LeMP - Learning math in prison: educational design in context of multi-complexity

Acronimous: LeMP 

Title: Learning math in prison: educational design in context of multi-complexity  

Principal Investigator: Prof. Chiara Giberti (University of Bergamo) 

UNIBO’s role: Local search unit 

Local Unit Scientific Responsibles: Dott. Luca Decembrotto (EDU), Dott. Andrea Maffia (MAT) 

Project Team: Luca Decembrotto, Giulia De Rocco, Veronica Manzoni (EDU), Andrea Maffia, Federica Mennuni (MAT) 

Partners/Local Units:  

Prof. Miragliotti Elisa, University of Pavia 

Prof. Enrico Angeli Emili, University of Urbino “Carlo Bo”  

Prof. Gigliola Paviotti, University of Macerata 

Project Duration (in months): 24 

Start Date: 15/10/2023 

End Date: 15/10/2025 

Status: active 

Total Cost of the project:  

MUR funds: € 211.572,00 

Budget UNIBO: € 199.422,00 

Project’s Topics: € 92.400,00 

Description: Education represents one of the main problems in prison, even though the right to study is clearly provided for by the Italian Constitution (Art. 34, Art. 33 Const.), by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Art. 26 DUDU) and is also explicitly recognised by Prison Law (Art. 15, Art. 19 O.P.). 

 Ministerial data describe a critical level of schooling of adult prisoners in Italy. Among the subjects studied in prison, mathematics plays a special role being, on the one hand, a form of personal pastime for prisoners and, on the other hand, an important foundation in view of future studies or job positions to which prisoners may aspire once they leave prison (Ahl & Helenius, 2021). For this reason, learning mathematics appears to be particularly important in the prison context, but there is a gap in the scientific literature on this topic. 

 Teachers in prison are crucial ‘agents of change’ (Zizioli, 2014), able to introduce the student to new individual and relational knowledge. However, at present, there is no specific training for Italian teachers in prison. Specific skills are acquired ‘in the field’, through direct experience, and mathematics teachers in prison schools express a need for professional updating and dedicated teaching materials. 

A response to these needs requires theoretical elaboration since research on the teaching/learning of mathematics in prisons is very scarce internationally and almost non-existent in Italy. First of all, descriptive research is needed to frame the specificity of the development of mathematical competence in the context of Italian prisons. Then, design and didactic principles have yet to be developed and tested in the field. 

 Within LeMP, organised sets of mathematical tasks (which we refer to as learning units) are co-constructed by researchers and teachers (from prison schools in different Italian regions) working together. Researchers inform teachers about possible solutions available in the literature (e.g. Universal Design for Learning); teachers contribute with their experience of teaching mathematics in the specific context of prisons. 

During the design process, the researchers develop design principles (van den Akker, 1999) to be used for the production of further material and for the future training of teachers working in the prison context. Through the repetition of several cycles of context analysis, product design and evaluation, the project aims to provide design principles for teaching mathematics in prison (as a theoretical outcome) and examples of the application of these principles in various learning units (as a practical outcome).