Final WGA-11 summary is now available |
The International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI) organises an ICME every four years. The last one was in Makuhari, Japan from July 31 to August 6, 2000. (Makuhari is in Tokyo, about half way between the downtown area and Narita International Airport - about 40 km from central Tokyo.) The next ICME will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in July of 2004.
This page contains information about the structure, focus and activities of WGA11 at Makuhari. We (Barry Kissane and Rolf Biehler, the Co-Chief Organisers of this WGA) have updated the page regularly, so that people who participated can be well-informed. We would appreciate hearing from anyone with interests in this general area, and hope that you can attend the Congress to participate in the WGA.
Aims
Here are some early thoughts on what we expected people to gain
from participating in WGA11.
Find out about international issues and trends in this area:
Share experiences related to these kinds of issues:
Be informed about recent developments:
We expect that, by its nature, WGA11 at ICME-9 will allow us all to increase our personal networks, renew previous professional relationships and gain a better sense of our own experiences in mathematics education by considering them in the light of the experiences of those in other cultural, social, educational, political or regional circumstances.
Audiences
As a matter of both principle and fact, ICME is international
in focus, and so WGA11 will accommodate as well as possible a
range of audiences. The range includes people with various levels
of comfort with English and Japanese, the two official languages
of the Congress, various levels of interest in schools (younger
and older children, technical students, undergraduates, teacher
education), a range of principle activities (school teacher, university
teacher, researcher, software developer) and various other dimensions.
Structure
WGA11 was organised in the first instance around contributions
from intending participants, described in outline form in the
Call for Contributions. We formed particular subgroups with common interests;
details of these were made available on this web site when
it became clearer to us what the likely common interests were.
The Call for contributions contained an outline of elements of the possible structure of the group. Here is a slightly more elaborated version, to take advantage of having more space:
Level of education
Technology use
Type and focus of contribution
Meetings
The WGA met four times over the duration of the
Congress. Almost three sessions were devoted to work in subgroups.
This ensured that there were opportunities for significant
personal involvement of participants in areas of their interest,
and a chance to get to know colleagues from around the world.
We expected that some of the time of participants would be spent
in groups that were small enough for personal contacts to be made.
It was expected by the IPC that people would attend all of the meetings
of their chosen WGA, to allow significant and extended activities
to be undertaken. We expected that contributors to the WGA would
be available to contribute to all sessions scheduled.
Presentations
All formal offers to present at the WGA were made by
the IPC on the basis of suggestions from us. The IPC were responsible
for controlling the participation of individuals in the ICME.
We expected a written version of papers before the Congress. Depending on
the number of contributions, the time for oral presentations during
the WGA sessions varied. The Organizing Team decided on
the allocation of time available for each presentation;
we combined very short presentations with longer ones (plenaries,
overviews, introductory papers, papers as basic stimuli for discussions).
Some subgroups may decide to mainly focus on discussion, assuming
that all the participants may have already read the paper. Papers were made available on the WWW before the Congress so that all participants could prepare for the discussions and presentations at the Congress. They have recently been removed from public access, although individual authors may send a copy on request. (Email addresses are given below)
.
Publication
We think there is a good case for preparing a publication
of some of the proceedings of the WGA, both to provide a more
permanent and reflective record of the events to participants
and also to provide information to the wider international audience
of those not able to attend. Details of the scope and size, refereeing,
editing, publishing and financial matters associated with this
publication are still to be determined. Any advice on this would
of course be welcome, whether from potential contributors, readers
or publishers.
Associate Organizers
The Organizing Team (OT) for this WGA comprised ourselves
with the support of Associate Organizers. We were supported initially by
Michal Yerushalmy <michalyr@construct.haifa.ac.il>,
from Israel, Sergei Abramovich <abramovs@potsdam.edu>
from the United States of America, and Shoichiro Machida <smachi@sainet.or.jp>
from Japan. Later, we were also supported by Tomoko Yanagimoto <ytomoko@cc.osaka-kyoiku.ac.jp> from Japan and by Hans-Georg Wiegand <weigand@mathematik.uni-wuerzburg.de> from Germany.
Links with other parts of ICME-9
There are of course many links between the various Working Groups
for Action (WGA) and Topic Study Groups (TSG) at ICME-9, and many
people found it difficult to select only one of each to attend.
In the case of WGA11, mention needs to be made of one of the Topic
Study Groups, TSG7: The Use of Multimedia in Mathematics Education,
the Chief Organizers of which are Guenter Krauthausen <krauthausen@uni-hamburg.de>
of Germany and Katsuhiko Shimizu <shimizu@nier.go.jp>
of Japan. We expected TSG7 to focus attention on 'learning
programs' with substantial elements of multimedia in their operation.
These include also programs that can be used in school and outside
school (e.g. in the afternoon) for supporting pupils' learning
and also for remedial learning. These will also include programs
where a teacher is not necessary, so that the pupils can work
independently. We expected that the use of multimedia and WWW will
also be a topic of one of the subgroups of WGA 11. If the use
of multimedia is a particular interest of yours, you may wish
to consider being involved in the work of the TSG as well as,
or even instead of, WGA11. The details of the scope and directions
of TSG7 can be obtained directly from its Chief Organizers.
How to contact us
Please feel free to contact us regarding any aspect of the activities
of WGA11. We would be pleased to hear from you. Please send an email
to both of us.
Rolf Biehler
University of Kassel
Dep. of Mathematics/Informatics
Heinrich-Plett-Str. 40
34132 Kassel
Germany
Tel: + 49 561-804-4634, Fax: + 49-561-804-4318
Email: biehler@mathematik.uni-kassel.de
Internet: http://www.mathematik.uni-kassel.de/~biehler/
Barry Kissane
The Australian Institute of Education, Murdoch University,
Murdoch WA Australia 6150
Tel: +61-8-9360-2677, Fax: +61-8-9360-6296
Email: kissane@central.murdoch.edu.au
Internet: http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~kissane
[This page was last updated on 5 September 2000]
