In this paper, we examine the impact of a massive open online course (MOOC) in the context of outdoor mathematics on the participating teachers’ professional development. We firstly introduce the theoretical background on outdoor mathematics, focusing on math trails with the digital tool MathCityMap and professional development to be accomplished using MOOCs. By taking into account the MOOC “Task Design for Math Trails”, with 93 finalists, we analyze the learning progress of 19 selected case studies from different nations and learning levels by taking into account their answers 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 tool MathCityMap. The analysis is performed using different quantitative and qualitative approaches. The results show that the teachers studied have benefited from professional development, which is evident in the expansion/evolution of their knowledge from a content, pedagogical, and technological perspective. 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.

This paper shows a method for translating UML sequence diagrams to Petri nets and verifying deadlockfreeness, reachability, safety and liveness properties by using a model checker. In this proposed method, the user has not to know about temporal logics to describe the property to be verified. Instead, the user may adopt a high-level properties specification interface, which is automatically translated to a suitable temporal logic. We show the application of the proposed method in an embedded control application that consists of a sensory device mounted on a motorized platform that must detect and track specific objects in the environment.

La investigación que aquí se presenta se desarrolló durante el segundo semestre del curso académico 2014/2015, y versa sobre el uso del software social por parte de los estudiantes del Grado de Educación Primaria pertenecientes a dos instituciones de Educación Superior: Universidad de Jaén (España) y la Escuela Superior de Educación del Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo (Portugal). Los objetivos se centran en conocer qué herramientas de software social utilizan preferentemente el alumnado, cuáles son sus percepciones sobre estas herramientas para sus posibilidades académicas y si hay diferencias en función de la universidad de procedencia. Se empleó como instrumento de recogida de datos un cuestionario. Se concluye que la red social más conocida y utilizada es Facebook. El hallazgo principal reside en las diferencias encontradas entre las dos muestras estudiadas en lo concerniente a su utilización

We present the continuation of a study on an international MOOC for the training of mathematics teachers who were introduced to the methodology of outdoor mathematics through MathCityMap. Previously, we presented the immediate learning and professional development outcomes achieved by teachers who participated in the MOOC. Here, using the theoretical framework of Meta-Didactical Transposition and performing a mixed-type analysis, we investigate the long-term impact of the MOOC on these teachers to whom we administered a questionnaire one year after the end of the MOOC. We conclude that for these teachers, practising mathematics outdoors has become a consolidated teaching practice, but they still feel quite uncomfortable for structural reasons about using some pedagogical instruments they have learned in the MOOC.