Ferdinando Arzarello

ICMI (International Commission on Mathematical Instruction) was initiated in Rome in 1908 during the International Mathematics Congress with the aim of supporting and widespread interest among mathematicians in school education. Its first president was Felix Klein.
To celebrate the centennial of such an important Institution the Executive Committee of ICMI appointed an International Programme Committee that planned a meeting addressed to a selected group of invited participants (180 – 200 people) in Rome (March 5-8, 2008), in the same place where ICMI was founded (Accademia dei Lincei).
The International Programme Committee is composed by Ferdinando Arzarello (Italy, chair), Michèle Artigue (France), Hyman Bass (USA, ICMI president), Jo Boaler (United Kingdom), Marcelo Borba (Brazil), Daniel Coray (Switzerland, editor of the journal L’Enseignement Mathématique), Fulvia Furinghetti (Italy), Livia Giacardi (Italy), Bernard R. Hodgson (Canada, ICMI general secretary), Jeremy Kilpatrick (USA), Gilah Leder (Australia), Marta Menghini (Italy, member of the local committee), Mogens Niss (Denmark), Lee Peng Yee (Singapore), Gert Schubring (Germany), Renuka Vithal (South Africa).
Starting out from a historical analysis of the principal themes regarding the activities of the ICMI, the symposium will address the main directions of research in mathematics education from its foundation to our days. An important part of the Symposium will be devoted to an in-depth analysis of what ICMI has achieved since its establishment in 1908, trying to better understand what historical circumstances, structures, actions and persons made these achievements possible.

The Symposium will consist of nine plenary talks, a panel and five working groups. Most plenary talks will have a speaker and a reactor. Each working group will have two leaders and up to 30 participants.

The opening plenary is titled "Moments of the life of ICMI", and is based on the materials collected for the website, edited by Livia Giacardi and Fulvia Furinghetti, and will include:
a) video-taped interviews
b) cameos of the past officers of ICMI
c) documents (history of the affiliated study groups, list of ICMI studies, past Congresses, papers concerning ICMI, ...)

The remaining plenary talks are:

PL1: Jeremy Kilpatrick (USA),
Mathematics and the development of mathematics education as an academic field

PL2: Dina Tirosh and Pessia Tsamir (ISR)
The balance between rigor / formalism and intuition / heuristics in concept formation and reasoning

PL3 : Mogens Niss (Dan)
The balance between applications / modelling and “pure” mathematics in the teaching and learning of mathematics

PL4: Jo Boaler (UK)
The mutual impact of research and practice in mathematics education

PL5: Gert Schubring (GER)
The origins and early incarnations of ICMI

PL6: F. Arzarello, F: Furinghetti, L. Giacardi, M. Menghini
The recent history of ICMI seen through the history of the ICMEs

PL7: Benvenido Nebres (PHIL)
Centres and peripheries in mathematics education

PL8: Michele Artigue (FRA)
Closing Plenary

Here is the list of the Working Groups:

WG1: Co-chairs: Bill Barton (NZ), Frederic Gourdeau (CAN)
Disciplinary mathematics and school mathematics

WG2: Co-chairs: Deborah Ball (USA), Barbro Grevholm (SWE/NOR)
The professional formation of teachers

WG 3: Co-chairs: Robyn Zeevenbergen (AUS), Hilary Povey (UK)
Mathematics Education and Society

WG 4: Co-chairs: Marcelo Borba (BRA), Mariolina Bartolini Bussi (ITA)
Resources and technology throughout the history of ICMI

WG 5: Co-chairs: Gilah Leder (AUS), Luis Radford (CAN)
Mathematics Education: an ICMI perspective

There will be also a section of invited short talks, coordinated by Lee Peng Yee (Singapore) and Alan Bishop (AUS) and a Panel (ICMI’s challenges and future) of Mamokgethi Setati (South Africa), Morten Blomhøj (Denmark).

For more information, see:
- the symposium website;
- about ICMI history.