This award, endorsed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the United States National Commission on Mathematical Instruction, the Mathematical Association of America, the American Mathematical Society and the American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges, is supporting the participation of 50 U.S. elementary, middle, and high school mathematics teachers or supervisors, graduate students, community college/university mathematics teachers, mathematicians and teacher educators or researchers to attend the Twelfth International Congress for Mathematical Education (ICME-12) to be held in Seoul Korea from June 8 to July 15, 2012. The work and conversations of mathematics educators across the world will contribute to understanding of curricular frameworks, research on teaching and learning, the use of technology, strategies for reaching all students, educating immigrant children, and teacher education and professional development. The award will help inform and enlighten mathematics education in this country through international conversations with others confronting the same issues.
As a special feature of the ICME program, the United States has been invited to host a U.S. National Presentation, which will include two featured sessions and a special exhibit to be open throughout the Congress for sharing artifacts of mathematics education in the United States with the international community. The award includes support for featured speakers and organizing the US National Presentation. It also includes support for the preparation and update of the State of Mathematics Education in the United States, under the leadership of John Dossey, which will be disseminated at the Congress and through NCTM.
The ICME -12 Travel Grant supported 50 mathematics educators (K-12 teachers and school personnel, community college instructors, university mathematics educators, mathematics education researchers, graduate students and mathematicians) to attend the Twelfth International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-12) held in Seoul, Korea on June 28-July 6, 2012. Attending the Congress enabled awardees to acquire knowledge of what is happening across the world; learn who the important contributors are (teachers, scholars, researchers) and establish contact and networks with them; bring the problems we have in mathematics education in the U.S. into a better focus; and develop and share insight into new solutions to these problems that emerged from the practice of others or were linked to the results of research. The Steering Committee for the grant consisted of David Bressoud (Mathematics Association of America), Richard Askey (American Mathematical Society), James Roznowski (American Mathematics Association of Two Year Colleges), Janine Remillard (United States National Commission on Mathematics Instruction), Mark Ellis (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics), and two members at large, Natalie Jakucyn and John Staley. A major product of the grant is the booklet on the status of mathematics education in the United States. Mathematics Education in the United States, 2012: A Capsule Summary Fact Book Written for ICME 12 (Dossey, Halvorsen & McCrone, 2012) ( www.nctm.org/about/affiliates/content.aspx?id=31761). Intellectual merit. The experience at ICME-12 served to advance and spread knowledge and understanding of international educational practice and research findings among practitioners and researchers in the United States, beyond the 50 selected awardees. Through a vetted selection process, awardees were well positioned to disseminate insights from their experience to their students, local colleagues, and to state, regional and national mathematics organizations. The understanding of international issues and practices among educators and researchers in the United States enhanced their capacity to take an informed, global perspective in their work as testified to by many awardees, which in turn benefited their local communities and others with whom they work. The research discussed at the Congress enabled awardees who were teachers to have a better sense of how research might connect to their practice and gave awardees engaged in research a sense of where their work fit within the international community and what directions might be fruitful for future efforts. Many connections initiated at ICME-12 by awardees have been maintained and have had an impact on many school children and teachers, both preservice and practicing, in the United States. At the same time, the awardees were able to contribute knowledge of U.S. practices, perspectives, and reforms to the international community through the Fact Book and interaction with other participants. The 2012 status report is an invaluable resource with specific details about the U.S. educational system and what has changed over the last four years. Broader Impact. ICME-12 supported national efforts to engage with the international community to improve education through international collaborations and networks between U.S. teachers and mathematics educators and the global community. For many awardees, such collaborations helped situate research in a more general context, enhancing the infrastructure for research in mathematics education. The travel grant increased the number and diversity of the U.S. mathematics education community attending the international congress enabling a broader representation from the United States to benefit from interaction with the world’s leading mathematics educators. Attending ICME-12 engaged these educators in learning about the "state of the art" with respect to research and practice in mathematics education from a wide variety of perspectives and in discussing common challenges in teaching and learning mathematics. With awardees representing a comprehensive set of mathematics educators from K-12 teachers to mathematicians, dissemination efforts reached the spectrum of mathematics education communities in the United States as awardees shared experiences and findings.
