Francisco Santos (santosf@unican.es)
Luis Rico (lrico@ugr.es)
Sebastià Xambó (sebastia.xambo@upc.edu)
Mathematical education is that part of the activity of the mathematical community that is most visible to society at large, and is therefore an especially sensitive subject in which in the coming years the Spanish mathematical community must redouble its work in the years to come. One of the most important resolutions taken by the General Assembly of the International Mathematical Union held between August 19th and 20th in Santiago de Compostela is:
Resolution 8
The General Assembly of the IMU reaffirms the importance of the issues treated by ICMI (the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction). It recognizes the importance of continuing and strengthening the relationship of IMU with ICMI and urges the increased involvement of research mathematicians in mathematical education at all levels.
This resolution underlines the importance of educational subjects, with the recommendation of continuing and strengthening connections between ‘educational mathematicians’ and ‘research mathematicians’ – a classification subject to debate, since in many cases both descriptions may apply to the same person. It likewise emphasizes the need for the greater involvement of researchers in education, an issue that was already pointed out by the international panel that selected i-MATH.
This convergence is already under way in the Spanish Mathematics Committee, where all the Spanish mathematical societies are working together, and in which the Educational Commission is also participating. Experience gained in dealing with educational problems in a comprehensive way (secondary school and university), as well as in conjunction with research, is creating an environment of cooperation to which i-MATH should make a contribution.
The EDU Platform has three levels of action:
- Role of the authorities in mathematical education,
- Interrelation between mathematical education and dissemination,
- Appreciation of the relation between research and mathematical education.
SECONDARY SCHOOL
- Issue reports about good teaching practices, starting with an exploratory task among similar initiatives in other countries. In particular, the development of Spanish curricular standards, such as those developed (http://www.nctm.org/standards) by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, http://www.nctm.org/) in the USA, is a subject to be promoted from i-MATH, and whose importance requires the direct support of the MEC.
- Promote the use of new Technologies in order to improve the quality of education.
- Organize seminars to discuss the PISA and TIMMS reports, increasing the presence of work groups issuing these documents.
UNIVERSITY
- Initiate the monitoring of the process of adaptation of the mathematics degree courses in the European Higher Education Area (Bologna program), especially in relation to Masters and PhDs.
- Develop comparable international indicators in order to strengthen quality research in mathematical education, making up for deficiencies in the area and following suggestions made by the IMU.
- To encourage those university professors, with prestige in their respective research areas to become involved in qualified teaching in their own universities,. As a result, not only Educational Mathematics researchers will be listened to in this subject, but also those excellent researchers and professors involved in different areas of knowledge.
INTERNATIONALIZATION
- Promote the participation of international organisations such as ICMI (IMU) and their study groups.
PROMOTION OF THE MATHEMATICAL VOCATION
- Promote tools for the detection and stimulation of early talent in Mathematics, in cooperation with programs such as ESTALMAT. It is also necessary to emulate advances in the program.
- Diffusion activities of Mathematics in Secondary Education schools, similar to what has been done in some faculties.