Progetto ArAl

The social and cultural premise of ArAl project are born in 80s from the collaboration between head teachers and teachers of primary and secondary school in the province of Belluno and the GREM (Group for Research in Mathematics Education, Department of Mathematics, University of Modena / Reggio Emilia under the direction of Nicolina A. Malara funded CNR, MPI and local authorities). These conditions evolve through experiments carried out in presence of teachers and researchers in elementary school classes on various topics concerning the teaching of mathematics (arithmetic and algebra, logic, history of mathematics, problem-solving, geometric transformations, pop-up geometry, mathematics and art, mathematics and music).

The ArAl project:
1998
officially begins to operate with public funds;
1999-2003
is one of the Italian contribution to the European project Comenius ELTMAPS (Effective Learning and Teaching of Mathematics from Primary to Secondary School) coordinated by prof. Leo Rogers (UK) with the participation of Cyprus, Czech Republic and Italy (Department of Mathematics, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia);
2000-2006
organizes annual ArAl Seminars in Belluno;
2001
qualifies in first place in the national competition SeT (Progetto nazionale sull’educazione scientifica
e tecnologica) of almost 600 participants (school networks coordinated by a scientific body) and was awarded a grant of 89 million lire (€ 45,000) for the construction of a site in a ministerial portal; in the following years he received numerous other public support; begins publishing ArAl Notebooks;
2001-2015
is illustrated through more than 300 publications and interventions of various kinds (general reports, lectures, seminars, working groups conducting) at both nationally and internationally conferences; thesis at the Universities of Modena, Padua, Trieste and Naples are drawn on the themes of the project;
2002-2015
begins annual collaborations in almost all the Italian regions with educational institutions or networks of schools for the testing of ArAl materials; gradually shifts its research activities in the direction of teacher education (kindergarten, primary, secondary levels) in the areas of arithmetic and algebra; develops the Pluricommented Transcripts Methodology;
2003
begins the ArAl Series (Pitagora Editrice Bologna, actually 13 books);
2003-2015
starts the lectures on early algebra in training courses for teachers at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia;
2004
opens the site www.aralweb.it (active until 2009 and then moved to www.aralweb.unimore.it) and the ArAl Community at the educational platform of the European Community (which no longer exists); the project ‘Brioshi in the web’ is selected among the top 100 European E-learning Awards projects;
2003-2004
is a training tool for teachers researchers in the ministerial project ‘Dutto’ coordinated by F. Arzarello (University of Torino);
2005
is awarded for the training on-line Unit in Web (ArAl Unit 8) in the Gold (Global Online Documentation) national competition;
2005-2008
is one of the Italian contribution to the European Community Project Comenius PDTR (Professional Development of Teachers-Researchers) coordinated by Bronislaw Czarnocha (NY, USA), with the participation of Poland, Spain, Portugal, Italy (Departments of Mathematics, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and Naples);
2006-2009
becomes a training tool within the national master funded by Ministry of Education for teachers of primary and secondaryschool coordinated by G. Luzzatto (University of Genoa);
2006
is entered in the Best Practices of the Italian school, according to the standards INDIRE (Istituto Nazionale di Documentazione, Innovazione, Ricerca Educativa); inaugurates the Constructivist traveling ArAl Exhibition in the Conference of Castel San Pietro Terme (BO);
2007
together with ArAl E-learning Channel is selected among the top 100 competitors in the E-Learning Awards Competition 2007 sponsored by European Schoolnet; the training on-line Unit in Web is included among the activities of Mathematics at the site of Lifelong Learning for teachers organized by INDIRE;
2008
opens the ArAl site in the portal of University of Modena and Reggio Emilia;
2009
starts the Curriculum of Arithmetic and Algebra in primary and secondary levels in the perspective of early algebra;
2009-2014
develops the MTPAL (Application of Pluricommented Transcripts Methodology in linguistics) Project in collaboration with GISCEL linguist experts;
2013
opens a new site-blog www.progettoaral.wordpress.com;
2014
opens the Group ‘Progetto ArAl’ in Facebook;
2015
starts making 2.0 objects; opens the site www.progettoaral.it.