Chalmers University of Technology
Math coach online is a project that offers free study support in math to pupils from grade 6. The coaching service is run by students at university level. Thanks to a grant from Erling-Persson foundation, the initiative will be spread across the country and there will be more math coaches available. An example of what a chat conversation in Math coach online can look like. The pupils who use the service can be completely anonymous, and the coaches help with everything from simple calculation tasks to difficult integrals.
The project started in 2009 and is currently organised as a network between KTH in Stockholm, Linköping University and Chalmers. Four years ago, a node was also started at Aston University in Birmingham as a parallel operation with coaching in English. The activities at Chalmers are led by Jonny Lindström, senior lecturer at Mathematical Sciences, and Dorotea Blank, who is responsible for school collaboration and works with broadened recruitment. The students who staff the project at Chalmers are both engineering students and future subject teachers in mathematics. Last year, together with the coaches at other universities, they had 3,713 conversations with pupils around Sweden, a total of almost 2,400 hours of supervision in mathematics.
Research is part of the project
All chat conversations are saved in a database and used in the extensive research that is part of Math coach, and which is led by the Department of Digital Learning at KTH. The research has so far resulted in six research articles, ten conference papers and a doctoral dissertation. In addition, about ten degree projects have been completed where Math coach has been studied. The research is conducted with the aim of developing digital learning.
Follow-ups that have been done show that pupils from all grade levels use Math coach, and regardless of their level of knowledge, pupils have the opportunity to discuss tasks and solutions in a way that is not always possible in the classroom during lectures.
"The strength is that it is about coaching, not about getting the solution or an answer directly. And since it is online, it is possible to help several people at the same time" says Jonny Lindström and emphasizes that the project is not intended to replace regular teaching. "Traditional classroom teaching works best, as the pandemic has proven. This is a complement" he says.
More coaches can help more pupils
So far, the project has been financed with public funds, but the universities involved has now been awarded a grant of SEK 8 million from the Erling Persson Foundation. It means that the project can expand and take on more pupils from municipalities that have not signed agreements before.
The Erling-Persson Foundation was founded by Stefan Persson in 1999, in memory of his father Erling Persson, who started Hennes & Mauritz.
"The foundation has three main purposes that they want to support: entrepreneurship, research and promoting the development of children and young people. Math coach involves all three!" says Dorotea Blank.
The vision is to scale up the project to the national level, with coaches at all major universities.
"The easy access to Math coach online helps to even out the differences between pupil's opportunities regardless of where they live. And the most important thing with this service is that they get help with their homework regardless of their prior knowledge and without being evaluated. We hope that it will increase their interest in mathematics in the long run and make the subject more enjoyable!" Says Dorotea Blank.
In addition to benefiting pupil's directly, the investment increases the competence in digital pedagogy for future teachers and engineering students who runs the service. All coaches must also take a basic online course at KTH about online teaching before starting as a coach, which develop and ensures their pedagogical competence.
Text: Anneli Andersson och Julia Jansson
Do you want to know more about the iniative or how you can apply to become a Math coach yourself?
Dorotea Blank, ansvarig för skolsamverkan, Chalmers
031 772 25 55, [email protected]
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