Report from the International Congress on Mathematical Education
Over the summer months many St. Bernard’s faculty members attend conferences and classes. They travel far and wide to find topics best suited to their needs and to the needs of their students. Last summer was no exception. In July St. B’s math teacher, Dr. Johnson, attended the thirteenth International Congress on Mathematical Education in Hamburg, Germany. He found the conference engaging and felt he was able to gain a big-picture view of what is happening in the field of mathematical education.
Back
There were 4,700 participants from many parts of the world in attendance. Participants included math teachers (kindergarten through university level), math educators (the people who train math teachers), mathematicians, and researchers who study how math is being taught.
One talk that made an impression on Dr. Johnson was delivered by Michael N. Fried of Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. Mr. Fried argued that mathematics should be viewed as a liberal art; he presented a history of mathematics to support this claim. Dr. Johnson was glad to hear support for something he strongly believes, that mathematics is a deeply human activity, and that learning math enhances our humanity.
Another topic Dr. Johnson found intriguing was a discussion about how early students could understand the concept of an algebraic variable. Surprisingly, researchers found that students in first and second grades were able to grasp the idea of a variable.
It was gratifying for Dr. Johnson to hear support of methods already in place at St. B’s. For example, St. Bernard’s math teachers wait to introduce the quadratic equation until the end of algebraic studies. This encourages students to conceptually understand factoring. Dr. Johnson believes students should be able to derive the quadratic equation themselves before it is introduced.
Overall, Dr. Johnson felt inspired to dig more deeply into mathematical ideas and appreciated hearing from educators from all parts of the world. In a particularly impressive presentation, after several accomplished speakers, the curtains on the stage were drawn back to reveal an entire youth orchestra which began playing pieces by Bach, Mozart, and Mendelssohn. Dr. Johnson enjoyed every minute of it.
