Escape Boxes to Teach Applied High-Order Mathematics

The results of the PISA international assessment reveal how some of the highest performing education systems in the world, such as in Singapore, Poland and Ontario, successfully elevated the level of teaching and learning to include more reasoning and modeling in their curriculum. The mathematics curriculum and testing in Israel, on the other hand, still focuses mostly on procedural fluency and abstract thinking. Therefore, efforts to incorporate additional aspects of mathematics are directed towards extra-curricular and enrichment frameworks.

With the upcoming PISA cycle scheduled to take place between March-May 2022, there is more openness on the part of the Ministry of Education to teaching applied mathematics content in real-life contexts. The current wave of the pandemic further increases the demand for relevant and motivating content.  As a result, the Ministry is now initiating an applied mathematics competition for middle school students for which the foundation recently approved a matching grant. The competition will be inspired by the PISA 5-6 proficiency levels.

In a recent consultation with mathematics teachers, they emphasized their immediate need for additional learning material that would spark the interest of their students. In response, we approached Gali Shimoni of the Israel Center for Excellence through Education. Shimoni is a highly talented developer of learning material who is known for his creativity and originality. He is a veteran partner of the foundation, in recent years as a leader of development of learning tasks aligned with the 5-6 levels of PISA.

The Center is now proposing to develop “escape boxes” that will include six high-order mathematical thinking tasks, aligned with the 5-6 PISA proficiency levels. Each box will also comprise puzzle-solving and secret codes based on the mathematics tasks that students will solve. Some will require them to scan a code and enter it into a dedicated website where they will receive a clue for the next part of the riddle. Students will be able to navigate through the boxes with their classmates.

The boxes, in both Hebrew and Arabic, will be ready by the end of January and will be distributed to 300 schools. Each school will receive six boxes, which can be passed from class to class. Tenth grade mathematics teachers will receive instruction from the Center regarding the content, and divide their students into groups of six to solve the mathematics tasks. Each group that solves all the riddles will be encouraged to share their experience on social media and stimulate their peers to participate. The groups and students with the best performance will win modest prizes.

* The text above shows the grant as approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors / Grant 482