From "Matheband" to "Mattekedjor": Swedish teachers visit Berlin

In October 2025,  Helena Dalivin and Agneta Jansson from Sweden visited their colleagues Solveg Schlinske and Daniela Wellhausen, two mathematics teachers from Berlin whom they met at the Science on Stage festival in Turku 2024.

They wanted to develop a new method that combines the two approaches they previously presented at the Turku festival: Starter Tasks and Collaboration at Whiteboards.
Since the festival, they had continuously exchanged ideas and collaborated to develop the new method through several Teams meetings, and the new method was named "Math Chains" (Mattekedjor). Math Chains consists of cards that cover all areas of mathematics for grades 4–6 and 7–9. Each card contains three tasks of increasing difficulty.

The goal of the trip was to deepen their understanding of how the method works in practice by visiting each other’s classrooms and talking with both students and teachers who tested it. Through joint testing and observations, they wanted to see whether the method could strengthen students’ understanding and communicative abilities in mathematics.

During the school visits in Berlin, they had the opportunity to see how the German version of the method (the Matheband) was used in the classroom, thus discovering different ways of using the approach. They report: "Another important lesson was how smoothly the German teachers transitioned between different lesson elements. The students maintained focus thanks to clear signals such as a bell, a short music jingle, or a clapping pattern. These small routines created natural and focused transitions."

All in all, they write, "Through collaboration with the teachers in Berlin, the method gains increased credibility, as it has now been tested in more classrooms across Europe. For us, as part of the KULF group (Compensatory Teaching for Learning and Research), this means we can continue developing the method on a scientific basis, in collaboration with researchers, teacher educators, and other schools. We have also gained new perspectives on how variation and clear lesson structures can contribute to increased student focus and improved communication skills in mathematics. ... We want to continue spreading the method and inspiring more teachers to try it in their classrooms."