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A significant criticism made of preservice teacher education is that it fails to prepare teachers in such a way that they would feel confident in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching, despite the assumed digital literacy of student-teachers and the children they will eventually teach. New technologies have enabled multimodal design and digital storytelling in meaning-making and communication and are now often instrumental and influential in shaping students' social practices and identities. The purpose of this study was to explore an integrative approach in applying ICT in learning with specific reference to the formation of mathematics teaching capability in preservice teachers. It takes into consideration student-teachers' lived experiences when introducing ICT supported learning into their classrooms as well as their exposure to related university courses such as educational technology, special didactics of mathematics and mathematics. This paper describes the instructional design framework and assessment criteria for mathematical problem solving and digital storytelling introduced to an ICT course for student-teachers. Based on the analysis of pre-and posttesting of the subjects' capabilities and reports of their perceptions, it is suggested that preservice teachers can efficiently develop their content knowledge in mathematics problem solving and that an integrative approach such as that described here may facilitate both mathematical problem-solving competences and pedagogical competences for applying digital storytelling in solving mathematical problems. The cohort of preservice teachers had no prior experiences of digital storytelling or multimodal design and perceived them as new practices. Their conceptions changed during the course from the passive recipients to active producers of media content. They demonstrated reflection relative to learning-by-design and representation modelling. They perceived digital storytelling as a strategy and means for empowering the "studentvoice" and the active construction of knowledge. The findings of the study contribute to British Journal of Educational Technology (2015Technology ( ) doi:10.1111 © 2015 British Educational Research Association preservice teacher education indicating that an integrated approach of instruction that deploys digital storytelling and multimodal design can help facilitate preservice teachers' pedagogical competencies and mathematical content knowledge. IntroductionThe paper discusses preservice teacher education and presents an integrated approach to preparing preservice teachers for lesson planning, design and delivery in mathematics teaching. The intervention involved a contextualised approach in which an educational technology course was associated with, and applied material from, courses in the special didactics of mathematics, mathematics, integrated through an in-school practicum for preservice teachers. The instructional design framework and evaluation criteria are presented, along with the ...

International studies on the knowledge of mathematics at the generalist-class teaching level have indicated that Slovene students are quite skilled at computations, but have difficulties solving mathematical problems. This finding stimulated us to create a problem-based instruction model. We wanted to find out whether the students in the experimental group, who received problem-based instruction, would display greater ability in solving difficult mathematical problems compared to the group receiving conventional instruction. We were also interested in the students' attitude towards mathematics. We formulated the experimental factor -problem posing and solving as the key math-teaching activity -broadened the conventional mathematical problem by introducing into it several other types of problems and strategies of their solving. The efficiency of the model created was tested on a sample of 179 nine-year-old students. The results of the study are useful for the preparation of mathematics curriculum reform and important for the authors of maths materials for teachers and students. The research findings are of great value in the undergraduate education of teachers, as well as for qualified and practicing teachers and their further and regular professional training.

and research include educational technology, learning environments, Information communication technology (ICT) assisted learning for people with special needs, ICT in health, media education, contemporary learning theories, innovation and creative production of multimedia contents. Her recent research projects have involved investigating ICT-supported learning for people with special needs with a particular attention to the development of European Union reference point portal for end-users. Andreja's website has details of her activities and publications: http:// andreja-istenic-starcic.eu/. Dr Mara Cotic is a full professor and a dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Primorska. Her teaching and research interests include mathematics and special didactics of mathematics. Mara is a member of national comities for curricular reform of educational system and had written over 50 textbooks for mathematics for primary school and college. Dr Matej Zajc is an assistant professor at the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Electrical Engineering. His academic interests include research in ICT for learning and interactive multimedia systems and services. AbstractThis design-based research study was conducted to identify what importance of a tangible user interface (TUI) can add to teaching and learning. Over a 2-year period, teachers (n = 39) and students (n = 145) participated in the study. The identified problem for investigation was how students, including those with low fine motor skills and those with learning difficulties, develop geometry concepts combining cognitive and physical activity. A didactical application was designed during the first iteration and implemented in inclusive classrooms during the second and third iterations. Qualitative research methods were applied. A relationship between diverse students' needs and geometry concept learning in relation to computer-supported learning by TUI was discovered. Two dimensions were identified: (1) TUIs support concept development, with physical and virtual representations based on dynamic geometry assisted by TUI; (2) TUI manipulative properties support students who have low motor skills and difficulties in their geometry learning as well as in their inclusion in classroom activities. The study outcomes contributed to the design process of the TUI didactical application and its implementation in inclusive classrooms, and to the body of knowledge in teaching and learning geometry concepts applied for computer-assisted learning environments supported by TUI. IntroductionTangible user interfaces as facilitators for cognitive and physical supported concept development Students with special educational needs are not always equally included in organized forms of classroom learning. Additional obstacles exist for students with low fine motor skills and learning difficulties who have difficulties using a computer with mouse and keyboard as the interface for

Assessing student mathematical knowledge is an important factor in the mathematics learning process because students obtain important feedback to improve their knowledge and learning. Despite the importance of student assessment, several researchers have shown that student grades comprise noncognitive and metacognitive factors and teachers’ prejudices and beliefs. One method to obtain a more objective view of student mathematical knowledge is through standardized assessments. In this paper, we analyze two methods of assessing student mathematical knowledge by considering their written and oral grades and achievements on the Italian National Assessment of Knowledge (INVALSI). The final grade was produced using the fuzzy logic inference system. It was tested on a sample of 2279 Grade 13 Italian high school students, who had both an oral and written grade in mathematics and who took the INVALSI assessment in the school year 2020–2021. Both tested fuzzy-logic-based assessment methods lowered the mean grades.