Aims

The purpose of TSG 32 is to gather congress participants who are interested in research, policy or design that focuses on mathematics curriculum development. This TSG will include presentations and discussions of the state-of-this topic area and new trends and developments in research and practice in mathematics education.
Curriculum may be thought of at various levels.

• On a national or state level, the focus is on content and goals for the primary or secondary school mathematics curriculum. In most countries central or state governments decide what students have to learn, which is described in curriculum and policy documents. What are the experiences of different countries regarding curriculum design: who is involved, what reasons are given for change, does research on the existing curriculum (e.g. into what students fail to learn) or on societal demands, inform curriculum design? Looking at specific issues, how have curricula fared with differentiated aims for children from different social and cultural backgrounds or those assumed to have different ‘abilities’? How does the curriculum address extreme ranges of attainment? Research could also engage with issues of how the formal curriculum of schooled math interfaces with everyday mathematical knowledge of learners from diverse cultural contexts. On a classroom level we may think of implementation issues, such as how teachers’ own pedagogical and content knowledge shapes curriculum interpretation and transaction and how they use textbooks or other materials. To what extent do teachers participate in curriculum development? What support in the form of online or textual materials or local professional development can best help teachers’ use of new curricula (e.g. changes to constructivist or constructionist instruction)? And what are pupils’ experiences and views on the curriculum?
• A more specific level of curriculum design concerns the developmental trajectories of mathematics content and the best way to represent them. This must address the problem of translating curricular aims in ways that teachers understand and can transact into classroom activity. There is also the important problem of alignment of assessment with aims - from international surveys to state examinations which may be used to compare school and teacher effectiveness and thus carry such high stakes that they dominate over more academic curriculum guidance.
• In relation to this theme, we especially want to solicit papers that may foster the deliberation on the varied aims of the curriculum and bring concerns and experiences from different contexts. For example what should students learn to be well prepared to participate in everyday activities of their present lives as well as at the workplace in future. Two issues arise from this, one is the role of globalization and informatization, the other concerns issues of emancipation and social justice. For different countries, different concerns may be the most pressing. For many industrialized countries, for instance, outsourcing, and computerization of work will have a strong impact on employability, and-- par extension-- on the goals of mathematics education. Should these concerns be allowed to influence elementary curricula or should these be manifest only at the secondary/post-compulsory stage? However, for many students the emphasis may have to be on math for empowerment, to avoid the alienation and marginalization that formal schools tend to produce by terming the disadvantaged as ‘slow learners’ and ‘not good enough’ for more challenging/ stimulating mathematical tasks. And alongside these other curricular concerns how can the transmission of traditional cultural knowledge and the needs of further and higher education in a variety of subjects be taken account of?
• Presentations on the above issues and questions could include empirical studies, theoretical studies, as well as position papers and reports from the field.

Guidelines for submission
TSG 32 will meet for four sessions of 1.5 hours each. The structure and organization of these sessions will depend upon the proposals submitted. The organizing team invites submissions of proposals for oral presentations or posters relevant to the aims and focus of TSG 32 as described above. We expect that most contributions will address one or more of the issues and questions identified above. The official language of the congress is English and proposals should be presented primarily in English. Further guidelines for submission are as follows:

• Brief proposals for papers and posters (1000 - 1200 words) should be submitted electronically by Nov 1, 2011 both through the TSG 32 online submission system at the ICME-12 official website and by email to the co-chairs of the TSG 32.
• Indicate whether your proposal is for a poster or an oral presentation. If your proposal is accepted, you will be invited to prepare a paper of no more than 8 pages through the TSG 32 online submission system by 10 April 2012. The template will be found at the ICME-12 website.
• Poster presentations will be allocated time for discussion.
• Time allocation and other details (parallel or not) about the oral presentations will be decided upon depending on the number of proposals received.
• In case of queries and clarifications contact the two co-chairs.

On-line submission
Go to<My Page> at the first page of the Congress Homepage http://icme12.org or press <Submit your proposal> button on TSG 32 website in the Congress Homepage.

Deadlines
November 30, 2011 Proposal submission
January 15, 2012 Notification of acceptance
April 10, 2012 Submission of Final Draft

Organizers
Co-chairs : Koeno Gravemeijer(Netherlands) koeno.gravemeijer@esoe.nl, k.gravemeijer@tue.nl  
                 Anita Rampal(India) anita.rampal@gmail.com
Team Members : Margaret Brown(UK) margaret.brown@kcl.ac.uk 
                          Hye Jeong Hwang(Korea) sh0502@chosun.ac.kr
                          Cyril Julie(SA) cjulie@uwc.ac.za
Liaison IPC Member : Cheryl Praeger praeger@maths.uwa.edu.au