University of Salzburg
Univ.-Prof. Priv.-Doz. Mag. Dr. Günter J. Maresch is Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Salzburg (Austria). His research topics are spatial ability, spatial thinking training and diagnosis, descriptive geometry, computer-aided design (CAD), and curriculum development.
Dr. Maresch studied descriptive geometry and mathematics at the Vienna University of Technology (Austria) and after completing his Master’s degree (1994), he took a position as a teacher of mathematics, descriptive geometry, and information and communication technology (ICT) at secondary schools in the province of Salzburg.
Dr. Maresch was a lecturer at the University of Salzburg from 1998 to 2014, where he taught courses on spatial ability, descriptive geometry, and computer-aided design (CAD).
Dr. Maresch completed his Ph.D. studies at the University of Salzburg (Austria) in 2004. His Ph.D. thesis focused on e-learning and computer-aided design as well as the development of a didactical concept for increasing the quality of geometry instruction.
He continues to provide professional programs in many countries, including Austria, Germany, Finland, Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Hungary, and South Africa.
From 2014 to 2016, he was an Assistant Professor for Mathematics Education and Geometry at the University of Salzburg. In 2016, Dr. Maresch was awarded the rank of Associate professor for Mathematics Education at the University of Salzburg.
Since 1998 Dr. Maresch has provided lecturers at more than 300 conferences and teacher in-service training programs in the form of keynotes, workshops, and seminars, which were focused on geometry, spatial ability, mathematics, and ICT.
In 2012, Prof. Maresch was named “Educator of the Year” at the worldwide competition of Bentley Systems, and in 2020, he was one of the winners of the “Digital Teaching Award” of the University of Salzburg.
From 2007 to 2012, Dr. Maresch was a member of the local education management board and the head of the institute for lifelong learning for upper secondary schools at the Salzburg University College of Teacher Education and during this time he organized more than 700 teacher in-service training programs for teachers and headmasters of Austrian lower and upper secondary schools per year.
Since 2002, he has been a member of the curriculum board of the Austrian Ministry of Education – responsible for the development of the curricula for the secondary schools.
From 2022 until 2024 he was the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Digital and Analytical Sciences of the University of Salzburg.
In summary, he has published more than 100 research papers (https://geometriedidaktik.at/en/about/papers/ ) and 20 books (https://geometriedidaktik.at/en/about/buecher/) for students, researchers and teachers of mathematics, and books on geometry for the general readership.
Dr. Maresch is the inventor and chief developer of the international online spatial thinking training and diagnosis platform RIF (https://rif4you.eu/en). More than 5 million tasks have been completed on the free platform by students from 63 countries around the world.