The scientific activities in this area fall within the Italian scientific field MAT/04, with a primary focus on mathematics education.
The studies and expertise gained from research in this domain are essential for various applications, including teacher training for both in-service and pre-service educators, the education of mathematics students interested in this field, and the broader relationships with all professions related to education.
Research Topics
The research in mathematics education pursued at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Pisa deals with difficulties related to the learning and teaching of mathematics. This area has significant connections with all mathematical disciplines – and in particular with epistemological issues – as well as with learning sciences and the psychology of learning.
The team’s specific research interests include: difficulties in mathematics; mathematical competence; problem-solving; teacher training; the use of artifacts in mathematics teaching and learning.
The members of the research group are the scientific coordinators of the research group G.R.S.D.M. (Group for Research and Experimentation in Mathematics Education – which involves more than 50 teachers and researchers coming from various cities in Italy) and of the CARME (https://www.carme.center) Center for Advanced Research on Mathematics Education in Pistoia.
The research group has been involved in the Piano Nazionale Lauree Scientifiche (PLS) since its foundation, and the current national coordinator of PLS is Mirko Maracci.
People
Faculty
| Name | Surname | Personal Card | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anna Ethelwyn | Baccaglini-Frank | anna.baccaglinifrank@unipi.it | |
| Pietro | Di Martino | pietro.di.martino@unipi.it | |
| Giulia | Lisarelli | giulia.lisarelli@unipi.it | |
| Mirko | Maracci | mirko.maracci@unipi.it |
Affiliate Members
| Name | Surname | Personal Card | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Franco | Favilli | franco.favilli@unipi.it | |
| Pier Daniele | Napolitani | pierdaniele@gmail.com | |
| Rosetta | Zan | rosetta.zan@unipi.it |
Former Members
| Name | Surname | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberto | Cogliati | alberto.cogliati@unipi.it |
Postdoctoral Fellows
there is no data
Ph.D. Students at the University of Pisa
| Name | Surname | Personal Card | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ginevra | Aquilina | ginevra.aquilina@phd.unipi.it | |
| Cristina | Poli | cristina.poli@phd.unipi.it | |
| Federica | Poli | f.poli23@studenti.unipi.it |
Ph.D. Students at other institutions
| Name | Surname | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|
| Rikke Maagaard | Gregersen | Aarhus University |
| Rachele | Rivis | Università degli Studi di Milano (La Statale) |
Ph.D. Theses supervised by members of the group
awarded by the University of Pisa
| Year | Name | Surname | Title of the Thesis | Supervisor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Elena | Macchioni | Capturing struggling students’ mathematics difficulties holistically: Towards a Characterization of Mathematics Discourse Participation Profiles | Anna Ethelwyn Baccaglini-Frank |
| 2017 | Giulia | Signorini | Le convinzioni e le emozioni degli insegnanti sulle prove INVALSI di matematica. La ricerca qualitativa di profili attraverso un approccio "grounded" | Pietro Di Martino |
awarded by another institution
| Year | Name | Surname | Title of the Thesis | Institution | Supervisor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Elisa | Miragliotta | Geometric prediction: a model to analyze a cognitive process in geometrical problem-solving | Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia | Anna Ethelwyn Baccaglini-Frank |
| 2019 | Giulia | Lisarelli | A dynamic approach to functions and their graphs: a study of students' discourse from a commognitive perspective | Università degli Studi di Firenze | Samuele Antonini and Anna Ethelwyn Baccaglini-Frank |
Research Projects
Current
Center for Advanced Research on Mathematics Education (CARME)
Local coordinators: Anna Baccaglini-Frank (Università di Pisa), Pietro Di Martino (Università di Pisa)
Website: link
DIGiMath (Progetto nazionale per la scuola secondaria di secondo grado)
Coordinator: Giovannina Albano (Università del Salento)
Local participants: Anna Baccaglini-Frank (Università di Pisa), Elisa Miragliotta (Università di Pisa)
GRSDM (Gruppo Ricerca e Sperimentazione in Didattica della Matematica)
Scientific coordinator: Pietro Di Martino (Università di Pisa)
Participants: Anna Baccaglini-Frank (Università di Pisa), Giuseppe Fiorentino (Accademia Navale di Livorno), Mirko Maracci (Università di Pisa).
The project involves 78 teachers from primary and secondary schools.
Project period: June 2016 – present
Research-Action programme 2023-24: link
Registration form: link
E-learning Platform: link
Contact person: Giulia Lisarelli, giulia.lisarelli@unipi.it
PerContarePRO
This is a project coordinated by the Foundation ASPHI Onlus, realized with the support of “Fondazione della Cassa di Risparmio di Pescia e Pistoia”
Local coordinator: Anna Baccaglini-Frank (Università di Pisa)
Participants: Alessandro Ramploud (Università di Pisa), Silvia Funghi
Problemi al centro
Local coordinator: Pietro Di Martino (Università di Pisa)
Participants: Silvia Funghi (Università di Pisa), Rosetta Zan (Università di Pisa)
Past
FIRB “L’atteggiamento nei confronti della matematica: analisi teorica, progettazione di strumenti di osservazione, realizzazione di un’indagine evolutiva”
Scientific coordinator: Rosetta Zan (Università di Pisa)
Participant: Pietro Di Martino (Università di Pisa)
Project period: 2002 – 2004
Materials: link
Didattica della Matematica Inclusiva (IPRASE)
Local coordinator: Anna Baccaglini-Frank (Università di Pisa)
Participants: Giulia Lisarelli (Università di Pisa), Federica Poli (Università di Pisa)
Piano Lauree Scientifiche (PLS)
Scientific coordinator: Daniele Boffi (Università di Pavia, Italy)
Local coordinator: Pietro Di Martino (Università di Pisa, Italy)
Project period: 2015 – 2019
website: link
GRAINVALSI
Local coordinator: Rosetta Zan (Università di Pisa)
Coordinator for the primary school: Pietro Di Martino (Università di Pisa)
Participants: Maria Alessandra Mariotti (Università di Pisa), Laura Maffei (Università di Pisa), Giulia Signorini (Università di Pisa), Paola Maggi (Università di Pisa), Lucia Stelli (Università di Pisa)
Project period: September 2013 – September 2014
Website: link
Materials: link
PerContare
This is a project of the Foundation ASPHI Onlus, realized with the support of “Fondazione per la Scuola della Compagnia di San Paolo”
Local coordinator: Anna Baccaglini-Frank (Università di Pisa)
Participants: Alessandro Ramploud (Università di Pisa), Silvia Funghi
Website: link
Grants
Current
-
DynaMat (Prin 2020)
Principal Investigator: Anna Ethelwyn Baccaglini-Frank
Project period: Mar 22, 2022 – Mar 21, 2025
-
Dipartimento di Eccellenza 2023-2027 (Progetto Ministeriale Nazionale)
Coordinator of the Research Unit: Matteo Novaga
Project period: Jan 01, 2023 – Dec 31, 2027
-
Progetto nazionale di Matematica (Piano Lauree Scientifiche 2021 - 2023)
Principal Investigator: Mirko Maracci
Project period: Aug 22, 2023 – Dec 31, 2025
Past
-
Neurons, Odorants, Maths, Sleep: get insight into the molecular mechanisms of cognitive impairment (Progetti di Ricerca di Ateneo (PRA) 2020 - 2021)
Principal Investigator: Anna Ethelwyn Baccaglini-Frank
Project period: Jul 07, 2020 – Dec 31, 2022
-
Spazi di moduli, geometria aritmetica e aspetti storici (Progetti di Ricerca di Ateneo (PRA) 2020 - 2021)
Principal Investigator: Mattia Talpo
Project period: Jul 07, 2020 – Dec 31, 2022
-
PROSTEAM - PROmoting STEAM in primary school: partnership for disseminating good practices (Erasmus+ Project)
Principal Investigator: Francisco Peixoto
Coordinator of the Research Unit: Anna Ethelwyn Baccaglini-Frank
Project period: Feb 01, 2022 – Jan 31, 2025
Visitors
Prospective
there is no data
Current
there is no data
Grouped by year
2025
| First Name | Last Name | Affiliation | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maria | Pezzia | Istituto Comprensivo Gabelli (Torino) | Feb 21, 2025 | Feb 23, 2025 |
2024
| First Name | Last Name | Affiliation | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argante | Ciocci | N/A | Feb 25, 2024 | Feb 26, 2024 |
| Silvia | De Toffoli | Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori Pavia | Feb 06, 2024 | Feb 07, 2024 |
| Pier Luigi | Ferrari | Università del Piemonte Orientale | Mar 04, 2024 | Mar 05, 2024 |
| Jeremy | Gray | University of Warwick | Jan 19, 2024 | Jan 19, 2024 |
| Mariana | Levin | Western Michigan University | May 24, 2024 | May 27, 2024 |
| Maria | Pezzia | Istituto Comprensivo Gabelli (Torino) | Apr 11, 2024 | Apr 12, 2024 |
| Enrico | Rogora | Sapienza Università di Roma | Nov 21, 2024 | Nov 23, 2024 |
| Ken | Saito | Osaka Prefecture University | Nov 03, 2024 | Nov 07, 2024 |
2023
| First Name | Last Name | Affiliation | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gabriele | Anzellotti | Università degli Studi di Trento | Oct 29, 2023 | Oct 31, 2023 |
| Uffe | Jankvist | Aarhus University | Apr 17, 2023 | Apr 22, 2023 |
| Gabriella | Pocalana | Università di Torino | Jun 01, 2023 | Jun 01, 2023 |
| Ken | Saito | Osaka Prefecture University | Oct 29, 2023 | Nov 05, 2023 |
| Stanislaw | Schukajlow-Wasjutinski | Universität Münster | Apr 03, 2023 | Apr 09, 2023 |
| Nathalie | Sinclair | Simon Fraser University | Mar 13, 2023 | Mar 17, 2023 |
| Jon | Star | Harvard University | Nov 06, 2023 | Nov 13, 2023 |
2022
| First Name | Last Name | Affiliation | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Umberto | Bottazzini | Università degli Studi di Milano (La Statale) | Sep 29, 2022 | Sep 30, 2022 |
| Aldo | Brigaglia | Università degli Studi di Palermo | Sep 29, 2022 | Sep 30, 2022 |
| Cinzia | Cerroni | Università degli Studi di Palermo | Sep 29, 2022 | Sep 30, 2022 |
| Ciro | Ciliberto | Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata | Sep 29, 2022 | Sep 30, 2022 |
| Paolo | Freguglia | Università degli Studi dell'Aquila | Sep 29, 2022 | Sep 30, 2022 |
| Erika | Luciano | Università di Torino | Sep 29, 2022 | Sep 30, 2022 |
| Enrico | Rogora | Sapienza Università di Roma | Sep 29, 2022 | Sep 30, 2022 |
| Riccardo | Rosso | Università degli Studi di Pavia | Sep 29, 2022 | Sep 30, 2022 |
| Ken | Saito | Osaka Prefecture University | Nov 01, 2022 | Nov 30, 2022 |
| Rossana | Tazzioli | Université de Lille | Sep 29, 2022 | Sep 30, 2022 |