Professional development in mathematics education: evaluation of a MOOC on outdoor mathematics

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the impact of a massive open online course (MOOC) in thecontext of outdoor mathematics on the participating teachers’ professional development. We firstlyintroduce the theoretical background on outdoor mathematics, focusing on math trails with the digitaltool MathCityMap and professional development to be accomplished using MOOCs. By taking intoaccount the MOOC “Task Design for Math Trails”, with 93 finalists, we analyze the learning progressof 19 selected case studies from different nations and learning levels by taking into account theiranswers in a pre- and post-questionnaire and their posts on a specific communication message board,with a special focus on the MOOC’s topics’ task design for outdoor mathematics and the digital toolMathCityMap. The analysis is performed using different quantitative and qualitative approaches.The results show that the teachers studied have benefited from professional development, which isevident in the expansion/evolution of their knowledge from a content, pedagogical, and technologicalperspective. Finally, we formulate consequences for professional development in STEM education,and conclude the paper with limitations to be drawn and a perspective for further research.