“Math can be this too!?” – The open-to-all Mathematics Everywhere online course

Mathematics is often associated with numbers and calculations. For many, it feels difficult, intimidating, uninteresting, or disconnected from real life. The open online course Mathematics Everywhere (Matematiikkaa kaikkialla) aims to challenge these perceptions by offering fresh perspectives on what mathematics is and where it appears. Through the course, students begin to recognize mathematics in their everyday surroundings, discover its meaning and relevance, and broaden their understanding of the nature of mathematics.

The course emphasises hands-on activities. Participants get to add two photographs together, trace the ancestral line of a dangerous virus, send encrypted messages, find mathematics in works of art, and so on. The tasks highlight the problem solving nature of mathematics and also portrait mathematics as something approachable and applicable rather than abstract and distant.

In nature, mathematics can be found for example in the patterns formed by the scales of pine cones. The students get to explore these patterns.

The course is suitable for pre‑ and in‑service teachers, upper‑secondary students, and anyone with an interest in mathematics. No prior knowledge is required. As one upper‑secondary student shared:

“The course topics were connected to real life, and it was easy to see how mathematics is actually used. This was really good for my own enthusiasm for math. Now it feels again like math is cool and fun!” 

At the University of Eastern Finland, all future mathematics teachers take this course as part of their studies. The idea is that they will bring the activities they experience into their own classrooms, giving their future students opportunities to encounter mathematics in meaningful ways. This is especially valuable for students who feel they are not good at math or believe mathematics is not for them. Authentic, hands‑on experiences can reshape these perceptions.

Pre‑service teachers, in particular, often describe the course as eye‑opening. Many arrive expecting traditional mathematics content but find something broader and more joyful. As two future teachers reflected:

“I’ve learned that mathematics is much more than calculating numbers. It appears in many things you wouldn’t immediately consider mathematical. I’ve also gained a lot of useful material that I can use in my future work as a teacher.”

“All these contents were things I didn’t really know to expect, and I especially liked that!”

You can explore the course materials (available in English and Finnish) through the link below. No login is required; simply choose “Login as a guest” to browse the contents: https://digicampus.fi/course/view.php?id=6494

Writer

Dr. Johanna Rämö
University lecturer
University of Eastern Finland
Department of Physics and Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology