ICMI Study 20: educational interfaces between mathematics and industry

Participation in the study

1.1 Design of the study

The ICMI/ICIAM joint Study on Educational Interfaces between Mathematics and Industry is designed to enable researchers and practitioners around the world to share research, theoretical work, projects descriptions, experiences and analyses. It will consist of two components: the Study Conference and the Study Volume.

The Study Conference will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, on 19–23 April 2010, the number of participants to be invited being limited to approximately 100. It is hoped that the Conference will attract not only “experts” but also some “newcomers” to the field with interesting and refreshing ideas or promising work in progress, as well as participants from countries usually under-represented in mathematics education research meetings.

Participation in the Study Conference will be by invitation only, based on a submitted contribution. Proposed contributions will be reviewed and selections made according to the quality of the work, the potential to contribute to the advancement of the Study, with explicit links to the themes and approaches outlined in this Discussion Document, and the need to ensure diversity among the perspectives. Accepted papers will appear in the Conference Proceedings that will be published by ICMI and ICIAM as a CD-ROM and on the Internet (open access), and will form the basis of the Study’s scientific work. An invitation to the Conference does not imply that an oral presentation of the submitted contribution will be made during the Conference, as the International Program Committee (IPC) may decide to organise it in other ways that facilitate the Study’s effectiveness and productivity.

The Study Conference will be a working one, every participant being expected to be active. We therefore hope that the participants will represent a variety of backgrounds, expertise, experience and nationalities that will lead to a suitable coverage of the Study theme, its different topics and the related questions. Such attendance should be drawn broadly from the mathematics and mathematics education communities, as well as from industry. It is the IPC’s hope that the Conference will attract applied mathematicians, representatives from industry, mathematics educators, in particular those involved in the preparation of school teachers, practitioners in the teaching of applications of mathematics and researchers in mathematics education—both experienced people and young researchers entering the field.

Unfortunately, an invitation to participate in the Conference does not imply financial support from the organisers, and participants should finance their attendance at the Conference. It is hoped that this invitation will help participants to get appropriate support from their own countries. Funds are being sought to provide partial support for participants from non-affluent countries, but the number of such grants will be limited.

The Study Volume, a post-conference publication, will appear in the New ICMI Study Series (NISS), published by Springer. Acceptance of a paper for the Conference does not ensure automatic inclusion in this book. The Study Volume will be based on selected contributions as well as on the outcome of the Conference. The exact format of the Study Volume has not yet been decided but it is expected to be an edited coherent book that can hopefully serve as a standard reference in the field for some time.

A report on the Study will be presented during the 7th International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM 2011, to be held on 18–22 July 2011, in Vancouver, Canada), as well as at the 12th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-12), to be held in Seoul, Korea, on 8–15 July 2012.

The aim is to present the Study Volume itself at ICIAM 2011.

1.2 Call for contributions

The International Programme Committee hereby invites individuals or groups to submit original contributions on specific questions, problems or issues related to the topic of the Study for consideration by the Committee. A submission should represent a significant contribution to knowledge about the Study topic and may address questions from one or more of the Study themes (Sects. 1–10), or further issues relating to these, but it should clearly identify its primary focus. The IPC welcomes high-quality proposals from researchers and practitioners (both from education and industry) who can make solid practical and scientific contributions to the Study. New researchers in the field and participants from countries under-represented in mathematics education research meetings are especially encouraged to submit contributions. To ensure a rich and varied scope of resources for the Study, participation from countries with different economic levels or with different cultural heritage and practices is encouraged. We hope that applied mathematicians, as well researchers and mathematics educators from the early years to tertiary level, will come up with new insights and guidelines for future work. Contributions from vocational education and industrial Mathematics are highly welcome.

Those who would like to participate should prepare a 6–10 page paper (Times 14-point font, single spaced lines) addressing matters raised in this document or other issues related to the topic of the Study. All papers must be written in English, the language of the Conference, and include a 200-word abstract. Papers concerning work that is ongoing or yet to be carried out are also welcome. Research questions should be carefully stated and expected results should be formulated, if possible with reference to earlier and related work.

These documents should be submitted no later than 15 September 2009, to both co-chairs of the Study by e-mail. All such documents will be regarded as input to the planning of the Study Conference and will assist the IPC in issuing invitations no later than 15 November 2009. All submissions must be uploaded electronically to the Study website (http://icimieimi.wordpress.com/) together with appropriate personal data, in the form of a PDF, RTF or DOC file not exceeding 1.5 MB.

1.3 Study timeline

• Submissions for participation in the Study should be uploaded to the website by 15 September 2009.

• Submissions will be reviewed and decisions made about inclusion in the Conference Proceedings. Notifications about these decisions will be sent by 15 November 2009 to all those who sent in submissions. In the case of papers accepted for the Conference, some suggestions for changes may be sent to the authors.

• Final versions of papers accepted for the Conference Proceedings must be received by 15 March 2010.

1.4 International programme committee

• Alain Damlamian, Faculté de Sciences et de Technologie, Université Paris-Est (France), co-chair

• Rudolf Sträßer, Institut für Didaktik der Mathematik, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (Germany), co-chair

• José Francisco Rodrigues, Departamento de Matemática, Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal), local organiser

• Marta Anaya, Facultad de Ingeniria, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina)

• Helmer Aslaksen, Department of Mathematics, National University of Singapore (Singapore)

• Gail FitzSimons, Faculty of Education, Monash University (Australia)

• José M. Gambi, Escuela Politecnica Superior, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain)

• Solomon Garfunkel, Comap (USA)

• Alejandro Jofré, Departamento de Ingeniria Matematica, Universidad de Chile (Chile)

• Henk Van der Kooij, Freudenthal Institute, Universiteit Utrecht (Netherlands)

• Li Ta-tsien, Department of Mathematics, Fudan University (China)

• Brigitte Lutz-Westphal, Institut für Didaktik der Naturwissenschaften, der Mathematik und des Sachunterrichts, Universität Vechta (Germany)

• Taketomo Mitsui, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Doshisha University (Japan)

• Nilima Nigam, Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University (Canada)

• Fadil Santosa, Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, University of Minnesota (USA)

• Bernard R. Hodgson, Département de mathématiques et de statistique, Université Laval (Canada), ex officio, Secretary-General of ICMI

• Rolf Jeltsch, Seminar for Applied Mathematics, ETH Zürich (Switzerland), ex officio, President of ICIAM.

1.5 Inquiries

Inquiries on all aspects of the Study and suggestions concerning the content of the Study Conference should be sent to both co-chairs:

• Alain Damlamian, damla@univ-paris12.fr, and

• Rudolf Sträßer, Rudolf.Straesser@math.uni-giessen.de.

The official website for the joint ICMI/ICIAM Study is http://www.cim.pt/eimi/.