Letter to the CFEM members,

Ferdinando Arzarello, ICMI president, 25-05-2014

Dear friends of the CFEM,

I thank L. Trouche, who gave me the opportunity of presenting ICMI activities to the community of French math teachers and researchers in math education. I wish also thank so much the CFEM for the nice page dedicated to ICMI: in fact the French community of math educators is one of the most active in collaborating with ICMI.

I will summarize below the main activities of ICMI in these last 18 months, namely from the beginning of my term as President until today. I group the activities into main issues, which do not necessary follow the time scale.

ICMI Awards

We now know the names of the Felix Klein and Hans Freudenthal awards for 2013: they are respectively Michèle Artigue (Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7) and  Frederick Koon Shing LEUNG (The University of Hong Kong, SAR China). Moreover ICMI has launched a new prize, the Emma Castelnuovo medal to recognize outstanding achievements in the practice of mathematics education. It will honour persons, groups, projects, institutions or organizations engaged in the development and implementation of exceptional and influential work in the practice of mathematics education, including: classroom teaching, curriculum development, instructional design (of materials or pedagogical models), teacher preparation programs and/or field projects with a shown influence on schools, districts, regions or countries. The deadline for bids is December 2014 (more info on Emma Castelnuovo, recently deceased, here, and on the three medals at this page)

ICMI Studies (on-going and new)

• ICMI 22 (Task design) ran its Study Conference in Oxford, England on July 2013. The conference was successful and the writing of the book is in progress.
• ICMI Study 23 (Primary Mathematics Study on Whole Numbers): the IPC met in Berlin in January and produced the Discussion Document of the Study. The ICMI Study Conference is planned to take place in May-June 2015 at the University of Macao.

CANPs (Capacity and Networking Projects)

• CANP3 South East Asia – was conducted in Cambodia in October 2013 with the participation of representatives from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand.
• CANP4 East Africa – will take place in Tanzania (at Aga Khan University Dar El Salaam) in September and will involve also people from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

ICME 13 (Hamburg, July 2016)

The IPC meeting for ICME13 took place in June 2013 near Hamburg to establish the program. Most of it is already in place and available in its website.

ICMI publications

ICMI News is the Electronic Newsletter of ICMI and is published three times in the year (July 1, November 1, and March 1). It aims at improving communication between ICMI and the worldwide community interested in mathematics education, informing about actions and recommendations of ICMI, highlighting issues that are under discussion and reporting about ongoing activities. If you want to send a message to the editor of ICMI News (giving your opinion, making suggestions, sending a letter to the editor, etc.) please use this email address. You are also kindly asked to send the address of persons who could be interested in receiving ICMI News.

With effect from January 2015, Jean-Luc Dorier will take over from Mariolina Bartolini Bussi the coordination of the ICMI section of the Newsletter of the European Mathematical Society.

Klein Project

The IMU-ICMI project continues its activity, producing more “vignettes” and translating them in different languages (including French). The number of regional/national activities around the Klein Project is growing: there was one in Berlin in September 2013 and one in Rio de Janeiro in April 2014. You can see the currently published vignettes in its blog. In case you wish to submit a vignette, please contact Michèle Artigue, as a member of the design team.

ICMI Regional Conferences

• AFRICME took place in Maseru (Lesotho) in June 2013.
• EMF (Espace Mathématique Francophone): next meeting, as you know, will take place in Tipaza (Algerie) in October 2015.

In case you wish more details please browse the ICMI site or to write to me. All suggestions and comments are welcome.

Ferdinando Arzarello, Torino, 25-05-2014

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