Generative artificial intelligence is currently used for disparate purposes, including education, particularly concerning STEM disciplines, among which Mathematics is prominent. Given the importance of both mathematical and digital skills in the world today, it is useful to inquire about the impact of this novel AI form on the didactics in Mathematics, by considering it in conjunction with accustomed technologies for more effectiveness. A survey directed at more than 60 teachers instructing at military academies and universities in several European Union Member States allows us to investigate the relationship between using generative AI and performing certain teaching choices under the methodological domain. Furthermore, we assessed the tandem between AI and traditional digital tools, both as a feature itself and in terms of repercussions on the methodologies instructors adopted. Quantitative analyses of scaled responses, performed by means of both descriptive and inferential statistics, are considered along with reflections on the qualitative answers, in the spirit of a mixed methods approach. As main outcome, we found that teachers’ use of generative AI is associated with paying more attention to specific mathematical skills during lectures, and with using teaching practices possessing a solid methodological base. Additionally, we detected interesting insights concerning integration with the use of other digital tools, resulting in instructing practices being favored by both kinds of technology, thus confirming AI as a complementary tool, rather than a replacement. The study was conducted within the framework of the DIMAS project, an international initiative aimed at deepening learners’ interest in Mathematics and taking advantage of digital tools to provide students with more manageable mathematical problems and applications.

In higher education, Financial Mathematics and Computational Finance represent distinct but interconnected areas in which the integration of Computational Thinking is particularly relevant. Inclusive computational practices appropriately designed by teachers and implemented within a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment can foster students’ knowledge co-construction. This study investigates how tailored Computational Finance practices involving VBA for Excel and Python, when synergistically integrated into group-based interactions within a face-to-face CSCL environment, enhance individual learning. The context of the research is the Advanced Computational Finance module at University College Dublin, Ireland, in Spring 2024. The study analyses the achievement of seven specific learning outcomes among 22 undergraduate students (BSc) who participated in weekly collaborative lab activities, compared with a group of 5 postgraduate students (MSc) who did not. Quantitative analysis of a final learning test administered to students reveals that the BSc cohort consistently outperformed the MSc group across nearly all learning outcomes. The most significant differences appeared in higher-order cognitive processes, such as modelling, data modification and evaluation. These findings suggest that student-led, collaborative lab activities that feature inclusive computational practices are critical drivers of sensemaking and the development of Computational Thinking skills in Financial Mathematics at the individual level.

The use of serious games in education is becoming more widespread, offering new ways to engage students and enhance their learning experience. However, it remains crucial to evaluate their effectiveness using reliable tools. The University of Turin has developed a serious game called "The murderer at the High-Tech Institute" for Mathematics that focuses on the functions of a single real variable. The game aims to facilitate the learning of the subject for university students in non-mathematical degree programmes. To qualitatively evaluate the tool, the research group developed a final questionnaire for students to complete after the game, based on validated questionnaires from the literature, including the Technology Acceptance Model and the System Usability Scale. The purpose of the questionnaire is to investigate the impact of digital game-based learning in Mathematics by measuring key aspects such as usability, effectiveness in learning Mathematics, game experience and attractiveness. A total of 156 university students answered the questionnaire after completing the serious game. This paper examines the stages of questionnaire development, from initial design to reliability study and exploratory factor analysis. The reliability of the questionnaire is discussed. The factor analysis reveals four key dimensions. Additionally, the trends in students' responses from the study are discussed, and potential improvements for future experimentation with the game are highlighted.

Mathematical and digital skills are recognized as key competencies for lifelong learning. In Mathematics education, identifying appropriate methodologies and tools to increase motivation and engagement is crucial, particularly in interdisciplinary contexts such as security and defence. Through a survey administered to 2,000 students and teachers at military academies and universities in several European Member States, this study investigates the role of technology in promoting students' motivation to learn Mathematics in this field, including non-STEM majors. The research also examines the perceived effectiveness of various teaching methodologies and digital tools in teaching Mathematics from different perspectives. The study follows a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative analyses of the responses to the survey through statistical inference techniques. Findings indicate that digital tools positively impact students’ perception of Mathematics, supporting self-assessment and interactive problem-solving. Additionally, both students and instructors favor practical methodologies such as problem-solving, learning by doing, and collaborative learning, while the integration of gamification and AI-based tools remains limited. The results contribute to a deeper understanding of best practices for teaching and learning Mathematics in security and defence contexts and provide insights for future research in other interdisciplinary and applied fields. Our analysis took place in accordance with international partners from the European project DIMAS, which aims at increasing interest in studying Mathematics in the field of security and defence and at providing more understandable Mathematics problems and Mathematics applications using digital tools.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased educational poverty, especially among students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. To address this problem, the compiti@casa project, initiated by the University of Turin in collaboration with the De Agostini Foundation, has provided a distance tutoring service for lower secondary school students, i.e., aged between 11 and 14, with learning difficulties. This study examines the effectiveness of tutoring in improving students' learning skills and attitudes by analysing tutors' responses to a final questionnaire they completed for each student they tutored, both in Mathematics and Italian. Specifically, it aims to address two research questions: “What strategies did the tutors consider effective in improving the skills and attitudes of each student?” (RQ1) and “Is the impact of different tutoring practices visible on students' learning approach and personal improvement?” (RQ2). The results show significant improvements in students' motivation, autono my and confidence, particularly for those who were more actively engaged in an interactive and personalised approach. However, there are difficulties in engaging less motivated students or those with attendance problems. The study concludes by highlighting the importance of personalised teaching strategies to maximise the benefits of tutoring.

Digital technology has become essential in teaching and learning, thus requiring of both teachers and students the possession of digital competencies. In education, technologies and methodologies are intertwined, and, as a consequence, all the stakeholders need to be competent in the specific sense, which goes further than being confident with digital tools in a general sense. This prompted institutions to propose initiatives favoring the use of digital in education, such as the European project DIGICODE, devoted to the security and defence context, featuring the participation of both universities and military academies. In this paper we investigate the possibility of designing and implementing effective training activities in order to allow teachers, and subsequently students, to develop digital skills. We consider two events, namely a staff training reserved for teachers and an international school involving both students and teachers. By analyzing teachers' and students' questionnaires, we track the variation of their digital competencies, along with students' perception of effectiveness and appreciation of the activities proposed, which carefully combined the theory with more engaging aspects such as interactivity and practical applications. Furthermore, we discuss our findings in light of a framework including different dimensions (pedagogical, human, technological, institutional), which have proved to be strongly related to each other, allowing us to set a methodological base on which to build such actions. In this setting, we show as well the importance of collaboration and ideas exchanged, both at the interdisciplinary and the interinstitutional level.

Every year, there is increasing interest in applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms and systems in education. Educating students about the conscious use of AI and its challenges is essential. Still, even before that, it is necessary to educate teachers who need to acquire the necessary skills to use these technologies in the classroom to enrich their students' learning experience. Training must be theoretical and guide teachers in designing educational activities with AI, about AI, and preparing for AI. This article presents research conducted in Italy to understand educators' attitudes toward AI in Education. Responses to a nationwide questionnaire are analysed to understand the relationship between teachers at all levels of schooling and AI. The results show that teachers need more confidence in their AI skills but are also not too concerned about the increasing spread of AI at various levels. From the findings, we can also say that AI has found little space in the school activities of Italian teachers. At the same time, teachers state that they urgently need to be trained on AI issues.

Close contact between schools and universities may help students take an informed choice on future paths in education and job. Educational stakeholders must act in synergy among themselves and the other partners. At the University of Turin, an experience of teacher training called "Ambasciatori start@unito nelle scuole" (start@unito ambassadors in schools) helps secondary teachers act as links between secondary and higher education institutions. Teachers attended a module in which they learn how to provide "orientative teaching" using Open Educational Resources. According to the knowledge of the authors, there is very little international research about didactics with the specifically declared purpose of orientation. All resources are based on university modules specifically developed to facilitate students’ transition from secondary school to university. Teachers experimented with their educational activities aimed at showing students possibilities for future exploration. The experience of the ambassadors was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively through questionnaires to investigate the role of the teacher and the mediation of technology in this transition context and the consequent change in school didactics, also considering the students’ point of view. Findings show that teachers appreciated this peculiar project, they recognized that students developed essential skills, and they became more aware of their role, also as orientators in their daily teaching. These findings imply the need for wider training actions to address other school teachers on these important matters.

According to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of job postings for software engineers has steadily increased over the past few years and is expected to grow by 22% from 2019 to 2029. This paper presents the pedagogical experience within the new Immersive Software Engineering (ISE) program concerning mathematical foundations and data analytics topics. These topics were designed to cover essential mathematical concepts such as calculus, linear algebra, probability, and statistics and their integration within data analytic tools and techniques such as time-series forecasting, data cleaning, data visualization, and introduction to pattern recognition. In addition, hands-on projects and real-world applications were incorporated throughout the course to provide students with practical experience in these areas. We reflect on the first delivery of the ISE course, which provided students with a new innovative blended learning environment, and how it will be further developed towards Open Educational Resources (OER) components and refined to respond to the rapidly evolving needs of the software engineering industry.

Research on Learning Analytics is closely related to the use of a Digital Learning Environment, which can be defined as a learning ecosystem in which to teach, learn and develop skills in the classroom, online or in hybrid mode. Using this, Educational Data, continuously updated and growing, have become Big Data. To make the most of these data, it is useful to use Learning Analytics techniques to analyze and interpret them, and to obtain enough information to make decisions. Predicting student learning outcomes is one of the main topics in learning analytics research. This research work has the main goal of building a model for predicting which score range students will achieve at the end of the online training. In this way, in future editions of the project, by analyzing the situation of students during the online training, we may provide students with personalized feedback to increase their involvement in the training and prevent dropouts. We analyzed three past editions of the Digital Math Training online training and developed two Random Forest models capable of predicting the final score range obtained by the students after the first three and the first six problems. We have also developed two Probabilistic Neural Network models with the same purpose, but with worse results.

In a problem-solving activity, generalizing is an important process by which the specifics of a solution are examined. Technologies support this process, making it possible to create interactive explorations that allow to see how the result changes as the initial data vary. In this article we focus on the generalization of the solution process during a mathematical problem-solving activity using an Advanced Computing Environment (ACE). Our research questions are: how can we analyze the skills students develop while generalizing a problem? What are the most frequent difficulties? We analyzed the solution of a problem-solving activity with an ACE submitted by 75 students using a model specially developed by us for studying generalization using interactive components. The model considers three phases: design and choice of interactive components, programming of the system and control stages of generalization of a problem. For each stage we established a set of indicators to understand the competences achieved by each student. The results show that the students generalized the problem using different strategies, with some difficulty in the programming and control phase. The model developed allows to reflect on the skills achieved by students in the various phases of the generalization process.

In teaching it has become increasingly important to use didactic approaches that see students active and protagonists of their own learning. These approaches can often be supported by technologies, which also enable students to acquire digital skills and provide them with immediate and interactive feedback. In this paper we present recent research activities characterized by Data Driven Learning methodologies within a Digital Learning Environment integrated with an automatic formative assessment system to propose activities on the specialized language of Mathematics. In fact, Mathematics has always been one of the school disciplines in which students of all grades encounter the greatest difficulties. Numerous studies in Mathematics education have shown that the causes of disciplinary learning difficulties are the acquisition, understanding and management of one's language for specific purposes. The research activity involved 4 classes of two Italian secondary schools for a total of 80 students of grade 11 and their teachers. In this paper we study the impact that this type of activity has had on students, analyzing the students' responses to the final satisfaction questionnaire.

Distance and online teaching and learning have become common forms during the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the change of pedagogical and didactical approaches from residential to virtual and online settings. Given that these novel forms of teaching and learning possess advantages beyond the needs of this contingent situation, it is reasonable to suppose that they will be used also after the end of the pandemic. In light of this, it is important for all the stakeholders to possess digital skills fine-tuned to education, in order to teach and learn at best, even more so in international contexts such as those regarding security and defence. This is in accordance with the more general setting of future skills, that considers personal development related to what the world is requiring. In this paper, we investigate changes from before to during the pandemic in the perception of teachers working in programs or courses concerning security and defence on several aspects, such as the relation with their students and the time required to carry out various tasks. Our investigation, conducted through the analysis of an online anonymous questionnaire, triggers the suggestion that teachers need a specific training in digital skills, since they experience difficulties in relating with students and in performing tasks without excessive time consumption. Our analysis took place in accordance with international partners from the European project DIGICODE, which aims at improving the security and defence education quality by using digital tools in the didactic activities and by developing teachers' digital competencies.

The outbreak of a pandemic in the middle of the academic year unavoidably brought severe consequences to universities' educational organizations, since it disrupted timetables and programs that are usually designed months in advance. With millions of students around the world unable to physically attend lectures and other activities at universities, distance learning soon became a pivotal solution to allow studying from home. On the other hand, online resources as a complement or alternative to physical attendance have been part of the academic context for more than a decade. Still, they were usually not intended for replacing in-person didactics in an emergency setting. In this paper, we consider a module in Linear Algebra and Geometry at the University of Turin. The module was originally intended as blended, with lessons and activities in presence supported by asynchronous remote activities, but it had to be redesigned as purely online a few weeks after the beginning of the semester. The use of a Digital Learning Environment, with technologies and methodologies, which already proved crucial in a blended setting, was fundamental in giving an immediate response while transitioning to distance during these pandemic times. We discuss this transition using students' answers to two questionnaires and through the analysis of students' activities in relation to their exam results. The outcomes are generally positive, highlighting confidence in the course and the students' preparation, even in such a challenging context.

Adaptive online learning can facilitate students' support by responding immediately to the user's interactions. Good feedback to students helps closing the gap between actual and desired performance. In this paper we analyze how to introduce online adaptive formative learning in Computer Science, a discipline with well documented challenges that are hard to tackle with traditional classroom methods. Specifically, we developed illustrative learning items teaching Model-Driven Design and implemented them in an online system that implements a model for automatic formative assessment developed by University of Torino. The model takes advantage of an automatic assessment system initially designed for STEM disciplines, then adopted for teaching languages and other disciplines too. The key features of the adaptive model supported by the online system are algorithmic questions, availability, contextualization, immediate feedback, interactive feedback, and open answers. These features are portable across subject domains, so the system can be adapted to include new subjects. We chose MDD because it is a topic of Computer Science education connected with Computational Thinking, software design, and formal methods, which are three of the core areas in need of enhanced support.

Mathematics plays a pivotal role in most scientific disciplines, being them meant both inside and outside academic contexts, with applications in a large part of the jobs nowadays, and also in several situations of everyday life. If on one hand this is well recognized, as an expression like the queen of the sciences show, on the other hand it is usually not among the students' preferred subjects, both from the liking and the interest points of view. Furthermore, it is still partly believed that Mathematics cannot be properly learnt by everyone, since it is perceived that, for really mastering it, a specific personal attitude is necessary. Considering all this, we designed a course in which the approach is considerably devoted to applications, being it directed at students of a scientific bachelor program not mainly focused on Mathematics, and problem solving, that is the contextualization of problems in real life situations. For this purpose, we made use of technologies such as a Learning Management System integrated with an Advanced Computing Environment and an Automated Assessment System. It has been observed that the students, which are taking a program in Biotechnology, gained curiosity and interest in the subject, thus allowing in turn a better proficiency. Since interaction between learners is promoted, the students are made active users of the contents, and their learning paths can be adapted according to the personal needs. They have been able to improve also the self-consciousness of their skills. This has been an important achievement especially for (but not limiting to) their future as scientists, considering the role transversal skills play in science, such as teamwork or flexibility. Finally, the students were specifically able to recognize how the problem solving approach will help them in both university and job careers, and how the use of the software has been helpful too.

Engagement is one of the most powerful driving forces that moves learners forward in a learning experience. The effects of engagement are related with enjoyment in learning, good results and prevention to drop-outs. Technologies, and in particular automatic formative assessment, can positively influence engagement, as well as providing data to measure it. This paper discusses how computer-based activities with automatic formative assessment and interactive feedback can promote engagement in Mathematics at school level. After discussing a theoretical framework for defining and measuring engagement, the potentialities of activities with automatic formative assessment and interactive feedback designed according to a specific model are illustrated. The activities have been experimented with 299 students of grade 8 in Italy. Through questionnaires administered before and at the end of the experimentation and through data from the online platform, the effects of the online activities on student engagement is evaluated. The activities resulted particularly effective to increase the engagement level in students that had low attitudes toward Mathematics at the beginning of the project.

In the transition from lower to upper secondary education, Italian students are expected to have achieved a level of competence which allows them to use knowledge and abilities to model and to understand scientific and technical disciplines. Gaps or misunderstandings in basic knowledge can hinder the effort of students who attend technical high schools, where the core subjects are based on Mathematics. This paper deals with the design of a project conceived to strengthen mathematical competences of students attending the first year of a technical upper secondary school through an online course named “MATE-BOOSTER”. The online activities on the web-based platform have been developed using didactic methodologies founded on constructivist assumptions, as problem posing and problem solving, collaborative learning, learning by doing, automatic and adaptive formative assessment. In this work the process of design of MATE-BOOSTER is shown, the methodologies chosen are discussed, and the online activities are analysed from a constructivist perspective.

Formative assessment is a practice aimed to enhance teaching and learning and to develop self-regulation. Among the strategies for activating formative assessment, the provision of feedback is one of the most studied: good feedback helps close the gap between actual and desired performance and it promotes self-regulation. Automatic Assessment Systems can improve the practice of formative assessment, especially for the immediacy of feedback and the flexible solutions for questioning. In this context, the Department of Mathematics of the University of Turin has developed a model for automatic formative assessment using an automatic assessment system suitable for STEM disciplines. The key features of the model, grounded on the models from the literature, are: availability, algorithmic questions, open answers, immediate feedback, interactive feedback, and contextualization. These are detailed and discussed through evidence gained from three experimentations, involving the total number of 553 students. In particular, it emerges that the use of interactive feedback ensures that students process the information from the feedback and use it to improve their performance, thus solving the major problem raised in the literature that feedback are not useful when students do not read them.

This paper presents a model for structuring shared resources, proposed to activate learners' formative and proactive assessment processes by enhancing the sharing-workflow among instructors. The model is based on the features of a Virtual Learning Community (VLC), and provides for the development and reuse of ontologies. The adoption of the model for the implementation of an adaptive system for the dispatching of materials is discussed on the basis of the results from clustering analyses. Semantic-similarity measures are compared by their application for clustering a collection of mathematical questions for automatic assessment, created by instructors within a national-wide VLC for Secondary Schools.

Adaptive teaching consists in a teaching style aimed at overcoming inner differences among learners by providing them tailored ways to achieve outcomes according to their learning style, culture and needs. ICTs play an important role in supporting teachers with the adoption of adaptive strategies. Adaptive teaching acquires relevance in contexts of scholastic remediation and in reducing failures. The paper presents and discusses how adaptive teaching is used within "Scuola dei Compiti", a project proposed by the City of Turin (Italy) in collaboration with the University and the Polytechnic of Turin, aimed at reducing the drop-out rate and at enhancing scholastic success. University students help groups of 5-6 students aged 13-15 with their difficulties in the main subjects (Mathematics, Italian Language, Foreign Languages). Part of the Mathematics courses adopt a set of innovative computer based methodologies developed by the Department of Mathematics of the University of Turin, including a virtual learning environment integrated with an advanced computing environment, an automatic assessment system and a web-conference tool, which supports adaptive teaching. The project has involved over 7500 students in the last 5 years, the results achieved, discussed in the paper, show the effectiveness of these methodologies with respect to traditional teaching methods.

This paper shows the model developed by the University of Turin to support students that must face the transition from the last year of secondary school to the first year of University. Integrations that are specifically designed for Learning Management Systems help sustain three effective actions conducted in synergy: increase students' awareness in the choice of the future course of study, support them in taking the admission tests and the first-year exams, allow the autonomous administration of admission tests led by the University. The methodological strategies adopted are presented and discussed based on the analysis of the data of the years 2015 and 2016.

The Project PP&S, Problem Posing & Solving, is part of a set of initiatives promoted by the General Directorate of the Italian Ministry of Education, Research and University, aimed to support the many innovations in the High School. Its main goal is to enhance teaching and learning Mathematics and Informatics using new methodologies and technologies, like an e-learning platform integrated with an Advanced Computing Environment and with a web conference system. This integrated environment makes available to teachers and students a powerful set of features for collaborative learning, e-tutoring and e-assessment.