We’re heading towards the closing of our PUNTE Erasmus+ project (or Poly-Universe in Teacher Education), and thus it was time to show the results and available resources to the public. The multiplier event was held at the Library of the University of Jyväskylä to a gathering of about 30 highly interested participants on the 20th of April.
For many members of the audience, the toolkit itself was new, so Kristof Fenyvesi education researcher has used the occasion to introduce it by recalling how Hungarian artist János Saxon-Szász has invented the game as an unintentional side-product of his geometrical paintings and again unintentionally, relating closely to the thinking of well-known Hungarian mathematicians.
The invention has proved to be very well adaptable to the teaching of mathematics and to multidisciplinary teaching and learning, primarily involving mathematics and the arts. From this discovery followed the first Erasmus+ project exploring the primary and secondary school uses of Poly-Universe, namely the Poly-Universe in School Education (PUSE), implemented between 2017-2019.
The multiplier event continued by introducing one of the important results of PUNTE, namely the Methodological study, a handbook for pre-service and in-service teachers and students. The purpose of this part of the project was to give a firm theoretical and methodological background to the use of the toolkit in teacher education.
The methodology might be as manifold as inquiry-based learning theory to the study of spatial abilities, from basic problem-solving theories to psychological principles – besides the fact that the toolkit is very well suitable for infusing art-oriented approaches into maths teaching. The methodology also provides practical aspects to the use of the toolkit in teacher education and to the curriculum.
Poly-Universe in Teacher Training Education Methodological Study
The main output of PUNTE presented by Kristof Fenyvesi is undoubtedly the task repository, an open collection of best practices for both formal and informal learning. The repository contains activities created and tested by the project partner institutions and it includes many fields and categories such as: mathematics, programming, arts, inclusion, interdisciplinary, communication, sciences, logic games and language skills.
The multiplier event was closed by a workshop allowing participants to make their own explorations with the toolkit. They’ve either made use of the available PUSE exercise book or the PUNTE handbook (both available as limited print editions and free downloads as well).
During the closing discussion several participants have enthusiastically talked about their wish to use the toolkit in their teaching practice and especially how glad they would have been if they had the possibility to use the Poly-Universe during their teacher education studies.
PUNTE – Poly-Universe in Teacher Education
Erasmus+ 2020-1-HU01-KA203-078810
Project coordinator: ESZTERHAZY KAROLY EGYETEM, Hungary
Partner organizations:
Universitatea Crestina Partium, Romania
UNIVERSITAT LINZ, Austria
Univerzita J. Selyeho, Slovakia
UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA, Portugal
POLY-UNIVERSE Ltd., Hungary
VISOKA TEHNICKA SKOLA STRUKOVNIH STUDIJA SUBOTICA, Serbia
Experience Workshop ay, Finland
This project relies on the results of the Poly-Universe in School Education (PUSE) Erasmus+.
The PUNTE Methodological handbook is already available here.
