Editorial – From the desk of Jean-Luc Dorier, ICMI Secretary-General (2021-2024)

Every fourth year is a special year for the ICMI community. Indeed, a leap year is not only the year in which the Olympic games are held – it is also ICME’s year. The difference between “ICMI” and “ICME” is tricky, especially for people who are not native speakers of English, and there are also subtle differences between American and British pronunciation. In fact, the main difference is not between the E (for Education) and the I (for Instruction) at the end, but instead highlights the significance of the C: C stands for “Commission” in ICMI and for “Congress” in ICME.
 
So, 2024 will be, like every leap year, a year with an International Congress on Mathematical Education: ICME-15, in Sydney (Australia), from July 7-14, 2024. However, a notable exception to this regular “leap year” cycle became necessary in 2020 because of COVID! ICME-14 was initially programmed to be held in July 2020 in Shanghai, but was finally organized in July 2021 and remained mostly a remote event due to the pandemic situation. Thanks to our Chinese colleagues and their great aptitude for adaptation, ICME-14 e-gathered several thousands of participants all around the world. However, we all missed the quality of face-to face contact and interactions.
 
So, 2024 ICME-15 will be an exceptional meeting after 8 years without such a big face-to face event! There were times when it was doubtful whether participants would make the trip to Sydney, but it seems so far that ICME-15 will gather a large number of us from all around the planet, despite all the changes brought about by the new post-COVID academic life and other difficult situations in several places.
 
The ICMI General Assembly
As you may know, the first day before the opening of ICME is devoted to the ICMI General Assembly (GA). This is a major event in the life of the Commission and this year it will be held on Sunday July 7, 2024. ICMI is a commission of the International Mathematical Union (IMU) and, as a consequence, every one of the IMU’s 85 member countries is entitled to have an ICMI Country Representative (CR). Moreover, a few countries that are not IMU members have successfully applied for ICMI membership and thus have an ICMI CR. Altogether there are 88 ICMI CRs (see https://www.mathunion.org/icmi/organisation/our-members/icmi-representatives). To date, 40 CRs have indicated they will attend the General Assembly in person and an additional 14 will attend online. Only representatives of countries that are full members of the IMU are permitted to vote during each GA to elect the new ICMI Executive Committee (EC).
 
Representatives of ICMI’s 16 Affiliate Organizations (see https://www.mathunion.org/icmi/organization/affiliate-organizations) are also invited to attend the General Assembly. (Some, but not all, of these representatives are also Country Representatives with voting rights.)
 
Altogether we are expecting around 70 General Assembly participants attending face-to face and 20 online: this includes ICMI Country Representatives, Affiliate Organization Officers, Executive Committee members and candidates. While some parts of the agenda are fixed, for this General Assembly we have tried to reduce the time spent on presentations and make more time for small group interactive discussion on ICMI topics of interest to participants.
 
Voting for the new Executive Committee at the General Assembly
The election process has several steps and is described at https://www.mathunion.org/icmi/nomination-members-icmi-ec-2025-2028. Before the General Assembly, a Nominating Committee (chaired by Abraham Arcavi) prepares a slate of candidates for the Executive Committee. The slate, which is announced in May, includes one candidate for each officer position (President, Secretary-General and 2 Vice-Presidents) and a minimum of 7 candidates for the 5 members-at-large positions. Some candidates may also be nominated from the floor. The Chair presents the slate to Country Representatives for voting at the General Assembly. Each candidate prepares a 90 second video that will be available to Country Representatives in June; candidates will also give a 1-minute presentation in person at the General Assembly. Voting at the General Assembly will take place online.
 
Other activities at the General Assembly
Apart from elections for the Executive Committee, the General Assembly has three other activities.
 
First: the ICMI Secretary General presents a report of all ICMI activities in the past four years.
 
Second: Officers of ICMI Affiliate Organizations prepare a short written report for distribution to participants and show a 90 second video on their Organization’s activities.
 
Third: Workshops will facilitate exchange on various subjects related to ICMI. From a survey sent to all the ICMI Country Representatives and Affiliate Organization Officers, we selected 4 themes for discussion:

1.      Experiences about the International Day of Mathematics
2.      How to establish mature mathematics education research communities?
3.      Strategies for establishing mathematics education research in emerging communities
4.      How to support early career researchers in mathematics education?
 
We will organize participants into 6 in-person groups and 2 online groups for a 90-minute workshop, with each group being allocated to one of the above themes. Each group will be moderated by one EC member and will be asked to produce a one-page report that will be collected and sent to all participants after the General Assembly.
 
We hope that this new organization will allow a lively General Assembly full of rich exchanges.
 
Specific ICMI events during ICME-15
 
During the opening ceremony, Frederick Leung, ICMI President, will chair the award ceremony together with Alan Schoenfeld, chair of the ICMI Felix Klein and Hans Freudenthal Awards Committee and Helen Forgasz, chair of the ICMI Emma Castelnuovo Award Committee. This year the ICMI EC has decided to keep the names of the three award nominees secret until they receive the medals in Sydney. Each will also be given the opportunity to deliver a lecture during the Congress.
 
There will be a 90-minute session dedicated to ICMI Studies that were completed or launched since the last ICME (see https://www.mathunion.org/icmi/activities/icmi-studies/ongoing-icmi-studies and https://www.mathunion.org/icmi/activities/icmi-studies/finalized-and-published-studies). That will be an opportunity for the on-going ICMI Studies 26 and 27 to present their work and for completed ICMI Studies 24 and 25 to present their respective Study Volumes. We look forward to celebrating these two important publications (ICMI Study 25 Volume is planned to be published just before ICME-15).
 
Two Discussion Groups on ICMI activities have been accepted. One is on the Capacity and Networking Project (CANP) chaired by Anjum Halai and the other showcases the ICMI AMOR Project (Awardees Multimedia Online Resources).
 
Three will be an ICMI VIP Dinner to thank colleagues who have generously devoted a lot of their time to various ICMI activities.
 
And finally, I will have the honor to close the Congress with a short report of the ICMI Activities and a first insight into what has been achieved during ICME-15.
 
We are looking forward seeing lots of you in Sydney and enjoying the friendly atmosphere of the ICMI community.

by Prof. Alan H. Schoenfeld, University of California, Berkeley (USA)

Hugh Burkhardt, director emeritus of the Shell Centre for Mathematical Education and co-awardee of the first ICMI Emma Castelnuovo Award, in 2016, for outstanding achievements in the practice of mathematics education, died unexpectedly on February 4, 2024. Very much himself to his last day, he had eaten well and was arranging for copies of his most recent book on learning and teaching for mathematical literacy to be distributed.
A mathematical physicist by training, Hugh considered himself an “educational engineer.” He was passionately devoted to making a difference – to improving mathematics education in systematic ways so that it becomes more meaningful, powerful, and accessible to as many people as possible. Burkhardt was a strategic thinker, constantly seeking levers to improve practice. He recognized that high quality materials design required both “substance and flair,” and that such design was essential to make progress. Toward that end, the Shell Centre secured continuous external funding for decades, producing unparalleled materials such as the Formative Assessment Lessons and summative assessment tests through the Mathematics Assessment Project. But materials are not enough; the developer community needed to be nurtured. Burkhardt was instrumental in creating and sustaining ISDDE, the International Society for Design and Development in Education. In design as in everything else, he was pragmatic and infinitely quotable. To give but one example, generations of colleagues and students have profited from his advice to “fail early, fail often” in design through rapid prototyping.

Burkhardt thought systemically. He coined WYTIWIG (“What You Test Is What You Get”) to describe the often negative ways in which testing drives teaching; to counter this, he engaged in the continuous development of assessments that are worth teaching to. Over the years he was co-principal investigator of the Balanced Assessment Project, the Mathematics Assessment Research Service, the Mathematics Assessment Project, and many others. He was a formal or informal advisor to numerous projects world-wide, constantly seeking to improve the field. He wrote strategically as well – as lead author, for example, of the widely cited paper “Improving Educational Research: Toward a More Useful, More Influential, and Better-Funded Enterprise.” Researchers, designers, teachers, and students have profited immensely from his work.

This list of achievements doesn’t come close to characterizing the man who achieved them. Burkhardt was vibrant and fun to be with. His sense of humor was infectious, whether in private or in public settings – audiences laughed loud and often. He had good taste in people; he was always on the lookout for people with talent and he nurtured them when he found them. He had good taste in food and wine as well: to be in his orbit was to be treated kindly as a human being, to eat and drink well, and thus, fortified with good will, be ready to work that much harder on joint projects. (What a lovely strategy! – an instance, as Hugh called it, of “low cunning.”) Professor Hugh Burkhardt will be sorely missed by his many friends and colleagues around the globe.

by Nicolas Balacheff, CNRS Senior Scientist Emeritus (LIG Laboratory, Grenoble, France)

Guy Brousseau, Professor Emeritus of the University Institute of Teacher Education of Aquitaine in Bordeaux, winner of the first ICMI Felix Klein Prize in 2003 in recognition of his lifelong dedication to research that has shaped the field of mathematics education as a scientific discipline, died on February 16, 2024. Guy was a passionate researcher and thinker, fully committed to the creation of his unique masterpiece, the Theory of Didactic Situations; unique in Guy's dedication to it, unique in its nature and place in modern research on mathematics teaching and learning.

A young mathematics assistant at the Faculty of Science in Bordeaux, Guy Brousseau presented the key concepts of his theory in May 1970 at the French National Conference of the Association of Mathematics Teachers (APMEP). He undertook a large number of initiatives and research activities to develop the theory and subject it to the verdict of facts. In addition to his scientific work, he always took care to structure the community involved in the emerging field of research. In 1978, near Bordeaux, he chaired a meeting at which the emerging research community decided to create a scientific journal, Recherches en didactique des mathématiques (RDM), a national seminar, and a summer school. It took Guy fifteen years to establish the foundations of the theory presented in the document of the Doctorat d'état he obtained in 1986. In 1991, he was appointed full professor at the Institute of Teacher Education (IUFM) in Bordeaux, where he continued his research. Guy has supervised nearly fifty doctoral candidates, many of them international students.

For Guy Brousseau, theory was first and foremost a tool to provide teachers with means and frameworks to improve students' understanding and learning of mathematics. There was no rupture between theory and practice in his approach, but rather a connection based on rigorous methods and design approaches. To this end, he created a unique instrument, the Center for Observation of Mathematics Education (COREM) at the Michelet primary school in Talence. The primary school teacher he was for a decade has constantly guided the thoughts and projects of the outstanding researcher that he is.

Epistemology is at the heart of Guy Brousseau's vision of mathematics education as an academic discipline, which he would have called experimental epistemology of mathematics. Its groundbreaking principle is to constantly return to mathematics, questioning the meaning of its concepts and methods, in order to assess the relevance and significance of research. The theory of didactic situations gave rise to many powerful concepts, including the didactic contract, the epistemological obstacle, and the didactic milieu. It nourished and inspired research projects and doctoral theses internationally. Guy visited laboratories and projects all over the world.  He received a doctorate honoris causa from the Universities of Montréal (Canada, 1997), Geneva (Switzerland, 2004), Cordoba (Argentina, 2006), Chypre (Chypre, 2007), Palermo (Italy, 2007).
Guy Brousseau was a creative, rigorous and prolific researcher. We all noticed the colorful energy of his lectures and plenary sessions, which testified with verve to his passion for research and his desire to be understood. Uncompromising in scientific discussions, he always welcomed and encouraged those who approached him. He had so much to share. Guy worked until his last moments. In his ninetieth year, he was still eager to explain the source of his scientific commitment and to clarify the foundations of the theory of didactic situations. A quest that began with his questioning of the adage that existence precedes essence. He was fourteen years old. Then his exploration of the idea that a mathematical object must exist before it can be explored and understood, hence the didactic situations.

Guy Brousseau will join in our memory his wife Nadine. They began their life as teachers, in the same school for ten years. Nadine was the first to receive, discuss and share new ideas and projects. In Guy's words, "her contributions were always subtle and decisive". Nadine was a companion all along his scientific venture, taking her part in making the COREM possible and participating in all facets of the research. Nadine and Guy must remain united in our memory.

Guy Brousseau didn't seek honors and tributes, he was even modest about them.  But he certainly enjoyed the theory being discussed and developed. Let's make sure that his legacy is not just texts and books that everyone has to read, but an open and living workplace that we will continue to explore and develop.

The funeral of Guy Brousseau took place on February 23, 2024, at the funeral house of Mérignac. The Association for Research in Didactics of Mathematics (RDM) will keep open a page where memories, thoughts and tribute can be expressed.

Kate Le Roux and Alf Coles (IPC Co-Chairs)

The Discussion Document for the 27th ICMI Study - Mathematics Education and the Socio-Ecological  is available on the Study website: https://icmistudy27.sciencesconf.org. This invites scholars, with diverse representation within the ICMI community, and across mathematics education sites and contexts, to submit contributions around four singular, yet related themes (each with subthemes). Each theme prompts engagements with notions of the social and ecological and their interdependencies, and consideration of tensions emerging from mathematics education positionings in these complex relations. Each asks of the thinking and practices of mathematics education specific questions related to: knowledge; curriculum; pedagogy; learning materials; professional development opportunities; philosophy; theory; methodology; and so on. Briefly, the themes and subthemes are:

Theme A. Aims of Mathematics Education: Examining the aims of mathematics education; Examining mathematics as a subject of education.

Theme B. Scales of Mathematics Education: Relations between the local/global, historical, ecological, and political; Curriculum innovations and different voices located in the socio-ecological; Learning from site-specificities.

Theme C. Resources for and of Mathematics Education: What and how resources are/may be used in relation to socio-ecological concerns; How resources are embedded within histories, values, and ideologies.

Theme D. Mathematics Education Futures: Contexts and communities of education that can/have yet to be imagined; Knowledges, curriculum and pedagogies that can/have yet to be imagined; Practices and ethics of mathematics education research that can/have yet to be imagined.

The ICMI Study 27 Conference will take place from January 22 to January 26, 2025, in Quezon City, Philippines. Information about the venue, registration, costs, travel, and accommodation will be made available on the ICMI Study 27 website (https://icmistudy27.sciencesconf.org).

Summary of dates:

1. Call for paper submissions: from February 2024
2. Pre-submission support deadline: May 30, 2024
3. Deadline for paper submissions: June 15, 2024
4. Invitations to participate in the Conference mailed: between July 30 and August 15, 2024
5. Registration: opens on July 30, 2024, and closes November 1, 2024
6. Proceedings published online: December 31, 2024
7. Conference opening: January 22, 2025

Discussions from the Conference activity will provide the foundations for invited contributions to an edited volume published open access by Springer as part of the New ICMI Studies Series.

ICME-15 is just over 4 months away.

Register now! Please check the website regularly for updates and make plans to be part of ICME-15 from July 7 to 14, 2024!

Check here the ICME-15 website.

Ludovic Rifford, CDC Secretary for Policy

The Commission for Developing Countries (CDC) is actively working on improving its funding solutions. It strongly encourages mathematicians and students from developing countries to apply to the calls. Please check the CDC website for further information. We especially wish to draw attention of our colleagues to the updated list of countries that are eligible for our programs.

Grants to Institutions

• Volunteer Lecturer Program (next deadline June 1, 2024)
• Library Assistance Scheme (no fixed deadline)

Grants for Conferences and Projects

• Conference Support Program (next deadline April 15, 2024 for conferences starting after August 15, 2024)

Grants for Individuals

• Abel Visiting Scholar Program (next deadline April 30, 2024 for visits between September 1 and December 31, 2024)
• CDC is launching a new program called IMU-Simons Research Fellowship Program for Developing Countries which will start April 15, 2024)

Graduate Scholarships

• IMU-Breakout Graduate Fellowship Program (deadline May 31, 2024)
• Graduate Research Assistantships in Developing Countries (GRAID) Program (the 2024 call for applications is open with a deadline on March 15, 2024)

Paolo Piccione (IMU Liaison in ICMI EC – 2019 - 2026)
Yuriko Yamamoto Baldin (ICMI EC Member - 2013–2020)

The Brazilian mathematical community has actively committed itself to the Klein Project, a collaboration between the International Mathematical Union (IMU) and the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI), with the mission of developing mathematical resources for secondary school teachers addressing contemporary themes.

1. Professional PhD Program in Mathematics with a Focus on Mathematical Communication
One pioneering initiative is the creation of a new Professional PhD program in Mathematics, grounded in Mathematical Communication, inspired by the Klein Project being one of its main focuses. This program aims not only to deepen teachers' mathematical knowledge as the core of investigation but also to develop their communication skills, bridging the gap between academic research and teaching practices at the secondary level.
 
The Klein Project, specifically its products of new "vignettes" – concise and accessible texts on specific contemporary mathematical topics – stands out as a central activity in this program. Professors and students collaborate to select current themes, develop appropriate didactic approaches for high school teachers, and then draft the vignettes that may impact new designs for secondary school curricula. These vignettes enrich educators' learning and become valuable products of the program to connect mathematics knowledge among distinct educational levels.
 
The goal is to provide an immersive experience for teachers, connecting everyday mathematics with cutting-edge research and contemporary applications. The Klein Vignettes, starting with familiar concepts, gradually lead readers to a deeper understanding, ultimately illustrating key principles of mathematics. The communication of the results and their consequences is the mainstream of the program's rationale.
 

2. Inclusion of the Klein Project in Outreach Activities at a Center for Geometry and Physics in São Paulo
Another significant initiative comes from a Center for Geometry and Physics based in the state of São Paulo. This center recognizes the transformative potential of the Klein Project in how mathematics is perceived and understood. As a result, it has included the Klein Project in its outreach activities.
 
By incorporating the Klein Project, the center aims to extend its reach beyond the academic environment, reaching high school students, teachers, and the general public. Outreach activities include lectures, workshops, and events that highlight the importance of contemporary mathematics and its role in solving real-world problems.
 
These initiatives demonstrate the commitment of the Brazilian mathematical community to enriching mathematical education, establishing a bridge between advanced research and secondary education, thus promoting a deeper and broader understanding of mathematics at all educational levels.
 
An alternative perspective on the initiatives outlined in the Klein Project by SBM is to highlight the potential for aligning them with the advancement of mathematics education across all levels. This alignment can be achieved through meaningful interactions with various societies and organizations, such as SBEM (Brazilian Society of Mathematics Education), SBMAC (Brazilian Society of Applied and Computational Mathematics), SBHMat (Brazilian Society of History of Mathematics), and others. These entities are actively engaged in mathematics teacher education, making it a focal point of their research efforts. Moreover, there exists an opportunity to broaden the impact of the Klein project initiated by ICMI-IMU by fostering collaboration with UMALCA and CIAEM-IACME, extending its reach into countries throughout the American continent. This interconnected approach seeks to synergize efforts, creating a cohesive network that propels the collective mission of enhancing mathematics education on a global scale.

Robert Geretschläger, President WFNMC

The World Federation of National Mathematics Competitions (WFNMC) will be holding a satellite conference on Saturday, July 6, 2024, the day before registration for ICME-15. The venue for the mini-conference will be at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), and conveniently close to the venue for ICME.

Anyone interested in participating in the WFNMC mini-conference is invited to pre-register by sending an email to krzysztof.ciesielski@im.uj.edu.pl. Thanks to the support of the Australian Mathematics Trust, there will be no fee required for participation. More information is available at the wfnmc website at https://wfnmc.org/conferences.html, and organizational updates will be posted there as they become available.

Dr VG Govender South Africa Country Representative

The Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa AMESA https://www.amesa.org.za/ was formed in June 1993. The current executive committee consists of the following persons:

AMESA Publications

AMESA currently has two main publications: Learning and Teaching Mathematics (LTM) and Pythagoras.

Learning and Teaching Mathematics, edited by Dr Duncan Samson (sole editor), is a journal of the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA). This journal is aimed at mathematics teachers at primary and secondary school level and it provides a medium for stimulating and challenging ideas, offering innovation and practice in all aspects of mathematics teaching and learning in school. Learning and Teaching Mathematics aims to inform, enlighten, stimulate, challenge, entertain and encourage mathematics educators. Its emphasis is on addressing the challenges that arise in the mathematics classroom. It presents articles that describe or discuss mathematics teaching and learning through the eyes of practicing teachers and learners. While this journal ‘listens’ to research and considers it in the activities, lesson ideas, and teaching strategies that it publishes, it is not a research publication.

Send your articles for LTM by e-mail (in a Word compatible format) to LTM@amesa.org.za.

Pythagoras is an official journal of AMESA, the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa. The editor-in-chief of Pythagoras is Professor Rajendran Govender of the University of Western Cape, South Africa. It is published by AOSIS and is devoted to the improvement of mathematics education at all levels of education. The aim is to present new ideas and developments that are of major importance to those working in the field of mathematics education. It seeks to reflect the variety of research concerns, the range of research methods employed and the variety of didactical, methodological and pedagogical issues in the teaching of mathematics. Pythagoras is thus intended as an academic forum for the presentation and critical discussion of current research and developments in mathematics education at national as well as international level. The journal publishes one issue each year. Articles are published online when ready for publication and then printed in an end-of-year compilation.

For full details go to https://pythagoras.org.za/index.php/pythagoras/pages/view/journal-information and click on the submission guidelines link.

Mathematics Education in Kenya today- The promise, the reality of learning mathematics in Kenya

Marguerite Miheso O’Connor (ICMI Country Representative for Kenya)

It was in 2017 when the competence-based curriculum was launched to replace the 8-4-4 system that had been in place for 32 years. The older system was criticised for its emphasis on teachers instructing students and on examinations. An evaluation in 1998, 13 years after it was introduced, detailed numerous shortcomings. These include subjecting students to a heavy workload and being skewed towards examinations only.

The promise of this new curriculum is for learners to construct their own knowledge and skills through exposure to challenging situations and experience. It is learner-centred and adaptive to the changing needs of students by encouraging innovativeness and creativity. Learners explore and find solutions in classrooms that are connected to real-life situations. This is the promise.

To achieve this new paradigm shift, teacher professional development, new textbooks, new assessment strategies, new role of parents in their children’s education started to be implemented alongside the enrolment of approximately 1.2 million children into Grade 1. This year, the first cohort of learners to have experienced the competence-based curriculum (CBC) enters junior secondary school – a stage which hasn’t previously existed in Kenya. In 2024, there will be up to 10.3 million of these CBC learners moving into secondary education.

They all learn mathematics. These are exciting moments for mathematics education, as it will play a pivotal role in enabling learners to explore talents, interests and abilities before selection of pathways and tracks in senior secondary education level. The current activity in the country is on the development of content, training teachers to facilitate the content using the tenets of CBC and aligning university programs to adapt competence-based education. A systematic and consultative process has enabled a reflective review of mathematics content. The mathematics curriculum has been informed by the principles and standards of NCTM 2000. Constructivist theory and infusion of technology are prominent foundations in forming activities with the aim of nurturing every talent.

Teacher education is the current main activity with training and consultations especially among mathematics teachers that has evolved into sandboxes of communities of practice.

The promise of a competent teacher committed to nurturing every learner’s potential is the catalyst that drives these reforms. Accordingly, new opportunities in Kenya to support the teaching of mathematics have emerged at every level. There are spaces in researching CBC teaching methodologies, resource development for active/experiential learning, assessment as learning and mathematics teacher education. There are chances of creating games for learners and capacity building of parents.

To get parents engaged in the development of mathematical attributes in their young children, a pilot study focusing on Digital Maths Activities and Parent - Child Math Playful Learning With Early Family Math (Efm) App has been initiated.

Research on playful learning in Kenya is in its very nascent stages, and is predominantly focused on non-digital and school-based playful learning. There is potential in fostering parent-child playful learning of mathematics through digital mathematics stories and activities from an early family math app. Through this pilot study the extent to which activities on the early family mathematics app influence Kenyan parents’ playful learning of mathematics with their children shall be determined. This will help in understanding the opportunity that digital resources present in supporting effective parental engagement (as espoused by CBC) in fostering early mathematics literacy in Kenya.

These are exciting moments, yet very poignant. The promise of the ideal and the fear of reality keeps the education sector in the country on its toes. The mathematics teacher stands at the threshold of transformation and impacting a future that is unpredictable – this is the status of mathematics education in Kenya today.

Vince Geiger, President of ICTMA

ICTMA21 was successfully organized by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of Japan. The conference featured a total of 107 accepted long/short presentations and poster sessions, with a total of 216 registered participants. It was chaired by Prof. Toshikazu Ikeda and vice-chaired by Prof. Akihiko Saeki and Prof. Keiichi Nishimura. The conference took place in person from September 10 to 15, 2023. It adhered to the theme 'Collaboration in Mathematical Modelling Education,' emphasizing the significance of collaboration among students, teachers, researchers, and industry professionals.

The conference program included a joint keynote speech by Prof. Merrilyn Goos and Prof. Susana Carreira titled Conceptualising the relationship between mathematical modelling and interdisciplinary STEM education, three plenary lectures: Prof. Gilbert Greefrath's Teacher education and mathematical modelling: pre-service teachers’ professional competence for the teaching of mathematical modelling, Prof. Jennifer A. Czocher's In their own words: explanations of STEM students’ reasoning during mathematical modelling, and Prof. Yoshinori Shimizu's Lesson study and its relations to mathematical modelling. A plenary panel discussion took place led by Prof. Jonas Bergman Ärlebäck (Chair), Prof. Jinfa Cai, Prof. Gabriele Kaiser, and Prof. Roza Leikin on the topic of Relations among problem solving/posing, creativity, and mathematical modelling.' Additionally, a special lecture titled IMMC: Celebrating '10 years of influencing educational change’ was delivered by Prof. Benjamin Galluzzo and Alfred Cheung.

The opening ceremony took place on September 10. Prof. Toshikazu Ikeda, the Chair of the Local Committee, along with Prof. Gabriele Kaiser, President of ICTMA, and Prof. Yoshinori Shimizu, President of JSME, delivered welcoming remarks. The ceremony concluded with a performance of the traditional Japanese musical art form, known as the Koto.

The general meeting of the community was also held during the conference, during which Prof. Vince Geiger was nominated and confirmed as the new President of ICTMA. Additionally, Prof. Gilbert Greefrath and Prof. Milton Rosa were appointed as international executive members. Prof. Gabriele Kaiser was confirmed as co-opted member as well as Dr. Rina Durandt and Prof. Angeles Dominguez.

The conference concluded after the panel discussion followed by the Henry Pollak Award ceremony honouring Prof. Gloria Stillman for her significant contribution to the community over many years. Finally, Prof. Jonas Bergman Ärlebäck and Prof. Peter Frejd announced that the next ICTMA22 will be held in Linkoping, Sweden. The ceremony concluded with another enchanting performance of the traditional Japanese musical art form, the Koto.

Lisa Björklund Boistrup, Secretary of CIEAEM
Cristina Sabena, President of CIEAEM

CIEAEM (The International Commission for the Study and Improvement of Mathematics Teaching) hosts one conference each year. In the years when there is no ICME, there is a conference open for all interested in mathematics education to attend, including student teachers, teachers, teacher educators, PhD students, and researchers. As reported in a previous ICMI newsletter, over 120 people participated in the 74th conference of CIEAEM. Approximately 20% of the participants were teachers, a fact highly valued by the organization. This is significant for CIEAEM, as it fosters an environment where researchers and teachers can meet on equal terms to investigate and discuss relevant matters concerning mathematics education. The conference was bilingual (English/French), as are all CIEAEM conferences. The theme of CIEAEM 74 was 'Mathematics and Practices: Actions for Futures'. This theme aimed to encompass a wide range of mathematically connected practices. The proceedings are expected to be published during March-April 2024, containing approximately 60 peer-reviewed papers.

In the years when there is an ICME, there is not an open conference as mentioned above. Instead, there is a restricted conference where CIEAEM members convene, featuring a program for commission members and a selection of invited colleagues. Such a restricted conference, CIEAEM75, is scheduled to take place in Turin from April 22 to April 24, 2024. The theme of the conference is 'New Frontiers in Mathematics Education/Nouvelles Frontières de l'Enseignement des Mathématiques'. The theme is inspired by the history of CIEAEM, including a manifesto from 2000, where the aim of CIEAEM is described as “intended to investigate the actual conditions and future possibilities for changes and developments in mathematics education in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning mathematics”. In a time of accelerated changes driven by technological innovations, climate change, and a general crisis of democracies, there is a need to establish political balance in peace. At the restricted CIEAEM75 conference, the organizers propose to collectively focus on what constitutes new frontiers in mathematics education, aiming to encourage participants to address current challenges and explore appropriate approaches for the future.

Several CIEAEM members look forward to participating at ICME-15 in Sydney. During the conference, there will be a special session dedicated to presenting CIEAEM and discussing its activities over the past four years. Included in these discussions is the publication of a CIEAEM source book titled 'The Role of the History of Mathematics in the Teaching/Learning Process'.

The International Society for Design and Development in Education held its annual conference in Boston in October 2023, hosted at Boston University and organized by the conference chair, Leslie Dietiker. The conference theme was Designing for Equity and Social Justice: Creating New Futures, in line with the society’s goals of diversifying educational design. Closely connected to this theme, keynote plenaries featured Salomé Martínez of the Universidad de Chile, Justin Reich of MIT together with Gregory Benoit of BU, Beth Warren, Maria Olivares, and Eli Tucker-Raymond of BU’s EARL Center.

At the annual conference, the prize winner for the societies’ Eddy Award is typically announced. At the 2023 conference, the prize was given to Robert “Bob” Moses (1935-2021). Bob founded the Algebra Project during a critical period of mathematics reform in the United States. The Algebra Project curriculum consists of materials intended to bring students to the point where they're ready to study and engage in advanced mathematics in high school and in college or career. Drawing on the power of student discussion, Bob’s goal was to give students a lived experience of the meaning-making of abstract mathematical thinking. His program aimed to build students’ abilities to think in generative ways about mathematical situations and objects, but also at the same time aimed to expand their identities as thinkers and doers in mathematics and beyond.

Unlike typical research conferences, ISDDE features not only research presentations and a poster reception, but also many interactive sessions and four working group strands. Interactive sessions allow participants to experience design artifacts and explore the process of designing similar artifacts. For example, Benoit and Barno led an interactive session that allowed participants to create new clinical simulations for teachers.

Working groups at this annual conference meeting were organized around the topics of curriculum materials, policy and assessment, educational technology, and professional learning. Across three multi-hour sessions, working groups select a problem of practice, and work together towards products (e.g., prototypes, policy briefs, case studies). For example, the policy and assessment group considered different rollout strategies across countries supporting major new standards in science or mathematics, to highlight the ways in which overly ambitious rollouts (e.g., in the US) typically fail whereas more gradual and incremental rollouts with heavy teacher input (e.g., in Wales) succeeded.

Finally, the conference typically features an outing to observe interesting educational designs. At this conference, participants experienced the Robert Moses Math Trail, a mile-long path that encourages local residents find fun in math and explore math in the world around them.

Among the activities of the History and Pedagogy of Mathematics International Study Group (HPM) Group, there is the tradition of organizing conferences that are satellite meetings to the International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME), organized by ICMI every four years.

The next HPM satellite meeting will be held in Sydney, Australia, at the Kensington campus of the University of New South Wales, July 1-5, 2024.  

Full details can be found on the HPM 2024 website: https://hpm2024.sciencesconf.org

Submissions are due March 15, 2024 (extended deadline). To submit a proposal, download and fill in the Updated Activity Application Form (word version, pdf version).

For more information see the second announcement (pdf) [first announcement (pdf)].

Annual Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Dates: July 17 to July 21, 2024

Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Theme of the conference is “Rethinking mathematics education together.”
More information on the website: https://events.massey.ac.nz/pme-47-conference/
 

We are pleased to invite you to participate in the Eighth International Conference on the History of Mathematics Education, which will be held in-person from September 16-20, 2024 at L.&A. Birkenmajer Institute for the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw (Poland).

The thematic scope of ICHME-8 includes, among others:

• Methodology of research in the History of Mathematics Education
• Transmission and reception of new educational ideas in Mathematics Education
• The History of Mathematics Education and the History of Mathematics: Connections and mutual influences
• Actors and Contributors in Mathematics Education
• Development of Mathematics Education in specific countries
• Development and changes in mathematical content within a curriculum and in the form of its presentation
• Mathematics Education of groups historically underserved in education
• Mathematics teacher education
• Mathematics textbooks and other educational resources
• Reforms in Mathematics Education

The deadline for submissions was March 1, 2024.  

Important Dates

Abstract Submission: by March 1, 2024 (closed).
Early Bird Registration: April 1 - May 15, 2024
Standard Registration: May 16 - July 31, 2024
Conference Dates: September 16 - 20, 2024
Final Paper Submission: by December 31, 2024
Proceedings Publication (peer-reviewed): Third quarter of 2025

Registration should be completed between April 1 and July 31, 2024 via the ICHME-8 website.
The conference fee will be announced later.

The 29th National Congress of AMESA takes place at the Sol Plaatjie University, located in Kimberley in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, from June 17 to 21, 2024. The theme of the Congress is

Re-imagining Mathematics in a digital space
The program includes the following:

• Pre-congress workshops (Sunday June 16, 14:00-17:00).
• Plenary addresses by invited speakers, including overseas speakers.
• Panel discussions on various issues in Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy Education.
• Parallel sessions presented by participants, in the following areas: Foundation Phase, Intermediate Phase, Senior Phase, FET Phase, and Teacher Education. These parallel sessions consist of Long papers, Short Papers, “How I teach” demonstrations, Posters and workshops
• Activity Centre: Hands-on practical mathematics activities for participants.
• Maths Market: Promotion of their products by commercial vendors. AMESA Curriculum Phase Committees discussion
• AMESA Special Interest Group meetings
• AMESA Annual General Meeting

For more information go the Congress 2024 website: https://www.amesa.org.za/AMESA2024/FirstAnnouncement2024.pdf

Association of African Didacticians of Mathematics (ADIMA-4) will take place in Morocco on May 20-24, 2024.
The theme is "L'enseignement des mathématiques pour/par une éducation aux STIM : défis et opportunités"
Website: https://adima4.um6p.ma/