Growing with mathematics: experiential math workshops for education of pre-school and primary school teachers a teaching guide for professional development and instruction of future teachers

The Erasmus+ ANFoMAM project, "Learning from children to train teachers in the area of mathematics" was born from a meeting between a group of teachers responsible for mathematics subjects in Primary Education degree courses in different universities in France, Italy and Spain. The meeting took place within the Symposium entitled "Beyond numerical literacy" which took place at the 5th International Congress of Education and Development Sciences (Santander, May 2017), in which different experiences that were taking place in initial and continuing education institutions for elementary education teachers were shared. What was observed in these countries is that, in general, participants in primary education degree courses had a poor relationship with mathematics during their student years, often accompanied by feelings of rejection or distress, as well as having acquired a view of mathematics reduced to calculation and mechanical procedures. All the initiatives presented at the Santander Congress pursued the common goal of providing teachers with both a deep understanding of the basic concepts of mathematics and the educational resources necessary for effective teaching in the classroom. The researchers agreed that it was the university that should provide these trainee teachers with new experiences with mathematics, so that they could give children the confidence and enthusiasm to learn. The design and implementation of experiences of this type is the fundamental objective of the ANFoMAM project, which was funded by the Erasmus+ program of Strategic Partnerships in the Higher Education Sector, and in which the following institutions participated: Université de Bordeaux (Institute National Superior of Teachers and Education of the Academy of Bordeaux), in France; Roma Tre University (Department of Education), in Italy; University of Zaragoza and Public University of Navarra, in Spain; Sesdown Association, which is dedicated to research in the education of children with Trisomy 21, also in Spain, and the ToKalon Association, which operates in Italy in the field of continuous training of in-service teachers. This innovative didactic material is a didactic guide for teacher mathematical training, made up of 6 mathematical workshops: 1. Understanding of arithmetic algorithms. 2. Resolution of arithmetic problems. 3. Relationship between arithmetic and geometry. 4. Mental calculation and use of the calculator. 5. History of mathematics and its teaching. 6. Geometry