• To promote the progress of Mathematical Culture and Math Education in the Americas.
• To strengthen communication, collaboration, networking between Math educators in the different countries of the region.
• To promote collaborative academic connections and integrative projects between the international Math Education community and Latin American Math educators.

CIAEM organizes different events (conferences, seminars, presentations, …), promotes publications (books, papers, journals,…), translations, on-line Math Education resources, and supports national groups and associations of educators in the region.

CIAEM was founded in 1961 by a group of mathematicians and Math educators from the three Americas, led by the famous mathematician, Marshall Stone, from the United States, who was at the time the President of ICMI. The principal objective of CIAEM was to bring together educators from throughout the Americas to evaluate and reformulate mathematics curricula in general (in the beginning, closely associated to the New Math reform), but, especially, to promote the development of the countries of Latin America. See the CIAEM website for more details.
 

CIAEM organizes an Interamerican Conference on Mathematics Education every 4 years; usually, one year before ICME.

The first was held in Bogotá, Colombia, in December of 1961. There, the first Executive Committee of CIAEM was created. The second Interamerican Conference on Math Education was held in Lima, Peru, in 1966. These first Conferences prompted a productive movement for Math Education in the Americas, despite the challenges of geography, communication, and, principally, the economy. From the beginning the Conferences have been held regularly: Bahía Blanca, Argentina, November, 1972, 209 participants from 22 countries; Caracas, Venezuela, December, 1975, 281 participants from 22 countries; Campinas-SP, Brazil, February, 1979, 569 participants from 28 countries; Guadalajara, Mexico, November, 1985, 180 participants from 24 countries; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, July, 1987, 316 participants from 22 countries; Miami, USA, August, 1991, 141 participants from 21 countries; Santiago, Chile, August, 1995, 1080 participants from 17 countries; Maldonado, Uruguay, August, 1999, 600 participants from 20 countries; Blumenau, Brazil, August, 2003, 600 participants from 20 countries, and, finally, in Querétaro, Mexico, in July, 2007, with more than 800 participants from 25 countries. The XIII Conference was held in Recife, Brazil, in June 2011, where CIAEM celebrated 50 years of life. The next one will be in Mexico in 2015.

CIAEM puts an emphasis on the academic and scientific quality of the event, and on the presentation of research results and serious proposals for improving Math Education.
 

Since its creation, the following persons have occupied the Presidency of CIAEM: Marshall Stone (USA, 1961-1972), Luis Santaló (Spain-Argentina, 1972-1979), Ubiratan D`Ambrosio (Brazil, 1979-1987), Eduardo Luna (Dominican Republic, 1987-1995), Fidel Oteiza (Chile, 1995-1999), Carlos Vasco (Colombia, 1999-2003), Salett Biembengut (Brazil, 2003-2007) and Angel Ruiz (Costa Rica, 2007-2015).

At the opening ceremony of the 11th International Congress on Math Education (ICME-11), Ubiratan D'Ambrosio received the 2005 Felix Klein Medal from ICMI for his meritorious achievements and the results of his life-long dedication to Math Education.