Péter Juhász, head of the Didactics Department at Rényi Institute, talks about scientific results, made especially timely by the fact that a member of this very department has recently become ministerial commissioner responsible for public education content development.
What does inquiry-based teaching of mathematics mean? How can discovering a new area of mathematics become an enjoyable experience for students? Why can this approach bring about a change in perspective for both teachers and pupils, and what kind of new ways of thinking can this method foster in other areas of life as well?
Péter Juhász, head of the Didactics Department at HUN-REN Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics, leader of the MTA – Rényi – ELTE Research Group for Inquiry-Based Mathematics Education, and president of The Joy of Thinking Foundation, was a guest on the program Creative Survivor, broadcast both on Trend FM and RadioCafe. The Joy of Thinking Foundation also oversees the Month of Math program. The radio discussion reveals why it can be beneficial even for adults to tackle entertaining, though sometimes challenging mathematical problems.
“The primary goal is not simply to transfer a certain amount of mathematical knowledge into students’ heads, because today it is no longer even clear what information people will need after finishing school. Much more important is enabling them to experience that thinking about a problem, understanding it, and grasping it independently is enjoyable and rewarding,” Péter Juhász explains in response to Andrea Oláh’s questions.
For dr. Juhász as head of Rényi Institute’s Didactics Department, who considers teaching an essential part of his research work, what matters far more is how much participants, including his students, enjoy solving a mathematical puzzle and how intensely they engage in thinking, rather than whether they can later complete a test on a given theorem or lemma.
This perspective is both innovative and highly timely. Around the world, schools are experiencing changes in their role, the nature of teaching, and even educational goals – reflecting rapid and intense transformations taking place globally. Juhász, who also holds a PhD in geography, emphasizes that education should increasingly focus on awakening creativity and managing information effectively. The world is changing so quickly that alongside, or in many cases instead of, factual knowledge, schools should teach skills that young people will actually use later in life: “adaptability in adulthood, making informed decisions, and nurturing creativity.”
“Another important task of schools – only indirectly connected to mathematics,” he adds, “is teaching students to pay attention to one another, approach each other with empathy, help one another, recognize the many positive qualities in others, ask supportive questions, and allow others the joy of finding solutions at their own pace.”
This shift in pedagogical attitudes and methodology is a special application of Inquiry-Based Learning, which is becoming increasingly popular internationally. Its aim, Juhász explains, is to create more positive and meaningful experiences. (Inquiry-Based Learning is a learner-centered pedagogical approach in which students formulate their own questions and discover knowledge through active exploration, experimentation, and problem-solving, rather than receiving ready-made facts directly from the teacher, ed.)
Members of The Rényi Didactics Department and the MTA – Rényi Research Group for Inquiry-Based Mathematics Education have extensive hands-on experience. They work closely with teachers, involving them in designing problems and activities. In other words, interested teachers of mathematics themselves learn about renewing education of mathematics through inquiry-based methods: they actively participate in making teaching enjoyable both for themselves and for their students.
| Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) is one possible approach to active learning. Methodologically, it overlaps with several other educational approaches, such as project-based learning, problem-based learning, and discovery learning. Inquiry-based learning is a process in which learners engage in learning, formulate questions, investigate extensively, and then build new interpretations, meanings, and knowledge. This knowledge is new to learners and can be used to answer a question, develop a solution, or support a position or point of view. The knowledge is usually shared with others and may result in some form of action.” (Focus on Inquiry, 2004, 1) Through inquiry-based learning, students can develop skills – such as problem-solving – that they can later apply in other educational contexts and learning situations as well. (Source: MeRSZ.hu) |
The long-term goal, however, is not only for especially enthusiastic teachers to adopt the new methodology, but for it to spread more widely. According to Juhász, their method is not exclusive and probably does not suit every teacher’s personality. It is also admittedly time-consuming, because it is unfamiliar and cannot be pursued routinely. Every class is different, students ask different kinds of questions, and therefore teachers need to pay active attention and respond thoughtfully.
At the same time, “the research group strives to provide teachers with sufficient support to encourage them to try this approach,” he emphasizes. He is also convinced that, in the long run, this method could become part of math teachers' training. “Science should play a role in what happens in education,” says Juhász, who also has experience as a programmer mathematician.
Csaba Csapodi, research fellow at Rényi Institute, director-general of ELTE's Teacher Training Center, lecturer at ELTE's Faculty of Science, and one of the leading experts in the renewal of mathematics education, has become the ministerial commissioner responsible for public education content development. At the heart of his work is the idea that the education in mathematics should focus on problem-solving, understanding, and practical applicability. News about his research is available HERE, A recent portrait on the news portal HVG.hu titled “He Will Be the Main Person Responsible for the New National Curriculum – Who Is Csaba Csapodi?” can also be read in Hungarian or in translation HERE. 
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For students, it can be an invaluable benefit if “they learn that thinking is enjoyable, while also learning to understand unfamiliar situations and systems,” adds Péter Juhász, senior research fellow at Rényi Institute. This is essential for making good decisions and anticipating possible consequences – not only in mathematics, but in many other fields as well. As examples, he mentions clinical trials at pharmaceutical companies, the winding paths of economics, or organizing an interesting yet accessible cultural exhibition.
Péter Juhász is also president of The Joy of Thinking Foundation, which already attracted broad public interest in its first experimental year. Both younger and older participants regularly submitted solutions to puzzles published on the foundation’s public platforms. Encouraged by this success, the researchers are continuing this year as well, creating new, original, and exciting mathematical problems with the explicit aim of making them attractive at a first glance.
Many of these problems are inspired by real-life situations, such as the mathematics behind barcodes, the residents of an apartment building (some gossiping, some trustworthy), dividing possessions among siblings, or a board game involving Roman numerals.
“We use a great deal of mathematics in everyday life,” says Juhász. This is one reason why The Joy of Thinking Foundation created the Month of Math initiative which has just concluded. “During the past month, we published two problems three times a week. Altogether, we shared 31 problems, always providing the solutions the next time.” “We encourage people to continue submitting their own solutions later as well, and not simply follow the solution path we provide routinely,” Juhász emphasizes. Through such initiatives the experience of solving problems can become accessible to everyone.
“In other cases,” Juhász says, “and these are actually more common, I have a concrete pedagogical goal and look for attractive, non-standard mathematical problems to support it.” He considers the development of mathematical thinking among 13 –18-year-olds enormously important through this new approach, which “does not merely tell students things, but guides them toward discovery.”
Developing mathematical thinking also strengthens critical thinking and approach. “In many life decisions, truth is not simply black or white – it is not a choice between true and false. This educational approach helps cultivate nuanced thinking, and it also teaches us to recognize our own limitations within a situation. I hope this mathematical mindset can seriously help our children navigate this complex 21st-century world once they become adults.”