In this chapter, we discuss the education of secondary school mathematics teachers in the Netherlands. There are different routes for qualifying as a secondary school mathematics teacher. These routes target different student teacher populations, ranging from those who have just graduated from high school to those who have already pursued a career outside education or working teachers who want to qualify for teaching in higher grades. After discussing the complex structure this leads to, we focus on the aspects that these different routes have in common. We point out typical characteristics of Dutch school mathematics and discuss the aims and challenges in teacher education that result from this. We give examples of different approaches used in Dutch teacher education, which we link to a particular model for designing vocational and professional learning environments.We end the chapter with a reflection on the current situation.
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This Special Issue “Ecocentric education” contains articles focused on ecological values in environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD). Ecocentric education is based on a critical theory, originating from Erich Fromm [1], Herbert Marcuse [2], and Paulo Freire [3], and on ecological pedagogy (ecopedagogy), developed by Richard Kahn [4]. These critical theorists served as catalysts in the transformation of education towards the recognition of the “domination” of capitalist, corporate, and/or political power in shaping societies, challenging the broadly shared assumptions and practices [5]. Fromm [1] and his peers believed that education makes learners internalize alienation from humanity and nature, a process which is inherent in the industrial capitalist society. This process increases uncritical adherence to dominant values such as consumerism, downplaying the negative side effects of technocratically defined “progress”. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10090217 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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Nowadays, digital tools for mathematics education are sophisticated and widely available. These tools offer important opportunities, but also come with constraints. Some tools are hard to tailor by teachers, educational designers and researchers; their functionality has to be taken for granted. Other tools offer many possible educational applications, which require didactical choices. In both cases, one may experience a tension between a teacher’s didactical goals and the tool’s affordances. From the perspective of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME), this challenge concerns both guided reinvention and didactical phenomenology. In this chapter, this dialectic relationship will be addressed through the description of two particular cases of using digital tools in Dutch mathematics education: the introduction of the graphing calculator (GC), and the evolution of the online Digital Mathematics Environment (DME). From these two case descriptions, my conclusion is that students need to develop new techniques for using digital tools; techniques that interact with conceptual understanding. For teachers, it is important to be able to tailor the digital tool to their didactical intentions. From the perspective of RME, I conclude that its match with using digital technology is not self-evident. Guided reinvention may be challenged by the rigid character of the tools, and the phenomena that form the point of departure of the learning of mathematics may change in a technology-rich classroom.
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Fontys University of Applied Science’s Institute of Engineering, and the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER) are proposing to set up a professorship to develop novel sensors for fusion reactors. Sensors are a critical component to control and optimise the unstable plasma of Tokamak reactors. However, sensor systems are particularly challenging in fusion-plasma facing components, such as the divertor. The extreme conditions make it impossible to directly incorporate sensors. Furthermore, in advanced reactor concepts, such as DEMO, access to the plasma via ports will be extremely limited. Therefore, indirect or non-contact sensing modalities must be employed. The research group Distributed Sensor Systems (DSS) will develop microwave sensor systems for characterising the plasma in a tokamak’s divertor. DSS will take advantage of recent rapid developments in high frequency integrated circuits, found, for instance, in automotive radar systems, to develop digital reflectometers. Access through the divertor wall will be achieved via surface waveguide structures. The waveguide will be printed using 3D tungsten printing that has improved precision, and reduced roughness. These components will be tested for durability at DIFFER facilities. The performance of the microwave reflectometer, including waveguides, will be tested by using it to analyse the geometry and dynamics of the Magnum PSI plasma beam. The development of sensor-based systems is an important aspect in the integrated research and education program in Electrical Engineering, where DSS is based. The sensing requirements from DIFFER offers an interesting and highly relevant research theme to DSS and exciting projects for engineering students. Hence, this collaboration will strengthen both institutes and the educational offerings at the institute of engineering. Furthermore millimeter wave (mmWave) sensors have a wide range of potential applications, from plasma characterisation (as in this proposal) though to waste separation. Our research will be a step towards realising these broader application areas.
