22 Nov Maratón de Mate 2.0 Impact Update

As a math education nonprofit, numbers are at the core of what we do. So when we had a chance to dig into the numbers from our most well-attended conference ever, we felt positively giddy with glee. We hope you’re encouraged by the story they tell.

The first number is a big one: 1,307 educators attended the virtual Maratón de Mate 2.0 either synchronously, asynchronously, or both. Seventy percent of that total was current classroom teachers, with the rest being parents, education leaders, and pre-service teachers. We estimate that we reached more than 70,000 students!

Where did these 1,307 educators come from? They logged in from nine countries:

• Argentina
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Ecuador
• Guatemala
• Mexico
• Peru
• Spain
• United States

Of the 24 provinces in Ecuador, 20 were represented. The participants lived in 114 cities and worked in over 360 schools and other educational institutions.

With this being only the second year of the annual event, we dug into the teachers’ ratings to identify its strengths and weaknesses. We were pleased to see that the conference was rated positively across most dimensions. For example, when asked on a scale of 1 to 10 to rate how closely the Maratón de Mate met expectations, the average score was 9.7. The average rating when asked if a teacher would recommend the conference was 9.8. Ninety-four percent of participants said they looked forward to attending again.

Taking a Deeper Dive

Drilling down into the content knowledge of the participants, we compared how many of them felt equipped to teach a topic before and after a workshop. Before the sessions, on average, 20% of participants selected “soy capaz de enseñarlo a otros [I am able to teach it to others].” After the workshops, 73% felt capable of teaching the topic. That’s a 365% increase!

Maratón de Mate attendees received certificates of participation for each workshop they attended synchronously. Since then, 18 hours of professional development credit remain available through online video recordings on the Participate platform. Teachers can earn a digital badge for watching the recorded workshops, participating in discussions, and submitting a reflection of what they learned along with evidence for how they are putting their new knowledge into practice.

Educators’ Reflections

One of these badge-earners sent us a detailed reflection on what he learned from a presentation about an ancient indigenous device known as the taptana Cañari. Derived from Ecuador’s history in the Cañar region, a replica of the tablet can be constructed from common household objects. The participant engaged students in an activity that placed mathematical reasoning in a cultural context with real-world application.

Another participant attended six workshops synchronously and then completed all the work necessary for her digital badge. As a pre-service teacher, her reflection affirmed that she gained valuable, practical knowledge.

Me he dado cuenta que los docentes son guías y facilitadores de conocimientos, permitiendo a los estudiantes ser protagonistas de su proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje.  [I realized that teachers are guides and facilitators of knowledge, allowing students to be protagonists in their teaching-learning process.]