WMY2000 NewsLetter 3
ICMI's INVOLVEMENT IN WMY 2000
GENERAL PERSPECTIVES
The International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI)
is very enthusiastic
about WMY 2000 and is eager to contribute to activities up to and
in that year as best it can.
This article offers a brief outline of ICMI's ideas and measures
so far.
ICMI believes that it is important to establish rather clear
overall purposes and general
goals for the WMY 2000. The very idea of a World Mathematical
Year is an extrovert one,
attentive to the relations between mathematics, in all its
manifestations, and the world in which
it evolves. It seems that the key "problematics" is that in spite
of the social and cultural
significance of mathematics, its nature, roles, and functions
are, to a considerable extent,
invisible to the world outside the mathematical community. We
therefore propose that the
main task of the WMY 2000 be to "make mathematics and its role in
the world visible to
society in general, and to the general public in particular". The
primary aim should not be to
advertise and propagate the marvels of mathematics - lobbying and
propaganda will hardly
convince the kind of audience we would want to reach; on the
contrary, they are more likely to
be counter-productive. Instead, the task should be to reveal the
five-fold nature of
mathematics, as a pure science, an applied science, a system of
instruments for decisions and
actions, a field of aesthetics and, last but not the least, one
of the major teaching/learning
subjects in modern times. We should strive to present and
demonstrate, and not just claim,
these properties of mathematics. In so doing it should be
emphasised that the creation and use
of mathematics as we know it rely on human activity; that
mathematics have a social and
cultural history, and that mathematics has intimate relations
with philosophical, scientific and
practical issues.
A GLOBAL CONGRESS OF MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION
It is a matter of course for ICMI, as IMU's commission on
mathematical education, to place
particular emphasis on educational activities in the WMY 2000. A
key event of the year will be
the Ninth International Congress on Mathematical Education,
ICME-9. The congress will take
place in a city, yet to be chosen by the ICMI Executive, by and
large in accordance with the
"classical format" of such congresses. However, in addition to
the congress proper, ICMI
intends to explore ways to expand and enhance ICME-9 into an
event of even greater global
significance by means of international communication networks.
Thus, it might be possible to
organize a number of simultaneous satellite conferences in
strategically located places around
the world, and provide interactive communication links between
them and the main Congress.
Such an arrangement would make it possible for huge numbers of
people to participate
actively in one global Congress and so place mathematics
education on the agenda in all parts
of the world. Should technological or financial constraints turn
out to make this project
unrealistic, a more modest scheme could be adopted in its place.
A sequence of regional ICMI
conferences could be organized, each devoted to a crucial issue
or theme of mathematical
education in that region, preparing to culminate in ICME-9.
THE ROLE OF MATHEMATICS IN CULTURE AND SOCIETY
A great variety of public media should be activated to present,
as concretely as possible, the
ways in which mathematics continues to play an important part in
modern society and culture,
as it has done in the past.
One idea could be to involve in this task the greatest
communicators among
mathematicians, mathematics educators, scientific writers,
producers of scientific films and TV
programmes, designers of exhibitions, etc.. If measures are taken
in due course, it might be
possible for IMU, ICMI and its affiliated study groups, to
commission books and articles,
public lectures, films, videos, TV programmes, computer-based
information technology
materials (including CD-roms), museum design, travelling
exhibitions, and so forth, all
touching on various aspects of the role of mathematics in the
world of today and yesterday.
As a very concrete example of what could be done, WMY 2000
organizers could invite a
number of internationally well-known and influential politicians,
composers, industrialists,
journalists, film or theater directors, writers, scientists, and
many more, all outside what could
be labelled as the mathematical community, each to write a
chapter of a book telling about his
personal encounters and relationships (whether positive or
negative) with mathematics. Again,
the intention should not be just to produce rosy stories and
propaganda lauding the marvels of
mathematics but to give honest and authentic accounts of serious
people's mathematical
experiences.
Another concrete idea is to establish a prize for the best talk
given in public, and for the
best book appealing to the general public, on the role of
mathematics in the world.
ICMI's PARTICIPATION IN WMY 2000
ICMI looks forward to contributing to the setting up of WMY 2000
in various ways, some
of which are sketched above, while others are yet to be
identified. The Executive Committee
has decided to establish an Ad Hoc Committee to make specific
plans for ICMI's involvement
in the WMY 2000. The EC is in the process of appointing the
members of this Ad Hoc
Committee. Readers of this Newsletter will be informed of the
composition of the Committee
when it is complete.
Mogens Niss,
Professor, Secretary of ICMI
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