Symposium on the Occasion
of the 100th Anniversary of ICMI

(Rome, 5–8 March 2008)

WORKING GROUP #5

Mathematics Education: an ICMI perspective

It can be argued that ICMI’s impact on the field of mathematics education is both defined and reflected through the affiliated groups that it has recognized (and in some cases incubated) and through the ICMI studies it has spawned. What has been gained and lost by the mathematics education communities through the choices made? For example, what has been the influence of psychology, philosophy, history, ethnography, anthropology, … on mathematics education? Have their approaches been adopted? Have some been privileged over others?

BROAD THEME OF WG5:

The broad theme of this working group can be addressed in diverse ways. We consider the following topics particularly relevant:

• The evolution of theoretical frameworks in mathematics education.
• The influence of other disciplines in this evolution.
• ICMI contributions to the dialogue between the mathematics education community and other disciplines – for example anthropology, ethnography, and philosophy.
• Outcomes of interdisciplinary dialogue.
• Further possible ICMI roles in promoting the dialogue (for example, should new disciplines be considered?)

Participants in the Working Group are asked to prepare a short paper (no more than 5 pages). Each contribution will be published on the Symposium Website and on the Symposium CD. The submitted papers, due June 30, 2007, will also be used as a resource by the two co-chairs of the WG in their synthesis paper of the WG’s deliberations.

To facilitate our planning we would appreciate receiving your expression of interest by March 15, 2007 at the latest.

Please note that at this stage we are unable to offer any financial support.

Please feel free to contact us should you need more information or have further questions. (Text also available as a Word document.)

We look forward to working with you!

Co-chairs: Gilah Leder (Australia), Luis Radford (Canada)

PAPERS:

• Batarce–de Mattos The ICMI’s grammar
• Bergsten On home grown and borrowed theories in mathematics education research – the example of embodied cognition
• Biehler–Peter-Koop The development of mathematics education as a scientific discipline – Some reflections from a German perspective
• Boero Processes and products, structures and meaning in mathematics classroom: some snapshots from the last century
• Brandell Using multiple theoretical perspectives to connect, clarify and convey research results
• Brown Subjectivity: An alternative to the psychology of mathematics education
• D'Amore–Fandiño Pinilla Change of the meaning of mathematical objects due to the passage between their different representations
• Douek The determination of mathematical objects of didactical activities
• Forgasz Positioning gender and mathematics education research
• Fried History of mathematics and the future of mathematics education
• Furinghetti Mathematics education in the ICMI perspective
• Garfunkel The Faffufnik-ChaimYankel effect: A cautionary tale
• Kaiser MEANING in mathematics education – reflections from various perspectives
• Lerman Theories as intellectual resources in mathematics education research
• Po-Hung Liu A 4-dimensional analysis of the practice in mathematics education
• Namukasa The contribution of multiple disciplines of influence to mathematics education: A complexity science interpretation.
• Perrin-Glorian From producing optimal teaching to analysing usual classroom situations. Development of a fundamental concept in the theory of didactic situations: the notion of milieu
• Presmeg Semiotic theoretical frameworks: creativity and imaginative rationality in mathematics education
• Schlöglmann Is cognitive neuroscience relevant to mathematics education research?
• Sinclair Notes on the aesthetic dimension of mathematics education
• Steinbring Mathematical knowledge as a social construct of teaching- /learning processes – The epistemology-oriented mathematical interaction research

OVERVIEW:

Mathematics education: an ICMI perspective, by Gilah Leder and Luis Radford