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<div><br></div>
<div>ICMI News 8: February 2009</div>
<div><br>
A Bimonthly Email Newsletter from the ICMI-International Commission on
Mathematical Instruction</div>
<div>Editor: Jaime Carvalho e Silva, Dep. Matematica, Universidade de
Coimbra, Portugal</div>
<div><br>
CONTENTS<br>
</div>
<div>1. Editorial: Resources and technology throughout the history of
ICMI</div>
<div>2. The ICME-12 International Programme Committee</div>
<div>3. A new contract for the NISS series</div>
<div>4. Special Issue on the History of ICMI published by IJHME</div>
<div>5. Calendar of Events of Interest to the ICMI Community</div>
<div>6. Historical vignettes: Greenhill, the first vice-president of
ICMI</div>
<div>7. Subscribing to ICMI News</div>
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<div><br></div>
<div>1. Editorial: Resources and technology throughout the
history of ICMI</div>
<div><br>
Besides the ICMI studies which have been presented in a former issues
of the Newsletter, from time to time publications appear as milestones
in the history of ICMI.<br>
</div>
<div>In the second half of 2008 two rich volumes have been
published:</div>
<div>- The proceedings of ICME10 (Copenhagen, Denmark, 2004),</div>
<div>- The proceedings of the Symposium on the occasion of the 100th
anniversary of ICMI.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>They have been already mentioned in this Newsletter. The former
in ICMI News 5; the latter in ICMI News 6.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>As happens more and more often today, both volumes are
accompanied by rich websites, that are exceptional tools for
researchers and can be accessed free from everywhere. Yet, for my
generation, the emotion of flipping the pages of a paper book is still
worthy.</div>
<div><br>
I shall focus this short note on one particular theme only, well
represented in both volumes: resources and technology in mathematics
education.<br>
</div>
<div>In the proceedings of Symposium, one of the working groups was
devoted to this issue. In the historical reconstruction, what emerged
clearly was that the emphasis on active involvement of students in
laboratory activities was one of the leading forces towards the
constitution of ICMI. The first president of ICMI, Felix Klein, can be
credited with being a pioneer in proposing the use of technology in
school. At the time of Klein, 'ancient' technology were the sole
available (e. g. mechanical calculating machines and curve drawing
devices, and, even, squared paper to plot experimental data). Today it
is more common to refer to Information and Communication Technologies.
In the working group, however, both voices were represented, in nearly
equal relationship.</div>
<div><br>
In the proceedings of ICME10 (and obviously in the forthcoming ICMI
Study 17 on Mathematics Education and Technology-Rethinking the
Terrain) the latter voice (ICT) plays the major or the sole role. In
both cases what appeared clearly is that no resource or technology, by
itself, can make students learn mathematics, as a cultural product of
mankind, without the irreplaceable guide of a well prepared teacher.
As always, hence, the professional education of teachers of
mathematics comes in the foreground.<br>
<br>
Main references:<br>
<br>
Niss. M. & Emborg E. (eds.), (2008), Proceedings of the 10th
International Congress on Mathematical Education, Roskilde (Dk):
IMFUFA.<br>
</div>
<div>An electronic version is dowloadable from:
http://www.icme10.dk/proceedings/pages/side01main.htm.</div>
<div>The printed version (together with a CDrom with all the regular
lectures) costs 50 euros (including shipment). The ordering form is
available at the same address.</div>
<div><br>
Menghini M., Furinghetti F., Giacardi L., Arzarello F. (eds.), (2008),
The First Century of the International Commission on Mathematical
Instruction (1908-2008): Reflecting and Shaping the World of
Mathematics Education, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.<br>
</div>
<div>The book costs 60 euros (reduced price for ICMI people 40 euros,
including shipment). The ordering form is available at
http://www.unige.ch/math/EnsMath/Rome2008/.</div>
<div>The rich website with the History of ICMI is at
http://www.icmihistory.unito.it/.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Mariolina Bartolini Bussi, Member-at-large EC ICMI,<font
color="#000000"> mariagiuseppina.bartolini@unimore.it</font></div>
<div><br></div>
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<div>2. The ICME-12 International Programme Committee</div>
<div><br>
The Executive Committee of ICMI is pleased to announce that it has now
completed the appointment of the International Programme Committee
(IPC) for ICME-12.</div>
<div><br>
The Committee is composed as follows:<br>
<br>
Michèle ARTIGUE (France), ex officio, President of ICMI<br>
Évelyne BARBIN (France)<br>
Morten BLOMHOEJ (Denmark)<br>
Gail BURRILL (USA),<br>
Sung Je CHO (Korea), Chair of the IPC<br>
Johann ENGELBRECHT (South Africa)<br>
Bernard R. HODGSON (Canada), ex officio, Secretary-General of
ICMI<br>
Gabriele KAISER (Germany)<br>
Mercy KAZIMA (Malawi)<br>
Petar KENDEROV (Bulgaria)<br>
Masataka KOYAMA (Japan)<br>
Oh Nam KWON (Korea)<br>
Frederick Koon-shing LEUNG (Hong Kong SAR)<br>
Hee-chan LEW (Korea)<br>
Shiqi LI (China)<br>
Cheryl PRAEGER (Australia)<br>
Marcela SANTILLÁN (México)<br>
Hyun Yong SHIN (Korea), Chair of the Local Organising
Committee<br>
Ravi SUBRAMANIAN (India)<br>
Yuriko YAMAMOTO BALDIN (Brasil)<br>
</div>
<div>The ICME-12 IPC will have its first meeting on June 14-17 of this
year. Any comment or suggestion about the format of the programme of
ICME-12 or its content is most welcome and should be sent to the Chair
of the IPC, Sung Je Cho (sungjcho@snu.ac.kr), no later than May
15.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>The ICME-12 congress will be held in Seoul, Korea, on July 8-15,
2012.<br>
</div>
<div>Bernard R. Hodgson, Secretary-General of ICMI,
bhodgson@mat.ulaval.ca</div>
<div><br></div>
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<div><br></div>
<div>3. A new contract for the NISS series</div>
<div><br>
The Executive Committee of ICMI is pleased to announce that it has
recently signed a new contract with Springer for the publication of
the ICMI Study volumes in the "New ICMI Study Series"
(NISS). <br>
</div>
<div>A major improvement of the new contract, which has been the
object of intense negotiations with Springer for a number of years, is
that ICMI is now entitled to post on its website a pre-publication
open access version of the Study volumes, three years after they have
appeared as books in the NISS series. This clause applies both to
volumes already published in the NISS series and to future books.
We hope to see in a near future some concrete outcome of this new
clause on the ICMI website.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>ICMI has been able to keep some major clauses of the previous
contracts, including the fact that the copyright on the Study volumes
for any other language than English belongs to ICMI --- the only
restriction being that an edition in another language should not
appear until one year after the publication of the original book.
Members of the ICMI community interested in preparing a translation of
(parts of) any book in the NISS series should contact me at their
earliest convenience.</div>
<div><br>
Moreover the 60% discount for individual orders of the NISS volumes is
still valid --- see ICMI News 7 (December 2008) for instructions on
how to order the NISS volumes with the ICMI discount.<br>
<br>
Also some free copies of each book in the NISS series are made
available to ICMI for various purposes (including providing copies to
the editors and main authors of the books).<br>
<br>
Just as I had received for the ICMI archives, very recently, the final
copy of the new NISS contract duly signed by all parties, it was
announced that Marie M. Sheldon, Senior Editor for the Social Sciences
with Springer and in charge of the NISS series, was moving to another
position in the publication world. I wish to use this
opportunity to thank Marie for her superb collaboration over the years
and to express her my very best wishes in her new
responsibilities.<br>
<br>
Information on the books published in the NISS series is available on
the Springer website, through the series homepage:</div>
<div>http://www.springeronline.com/series/6351<br>
<br>
Bernard R. Hodgson, Secretary-General of ICMI,
bhodgson@mat.ulaval.ca</div>
<div><br></div>
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<div><br></div>
<div>4. Special Issue on the History of ICMI published by IJHME<br>
<br>
IJHME, the International Journal for the History of Mathematics
Education, published as its issue vol. 3 (2008), no. 2, a special
issue on the History of IMUK and ICMI. In March 2008, ICMI, the
International Commission on Mathematics Instruction, organized a
Symposium to commemorate the Centennial of the founding of IMUK, of
this first body to establish international cooperation in mathematics
education, in Rome-the very same site where that founding had
occurred.</div>
<div>In the wake of the Centennial, IJHME had already published
several papers about the reform movements around 1908 in an earlier
issue-vol. 2, no. 2 (2007). In this new issue, those contributions
to this Congress are presented, which highlight its historical
dimension in particular.</div>
<div>In fact, the ICMI Centennial had two major aims: firstly,
studying the history of this first international body itself, and
secondly to investigate how key and perennial issues of mathematics
education have developed during the existence of ICMI as shaped and/or
reflected by ICMI activities. This was accomplished by plenary
lectures, special talks, and by the working groups, which were
dedicated specifically to such key issues. The Proceedings of the
Centennial, which are published by now, contain reports about the
working groups by their co-chairs, and abridged versions of the
plenaries and special talks.<br>
Regarding the historical dimension, the special issue of IJHME
publishes three papers: the complete version of one of the plenary
lectures, by Gert Schubring, who gave the first thorough analysis of
the history of IMUK under the presidency of Felix Klein; the complete
version of one of the special talks, by Eileen Donoghue, who details
D. E. Smith's role in creating this institution; and the paper by
Fulvia Furinghetti, whose focus is on the development after the
re-founding in 1952 as ICMI and the role of international
communication, be it by journals, or by other international
organizations.<br>
Among the perennial issues, a major concern has always been
modernization of syllabi and of teacher training, and this is
represented in the issue by three papers: Luciana Zuccheri and Verena
Zudini study the approach, implemented in the (then) Austrian region
of Trieste, to introduce the elements of the calculus in the upper
grades of secondary schools, a key issue of Felix Klein's reform
agenda not implemented, however, in Italy. Arlete de Jesus Brito's
paper is devoted to the role of international agencies in implementing
the "modern mathematics" or the "New Math" in a particularly
industrialized region of Brazil. And Kirstín Bjarnadottir gives a
long-term view of reforms in Iceland, which kept pace with the
international developments.</div>
<div>The transformation of mathematics education and its emergence as
a scientific discipline since the 1960s/70s is discussed by Rolf
Biehler and Andrea Peter-Koop. The use of teaching aids-in modern
terms, "the use of technology"-has been a primordial concern for
all reformers since the early twentieth century and is studied by
Kenneth Ruthven. The use of history of mathematics in its teaching is
a long-standing issue of reform initiatives, too, and Michael Fried
discusses here the status of this issue and its perspectives,
especially as promoted by international organizations like ICMI.</div>
<div>The website of the journal is
http://www.comap.com/historyjournal/index.html<br>
and the special issue is to be found at:</div>
<div><u>http://www.comap.com/historyjournal/journals/vol3no2.html</u><br
>
</div>
<div>Gert Schubring,<font color="#000000"> Bielefeld University,
Germany</font>, gert.schubring@uni-bielefeld.de</div>
<div><br></div>
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<div><br></div>
<div>5. Calendar of Events of Interest to the ICMI Community</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>3rd International Symposium on Mathematics and its Connections to
the Arts and Sciences</div>
<div>Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, 21st-23rd of May, 2009</div>
<div>http://www.umoncton.ca/freimanv/macas3/index.htm</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>The 3rd International Symposium on the History and Pedagogy of
Mathematics in China</div>
<div>Beijing Normal University , Beijing, China, May 22-25, 2009</div>
<div>Xichi Wang, College of Mathematics & Natural Sciences,
Beijing Normal University</div>
<div>19 Xinjeikouwai St., Beijing, 100875., P. R. of China,
xiciwang@mail.bnu.edu.cn</div>
<div>http://www.shuxueshi.cn</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>5th Asian Mathematical Conference</div>
<div>Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 22 - 26,
2009</div>
<div>http://math.usm.my/amc2009/</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>ICTMT-9 - 9th Int Conf on Technology in Mathematics
Teaching</div>
<div>Metz, France, July 6-9, 2009</div>
<div>http://www.ictmt9.org</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>PME33 - 33rd Annual Meeting of the International Group for the
Psychology of Mathematics Education</div>
<div>Thessaloniki, Greece, July 19-24, 2009</div>
<div>http://www.pme33.eu</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Bridges Banff - Mathematics, Music, Art, Architecture,
Culture</div>
<div>The Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada, July 26-29, 2009</div>
<div><u>http://bridgesmathart.org/bridges-2009/</u></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>CIEAEM61 - Commission internationale pour l'étude et
l'amélioration de l'enseignement des mathématiques</div>
<div>Université de MONTRÉAL, Montréal, Québec, Canada, July
26-31, 2009</div>
<div>http://www.cieaem.net/</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>ICTMA 14 - 14th International Conference on the Teaching of
Mathematical Modelling and Applications</div>
<div>University of Hamburg, Germany, July 27-31, 2009</div>
<div>http://www.ictma14.de/</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>SEMT '09 - 10th bi-annual conference on Elementary Mathematics
Teaching,</div>
<div>"The development of mathematical understanding"</div>
<div>Prague, August 23-28, 2009</div>
<div>http://kmdm.pedf.cuni.cz</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>"Models in Developing Mathematics Education"</div>
<div>The Mathematics Education into the 21st Century Project</div>
<div>Dresden, Saxony, Germany, September 11-17, 2009</div>
<div><a
href="mailto:arogerson@inetia.pl">alan@rogerson.pol.pl</a></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>SRD'09 - Southern Right Delta'09</div>
<div>7th Southern Hemisphere Conference on the Teaching</div>
<div>and Learning of Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics</div>
<div>Gordons Bay, South Africa, 29 November-4 December 2009</div>
<div>http://www.delta2009.co.za</div>
<div><br></div>
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<div><br></div>
<div>6. Historical vignettes: Greenhill, the first vice-president of
ICMI</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Alfred George Greenhill (1847-1927) was born in London on 29
November 1847. He entered St. John's College, Cambridge in 1866,
graduating as second wrangler in 1870. He taught briefly at the Royal
Indian Engineering College at Cowper's Hill, before returning to
Cambridge in 1873 as a fellow and lecturer at Emmanuel College.
Finally in 1876, he was appointed professor of mathematics at the
Artillery College in Woolwich, where he stayed for over thirty
years.</div>
<div>The majority of Greenhill's research was concerned with
elliptic functions, or, more specifically, their applications in
applied mathematics. To this end, he investigated the uses of elliptic
functions in dynamics, hydrodynamics, electrostatics and elasticity
theory, using them to treat problems such as the motion of a
symmetrical top, various kinds of fluid motion, and the distortion of
a circular wire under pressure.</div>
<div>In the theory of elasticity, Greenhill's most important work
was probably a paper from 1883 concerning the maximum length possible
for an upright cylinder before it is bent under its own weight. Once
he had solved the problem, Greenhill applied it to the computation of
the greatest height to which a tree can grow, collecting data on the
heights of particular trees to evaluate his result.<br>
In his later years, Greenhill's style of applied mathematics became
increasingly unfashionable when compared to the new rigorous approach
to pure mathematics, as practiced by such early 20th-century British
mathematicians as Hardy and Littlewood, which he disparagingly
referred to as "the morbid pathology of the mathematical
function". His old-fashioned views were accentuated by such a high
admiration of Newton's Principia, that, he said, "I should prefer
to see the whole three books prescribed in the Cambridge course, to be
studied in the original Latin". However, it is thought that "in
making such assertions he was not more than half serious".<br>
But despite his unconventionality, Greenhill was apparently a
successful and highly respected teacher. Indeed, as one of his former
students reports, "Greenhill was loved by his old pupils to a degree
which few Professors can have enjoyed".</div>
<div>Throughout his long scientific career, Greenhill received many
honours. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, a member of the
London Mathematical Society, a corresponding member of the Académie
des Sciences and an honorary foreign member of the Academia dei
Lincei. Finally, when he retired from his Woolwich professorship in
1908, he was knighted by King Edward VII.</div>
<div>In his retirement Greenhill devoted his mathematical activities
more explicitly to matters concerning pedagogy. At the 1908
International Congress of Mathematicians in Rome,<font
color="#000000"> he was appointed one of the three members of the
founding committee of ICMI</font>, the other two being Felix Klein and
Henri Fehr. He served as vice-president of the Commission until
1920.</div>
<div>He continued to work on mathematics during his retirement, but
his health gradually declined throughout the 1920s, and he died on 10
February 1927.<br>
</div>
<div>References<br>
A. E. H. Love, George Greenhill, Journal of the London Mathematical
Society, 3, 1928, 27-32.<br>
J. W. Nicholson, George Greenhill, The Mathematical Gazette, 14,
1928-29, 417-420.<br>
</div>
<div>Adrian Rice, Randolph-Macon College, Virginia, USA,
arice4@rmc.edu<br>
</div>
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<div>7. SUBSCRIBING TO ICMI News</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>There are two ways of subscribing to ICMI News:</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>1. Click on http://www.mathunion.org/ICMI/Mailinglist with a Web
browser</div>
<div>and go to the "Subscribe" button to subscribe to ICMI
News online.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>2. Send an e-mail to icmi-news-request@mathunion.org with the
Subject-line:</div>
<div>Subject: subscribe<br>
<br>
In both cases you will get an e-mail to confirm your subscription
so</div>
<div>that misuse will be minimized. ICMI will not use the list of ICMI
News</div>
<div>addresses for any purpose other than sending ICMI News, and will
not</div>
<div>make it available to others.</div>
<div><br>
Previous issues can be seen at:</div>
<div>http://www.mathunion.org/pipermail/icmi-news</div>
<div><br></div>
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