First Mathematics Education Congress for Central America and the Caribbean (November 6-8, 2013)

The first Mathematics Education Congress for Central America and the Caribbean was successfully held in the Dominican Republic on November 6-8, 2013. Over 600 attendees—with 150 papers or posters from 230 speakers hailing from 19 countries (Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, United States, and Venezuela) graced the meeting hall. The academic venue was the Pontificia Universidad Madre y Maestra, and the activities were held at that institution and at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

The plenary speakers were Ubiratàn D’Ambrosio (Brazil), Michèle Artigue (France), Luis Radford (Guatemala-Canada), Salvador Llinares (Spain), Patrick Scott (USA), and Eduardo Mancera (Mexico).

Fourteen additional invited speakers from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain, the United States, and Venezuela made significant contributions to the scientific program. The Proceedings can be downloaded at http://i.cemacyc.org.

This event was the main result of the Mathematics Education Network for Central America and the Caribbean (www.redumate.org), created on August of 2012 in Costa Rica during the international school-seminary Building Competencies in Mathematics and Mathematics Education. That initiative was part of the Capacity and Networking Project sponsored by the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (a commission of the International Mathematical Union), the main project for developing countries pioneered by this organization (CANP).

The congress also had the support of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction, the Inter American Committee of Mathematics Education, and the University of Costa Rica. The sponsors in the Dominican Republic were the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, Ministerio de Educación, Ministerio de Educación Superior, and Instituto Nacional de Formación y Capacitación de Maestros.

The congress was organized by the International Scientific Committee, based in Costa Rica, and the local Organizing Committee made up of scholars from several institutions in the Dominican Republic. This was a truly international activity.

The event had a powerful impact in the Dominican math education community, evidenced by the hundreds of participating educators from every level, researchers, school principals, regional and national consultants, as well as ample press coverage. The chancellors of the host institutions also participated, as well as high officials from the Ministry of Education.

On November 5, 2013, the Network held its General Assembly with 28 participants from inside and outside of the region. This important assembly recognized the great work carried out in less than 14 months: dissemination and projection in several countries, development of working groups, creation and publication of national reports, building a virtual community, and organizing the congress. Furthermore, the Assembly made the following decisions for its future activities:

1.     Broaden the Network by attracting new members from more countries in the region.

2.     Promote an active and inclusive participation in the Network’s virtual community by favoring better incorporation, fostering the discussion of national reports, creating newsletters showing the work of the Network’s members, and by posting downloadable documents and courses for the public.

3.     Celebrate the second Mathematics Education Congress for Central America and the Caribbean in Cali, Colombia in 2017.

4.     Accept the invitation of the Inter American Committee of Mathematics Education’s Executive Committee to participate as a special guest in the scientific program of the XIV Inter American Conference on Mathematics Education to be held in Chiapas, Mexico on May 3-7, 2015 (http://xiv.ciaem-iacme.org).   

5.     Write executive summaries of the national reports about the training of math teachers in Venezuela, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Costa Rica that were published in November in the Costa Rican journal Cuadernos de Investigación y Formación en Educación Matemática (http://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/cifem).

To guide its activities, the Network created two international bodies:

International Advisory Council:

·       Carlos Sánchez (Cuba)

·       Claudia Lisete Groenwald (Brazil)

·       Eduardo Mancera (Mexico)

·       José Chamoso (Spain)

·       Luis Carlos Arboleda (Colombia)

·       Manuel de León (Spain)

·       Patrick Scott (United States)

·       Salvador Llinares (Spain)

International Board of Directors:

·       Venezuela Coordinator: Nelly León

·       Colombia Coordinator: Edgar Guacaneme

·       Dominican Republic Coordinator: Sarah González

·       Costa Rica Coordinator: Yuri Morales

·       Puerto Rico Coordinator: Héctor Rosario

·       Cuba Coordinator: Rita Roldán

·       Virtual Community Administrators: Ivanovnna Cruz (Dominican Republic) and Alexa Ramírez (Costa Rica)

·       President of the Local Organizing Committee for II CEMACYC: Evelio Bedoya (Colombia)

·       General Director: Angel Ruiz (Costa Rica)

Contact

www.redumate.org

Angel Ruiz, ruizz.angel@gmail.com

The next congress will be in Cali, Colombia, in 2017.

The Mathematics Education Network of Central America and the Caribbean has been created.

Between 6 and 17 August 2012 in San Jose, Costa Rica, was carried out with great success the Escuela seminario internacional Construcción de Capacidades en Matemáticas y Educación Matemática: CANP Costa Rica 2012.

The International Commission on Mathematical Instruction ICMI organized this event. It is the second experience of the Capacity and Networking Project, whose first edition was in Mail (Africa) in 2011, and the third will be held in Cambodia (Asia) in 2013. It's one of the main projects of ICMI. The event had the sponsorship of the International Mathematical Union IMU, the IMU CDC, ICIAM, the International Council for Science ICSU and the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean,  the Inter-American Committee on Mathematics Education CIAEM, UNESCO, MEXICO’s Mathematics Research Center CIMAT, the Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica and the University of Costa Rica.

The event brought together 67 researchers and educators of Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Spain, Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica, who developed 23 different activities (conferences, courses, forums, symposia) on important themes of Mathematics and Mathematics Education: Fundamental Mathematics in Primary and Secondary School, Contemporary Mathematics, Technologies, Competencies, Research, Pre-service and in-service Teacher Preparation, Use of History of Mathematics, Epistemology of Mathematics. Under this international framework a public symposium was held: the Costa Rican 25th Symposium on Math, Science and Society, joined by 200 participants.

The inaugural ceremony included the participation of the Costa Rican Minister of Public Education, Leonardo Garnier. The media coverage was impressive: main TV channels, newspapers and radio stations.

A highlight of CANP 2012 was the presentation and discussion of 5 national reports on the situation on Math Education preparation in this region.

Videos about CANP 2012 can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfMnODbNVpw&feature=youtu.be and here: http://www.youtube.com/user/redumatematicacyc

The most important result of CANP Costa Rica 2012 was the founding of the Mathematics Education Network of Central America and the Caribbean, which seeks to enhance capacities in Mathematics and Mathematics Education in the region. The website is: http://redumatematicacyc.net 

The network began its work with the support of several international organizations: ICMI, IMU, ICSU and the CIAEM, and already has the support of several societies of Mathematics educators in the region. 

Read more here.

For a Spanish report, please go here.

Support and Sponsorship

The Capacity and Network Project Central America and the Caribbean 2012 had the sponsorship of:

• The International Mathematical Union (IMU) and the
• IMU Commission for Developing Countries (CDC)
• the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI)
• The International Council for Science ICSU and the
• The Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC)
• The Inter-American Committee on Mathematics Education CIAEM
• UNESCO
• ICIAM
• MEXICO’s Mathematics Research Center CIMAT
• the Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica and
• the University of Costa Rica.

A highlight of CANP 2012 was the presentation and discussion of 5 national reports on the situation on Math Education preparation in this region.

You can find the reports below:

"La formación inicial y continua en Enseñanza de las Matemáticas de Colombia, Costa Rica, República Dominicana y Venezuela".

"Initial and Continuous Mathematics Teacher Preparation in Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela".

The Project was held as a two week program from August 06-17, 2012 in Costa Rica, and consisted of a workshop for forty participants from Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. Satellite activities targeting a wider audience were organized. 

The Project aims :

• to strengthen mathematical education through fostering regional development and capacity building for teachers and educators, forming self-sustainable networks concerned with mathematics education, assuring better quality education and enhancing the mathematical and pedagogical potential of the region.
• to experience technological resources.

It takes as its premise the importance of educators to identify and understand basic mathematical ideas and the best teaching and learning in contemporary perspectives to impact directly in the classroom.

Collaborations are assumed South-South and North-South but especially in an overarching manner of international efforts vision.

This project is closely linked to the Project Klein ICMI and IMU which aims to communicate the breadth and vitality of mathematics for secondary teachers in the world in a way that connects with the curriculum and the practice of secondary education. See here.

CANP 2012 seeks to rely on existing actions or projects and nurture the local or regional actions already undertaken in the countries where it does.

Participants

The participants are experienced teachers and teacher trainers: professional mathematicians, researchers in mathematics education, primary and secondary teachers, inspectors and advisers and even math consultants coming from:

•      Panama
•      Dominican Republic
•      Colombia
•      Costa Rica
•      Venezuela.

Eight experts from Central America and the Caribbean and outside the region form the International Scientific Committee.