Eugenia TARANTO

Adjunct Professor

Eugenia Taranto has a post-doc position at the University of Catania since August 2018.

She carries out research activities in the field of Mathematics Education. Her research interests include:

  • MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) for mathematics teacher education – in particular, she collaborated to the design and delivering of five Italian MOOC and she is the instructional designer of an international MOOC;
  • technologies to mediate the teaching and learning of mathematics (dynamic geometry systems, MathCityMap, learning videos, serious games ...).

She works in collaboration with the Research Center and educational experimentation of the DMI.

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Academic Year 2019/2020


Academic Year 2018/2019


Academic Year 2017/2018

Eugenia Taranto carries out research in mathematics education. Her research interests concern: MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses); technologies to mediate mathematics learning (dynamic geometry software, MathCityMap, learning videos, serious games...); the role of the teacher as the focus of classroom activities. The mathematics teacher is studied in his or her various roles: as a teaching professional, as a designer of learning paths, in training within communities of teachers, in the presence or at a distance (MOOCs and various platforms), in collaboration with researchers in the design of learning paths, or in research. Sharing these themes with colleagues from other universities, in Italy and abroad, is a methodological interest that makes it possible to carry out research that cuts across different institutional and cultural contexts, observed through a common theoretical lens, in order to understand which elements remain unchanged and which ones vary as the context changes.  
Within the Math MOOC project UniTo of the University of Turin, since 2015, she has been engaged in the design, implementation, delivery, monitoring, and analysis of MOOCs for in-service mathematics teacher training at all levels. Within the European project MaSCE3, as leader, together with Prof. M.F. Mammana of the University of Catania, of the Intellectual Output "IO6: MOOC for teacher training", she is instructional designer, author, and instructor for the international MOOC "Task Design for Math Trails", intended for mathematics teachers of all levels.     
She has carried out several training and experimentation activities with teachers of all levels, both in the presence and through MOOCs. She has held some PON courses in schools in Eastern Sicily. She has carried out various tutoring activities both at the University of Catania and at the University of Turin.
She has carried out a research period at the School of Education, University of Queensland - Australia, and at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany.
She has participated in several national and international conferences, some of them by invitation.
She is a member of the Teaching Research Group of the DMI.

Participant in the project "Equazioni Ellittiche: Esistenza e Proprietà qualitative & Didattica Laboratoriale e a Distanza".

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Catania
The project has a twofold objective: on the one hand, to address research topics relevant to the individual areas in which the participants work (MAT/04 and MAT/05) and, on the other hand, to create a link between the two areas through the design of teacher and student training activities on classical topics in Mathematical Analysis.
For research strictly pertaining to SSD MAT/05, the study of the existence and of the local and global properties of the solutions of some elliptic problems of the second and fourth order will be addressed. For research strictly pertaining to SSD MAT/04, the aim is to study and evaluate the effectiveness of laboratory teaching, MOOCs and DaD in university and pre-university courses.

Participant in the 'Teaching OR before University' project

Collaboration between: University of Brescia; University of Catania
On the basis of previous and existing activities related to Operational Research and dedicated to youngsters, the aim of the project is to propose didactic paths to be experimented in secondary schools, in order to introduce some Operational Research topics, starting from the European and Italian school guidelines for the teaching of mathematics.

Participant in the project "Quality criteria for mathematics learning videos"

Collaboration between: Technical University of Darmstadt (Germany); Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Catania
The use of educational videos has the potential to support students' mathematical understanding. However, the choice of the most appropriate video is a crucial point for integrating instructional videos into mathematics lessons. The aim of the project is the design of two catalogues (or evaluation grids) containing quality criteria that can help teachers on the one hand to choose a learning video and on the other hand to create a learning video. These videos, chosen and/or created, must enable them to meet the teaching/learning objectives set by the teacher, be appropriate to fit into the designed learning situation(s) and be suitable for the learning target audience. Catalogues are the product of several rounds of design-based research (DBR).

Participant in the 'Liceo Matematico' project - University of Catania

Taking their cue from a project that originated at the University of Salerno, the Mathematics Departments of several Italian cities have launched sections called 'Liceo Matematico' at various high schools. These are sections that, in addition to the normal activities provided for in the regular curriculum, add a 'boost' of one or two hours a week dedicated to laboratory activities in which mathematics acts as a glue between different disciplines. The national web page describing the Liceo Matematico is www.liceomatematico.it. Since A.S. 2017-2018, the University of Catania and schools in the Catania area have also started activities as part of the Liceo Matematico project. Some university lecturers, myself among them, are involved in the design of pathways/laboratory activities that are then illustrated to the teachers. The teachers receive training on these paths/activities at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of the University of Catania, in about 3-4 meetings over a couple of months, and then propose them in class to their students.

Participant, as member of the Italian partner, in the European project "MaSCE3".

MaSCE³ stands for "Math Trails in School, Curriculum and Educational Environments of Europe" and has received funding from the Erasmus+ 2019 strategic partnership programme (Key Action 2 - Strategic Partnerships under the number: 2019-1-DE03-KA201-060118). The consortium comprises eight partners from six different European countries (Germany, France, Portugal, Italy, Estonia and Spain). The aim of the project is to bridge the gap between 'normal mathematics lessons' and mathematics as a 'special learning and teaching method' by adapting them to European mathematics teaching programmes and combining the needs of teachers with the possibility of digitisation.
For more information: http://masce.eu/

Participant in the project "Mathematical Models in the Teaching/Learning of Mathematics"

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Catania
The project intends to use innovative methodologies of Mathematics Teaching to propose training activities for teachers and students aimed at modelling and problem solving.

Participant in the "Math MOOC UniTo" project

Department of Mathematics 'G. Peano', University of Turin
The project deals with the development of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) designed for the training of secondary school mathematics teachers. The MOOCs are designed, realised and delivered thanks to the collaboration of some researchers of the Department of Mathematics "G. Peano" of the University of Turin and some in-service teachers, who have completed the second-level Master "Trainers in Mathematics Didactics" held in the aforementioned Department. These MOOCs are open, free and available online on the DI.FI.MA platform on Moodle (http://difima.i-learn.unito.it/). They offer the use of materials through technological tools that encourage communication and sharing

Participant in the project "For an accessible and inclusive mathematics"

Department of Mathematics "G. Peano", University of Turin
The project, born and developed in its technological aspects in the "G. Peano" Department of Mathematics of the University of Turin, is the result of collaboration with the Disability Office and the Department of Philosophy and Educational Sciences. It stems from the need for the dissemination and use of new technologies for access to university studies, including scientific studies, by young people with disabilities (both motor and sensory).
For further information: http://www.integr-abile.unito.it/homeintegrabile.php