In 1994 the Executive Committee of ICMI met in Zurich (Switzerland) on the 4th August, in conjunction with the International Congress on Mathematicians (ICM-94). Besides its meetings, the work in the EC is conducted by correspondence and electronic communication under the direction of the President and the Secretary.
At the General Assembly of the International Mathematical Union, held in Luzerne (Switzerland) in July-August 1994, a new Executive Committee was appointed for the term 1 January 1995 - 31 December 1998.
ICMI now has four affiliated study groups, HPM (The International Study Group for the Relations Between the History and Pedagogy of Mathematics), IOWME (The International Organisation of Women and Mathematics Education), and PME (The International Group for the Psychology of Learning Mathematics), and WFNMC (The World Federation of National Mathematical Competitions) which obtained its affiliation as of 1 April 1994.
The planning of ICME-8, to be held in Sevilla (Spain) in July 1996, is in progress. The International Program Committee - chaired by Professor Claudi Alsina, Barcelona - met in Sevilla, 16-17 September 1994, to finally determine the structure of the congress program and to appoint main speakers, group leaders and panel members. By the end of 1994 the editing of the first announcement was completed.
The EC has received three formal declarations of intent to host ICME-9 in the year 2000. The countries offering to host the congress are Argentine, Brazil and Japan. Each country has been invited to prepare an information dossier to substantiate its bid. The new EC of ICMI will deal with the applications in its first meeting, to be held in Madrid (Spain), February 1995.
The mounting and conducting of so-called ICMI studies on crucial themes and issues in mathematics education was continued in 1994.
The written outcomes of the ICMI study on Gender and Mathematics Education, the study conference of which was held in Hoeoer (Sweden), 7-12 October 1993, are conference proceedings and a volume in the ICMI Study Series. The latter will be published by Kluwer Academic Publishers. Both publications, which are being edited by the chair of the International Program Committee, Professor Gila Hanna, OISE, University of Toronto (Canada), are expected to appear in 1995.
The study conference on What is Research in Mathematics Education, and What Are Its Results? was held at the University of Maryland, near Washington DC, 8-11 May 1994 with 81 participants from 23 different countries. As part of the conference program a one-day symposium 'Perspectives on Mathematics Education Research' was held at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 10 May. This symposium attracted an additional 18 US attendees. The study conference - which was organized by an International Program Committee, chaired jointly by Professors Jeremy Kilpatrick, University of Georgia, Athens (USA), and Anna Sierpinska, Concordia University, Montreal (Canada), and by Professor James T. Fey, University of Maryland as the Local Organizer - was based on a Discussion Document published officially in l'Enseignement Mathematique 39, fasc. 1-2, janvier-juin 1993, pp 179- 86, and in the ICMI Bulletin, No. 33, December 1992. A resulting volume to be published in the ICMI Study Series is being edited by Jeremy Kilpatrick and Anna Sierpinska.
The next ICMI Study in the series will be Perspectives on the teaching of geometry for the 21st century. An International Program Committee was appointed in 1994. It is chaired by Professor Vinicio Villani, Pisa (Italy). The study conference will be held at the University of Catania, Sicily (Italy) 28 September - 2 October 1995. The Local Organizing Committee is chaired by Professor Carmelo Mammana, Catania. The Discussion Document for this study was published officially in l'Enseignement Mathematique 40, fasc. 3-4, juillet-decembre 1994, pp 345-357, and in the ICMI Bulletin, No. 37, December 1994, pp 6-16.
Plans for a further study on the role of the history of mathematics in mathematics education are being developed as well. The same is true for a number of other ideas for future studies.
Financial support was given by ICMI to The ICMI-China Regional Conference in Mathematics Education, held at East China Normal University, Shanghai (China), 16-20 August 1994. The theme of the conference was Teacher Preparation in Mathematics.
The Executive Committee has further decided to sponsor Regional Collaboration in Mathematics Education: An ICMI Regional Conference to be held at Monash University, Melbourne (Australia), 19-23 April 1995. As this conference takes place in a developed country ICMI's sponsorship does not involve financial support.
As in the past ICMI organized a number of lectures at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM-94), Zurich (Switzerland), 3-11 August, 1994. The following ones were given: Christian Mauduit (Universite de Aix-Marseilles II, France): Challenging mathematical activities for young people, 6th August; Jeremy Kilpatrick (University of Georgia, Athens, USA) & Anna Sierpinska (Concordia University, Montreal, Canada): What is research in mathematics education? - Preliminary outcomes of an ICMI study, 9th August; Henry Pollak (Columbia University, New York, USA): The role of applications in mathematics education, 9 August; David Tall (University of Warwick, UK): Understanding processes of advanced mathematical thinking, 10 August. A fifth lecture, to be given by Roger Penrose, was in the program but was unfortunately canceled by the speaker.
In 1992 ICMI established a Solidarity Program to help the development of mathematics education in countries in which there is a need for it that justifies international assistance.
A first stage in this program was the mounting of a Solidarity Fund based on private contributions by individuals, associations, etc. The Fund is to be activated to support concrete initiatives and activities that may foster solidarity in mathematics education between well-defined quarters in developed and less developed countries. For the time being the Fund will be in charge of a committee chaired by Professor Jean-Pierre Kahane, Past-President of ICMI and with administrative assistance from the ICMI Secretariat. In 1994 a major addition to the Fund was that the net profit (almost US$ 16.000) of ICME-7, held in Quebec (Canada), August 1992, was transferred to the Solidarity Fund. The ICMI EC is most grateful to the ICME-7 organizers for this generous support of the Solidarity Program.
In 1994 the Fund was activated to support (a) a project (begun in February 1994) in El Salvador to help establishing master programs in statistics and in mathematics education, (b) the attendance of an IPC member and plenary speaker at the ICMI-China Regional Conference in Mathematics Education, Shanghai (China), August 1994. By the end of 1994 the Solidarity Fund contained a total of about US$ 31.300.
In 1994 ICMI Bulletins No. 36 (June) and 37 (December) were published under the editorship of the Secretary of ICMI. By the end of 1994 the Secretary has applied for an ISSN-number for the Bulletin. It is expected that such a number will be in place as from issue 38, June 1995.