences in collaboration with researchers from the Freudenthal Institute of the Faculty of Science. Both have much research experience and aim to contribute to a better understanding of the learning and teaching of mathematics and science, in order to develop improved models of education. In these models meaningful contexts, embodied cognition, scaffolding, the use of didactical models, guided reinvention, inquiry-based learning and creativity and curiosity are key concepts. Research covers a wide range of educational settings from pre-school education to higher education, and in addition addresses informal and out-of-school learning as well as learning in the workplace and teachers’ professional development.

The use of ICT in education is one of the Utrecht core topics. Projects have been carried out on using games for developing number sense in kindergartners, learning multiplicative number relations and learning early and more advanced algebra. Furthermore, the Freudenthal Institute hosts websites that attract many students, teachers, parents and others by their games and applications that invite creativity, such as Rekenweb (arithmetic web: http://www.fisme.science.uu.nl/rekenweb/en/) and Wisweb (mathematics web: http://www.fi.uu.nl/wisweb/en/) and has developed the Digital Mathematics Environment (DME, http://www.fisme.uu.nl/dwo/en/).

Utrecht University participates in several EU projects, such as Primas (Promoting inquiry in mathematics and science education across, FP7-SCIENCE-IN-SOCIETY-2009-1, http://www.primasproject. eu/), MaSciL (Mathematics and Science for Life!, Support-SiS.2012.2.2.1-1) and EdUmatics(503254-2009-LLP-UK-COMENIUS-CMP, http://www.edumatics.mathematik.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/).