Abstract:

It may seem obvious that the development of the mathematical thinking is one of the most important goals of Mathematics Education. However, the low yield obtained by many countries, including Spain, recently, in the most prestigious international assessment tests on Mathematics Education, PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), which focus on reasoning and problem solving skills as main criteria to assess this area, has shown that their Mathematics Education does not achieve that goal adequately. Several studies agree to consider a poor attitude towards Mathematics on the part of students in Primary Education as the origin of this problem. They also point out, as causes of this situation, a teaching methodology based on repetitive and insignificant activities for the students' learning and the results that they obtain in the teaching units of calculation and arithmetic. The declining interest in studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degrees is maybe the most important consequence of this problem because of its potential impact and negative effects on the development of research and innovation.

As a way for change, an innovation proposal on Mathematics Education for Primary Education based on Digital Game-Based Learning is presented. In it, cryptoarithmetic activities through mobile devices apps are proposed as a way to contribute to improving the results of students in calculation and arithmetic units through problem solving and to increase their interest in learning Mathematics, at the same time that one of the technologies with a major impact in Education is introduced. These aspects help to shape a teaching methodology whose main objective is to provide greater significance to students' learning of Mathematics and to make more attractive this subject to them. Also, cryptoarithmetic activities, apart from being an interesting resource for calculation and arithmetic teaching, are perceived as games by students, a notion that it is expected to be reinforced with the mobile devices apps and introducing gamification in learning experiences, thereby increasing student motivation. Moreover, through this methodology it is supposed to take advantage of the Mobile Learning possibilities to deploy and use technology in the classroom, enriching the students' learning and promoting the acquisition of skills, due to the low cost of mobile devices, over other ICT devices, and their versatility for being used both on and off school.

In this paper is shown a description and a didactic analysis of this proposal and the mobile apps used therein as teaching resources, which are "Cryptogram", developed by Andreas Schulz, and "Cryptogram solver", developed by Günter Hildebrandt, both available for the Android operating system, the most widespread one among mobile devices. Also, the expected conclusions are shown, based on the didactic analysis of the resources and the methodology, among which are the benefits for the development of the Mathematical and Digital Competence. The conclusions of the real impact of the project in the classroom can not be presented yet because it is currently developing.

Keywords:

Innovation project, Mathematics Education, Mobile Learning, Problem Solving, Gamification.