Database Of 100 Hi-Tech Related Mathematics Missions

Israel’s vibrant high-tech sector constitutes a unique opportunity for education in Israel. Not only that dreaming about a future career in high-tech is a motivational driver for students, veteran engineers comprise an exceptional pool of talent for new teachers. When PISA is concerned, the issues that high-tech professionals meet on a daily basis hold a promise to demonstrate how mathematics is actually used. The complex problems that are the reality in high-tech life, are a gem for teaching and learning of applied mathematics.
In order to test this promise, Zehavit Kohen, of the Faculty of Science and Technology at the Technion, interviewed high-tech engineers. Based on these interviews she formulated 12 pilot questions which she then presented to mathematics teachers and excellence track students. Their feedback was very positive and the teachers indicated they would like to implement this content on a larger scale, and the students noted the pilot questions helped them see the mathematical context behind the theory.
Kohen is now suggesting to systematically create a database of 100 assignments suited to the 8^th and 9^th grades in alignment with the excellence levels of PISA. These problems will be prepared both in Hebrew and Arabic and designed in a way that will enable teachers to work with their students in their mathematics class. The problems will be used to encourage students to solve them by formulating a mathematical model, applying their mathematical knowledge and interpreting the results.
The development stage will rely on a team of 7 mathematics and academic experts and an engineering consultant. Each problem will include instructions and tools for teachers, such as presentations and video guides, and some of them will include online exercises for the students. The implementation stage will begin with 15 lead teachers who will be trained to use the assignments and to train other teachers. This core group will meet for 60 hours, in a summer seminar and then on an ongoing manner over three years.
The 15 lead teachers will be tasked to run ten professional development workshops for 150 mathematics teachers across the country. The participating teachers will be teachers of 8^th and 9^th grades, who were allocated two weekly supplementary hours by their schools to teach the program’s content in excellence classes. In these workshops, the teachers will become familiar with the assignments and receive support with implementing them in their classrooms. The 150 teachers will measure the progress of students with a diagnostic test that will be developed specifically for this project.

* The text presented above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation Board / Grant 379