{
  "type": "Article",
  "identifiers": [],
  "title": "ICMI column",
  "meta": {},
  "content": [
    {
      "type": "Heading",
      "id": "Sx1",
      "depth": 1,
      "content": [
        "Mathematics education in times of the pandemic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Paragraph",
      "id": "Sx1.p1",
      "content": [
        "All over the world, schooling is currently hindered by the second lockdowns\nenforced by the pandemic. Teachers and students have to learn with limited time\ntables or even completely remotely. This works sufficiently well in regions\nwhere digital tools have already been established as a normal medium of\nlearning, but very badly where digital tools are not accessible for all\nteachers and particularly for all students. Some of these students have\nsubmerged completely, others are reached only by teachers who cycle around the\ntowns and bring worksheets to everybody personally. Can you imagine\ncommunicating about mathematics only on WhatsApp? Can you imagine students\nsitting at home and filling out worksheets without any oral communication? We\ncan perhaps imagine exercising some procedural skills this way, but surely not\ndeveloping new conceptual understanding."
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Paragraph",
      "id": "Sx1.p2",
      "content": [
        "In these times, parents and students in many countries become aware of the\nimportant advantages of reliable formal education in schools, even for\nmathematics education. In these times, we also become aware that access to\nformal education is a privilege that is available to some students much more\nthan to others. Even in privileged countries such as most countries in Europe,\nthe school system is currently not able to ensure fully equal access to\nmathematics for all students. What a failure of the school system! Some\ncountries have decided to avoid closures in the second waves, while others\nclosed down again."
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Paragraph",
      "id": "Sx1.p3",
      "content": [
        "Once the lockdowns are over (while writing this column in January, I still hope\nthis will be the case by the end of March), we will be able to return to normal\nschooling. Then we will be able to see how the lockdown has impacted students’\nmathematical abilities and mathematical understanding. We will need to develop\ncreative ideas for programs compensating for the lost time. We will need to\ndevelop programs to support teachers and school administrators in implementing\nthese compensation programs, in order to avoid creating a lost generations, in\nparticular from among the most vulnerable students. Can we, the university\nmathematicians and university mathematics education researchers, contribute to\nthis process? Let us start discussing this!"
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Heading",
      "id": "Sx2",
      "depth": 1,
      "content": [
        "ICME 14 in Shanghai planned as hybrid conference in July 2021"
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Paragraph",
      "id": "Sx2.p1",
      "content": [
        "Usually, mathematics education researchers from all over the world meet every\nfour years for their ",
        {
          "type": "Emphasis",
          "content": [
            "International Congress on Mathematics Education"
          ]
        },
        "\n(ICME). The congress in Shanghai that was originally planned for July 2020 was\npostponed to July 11 to 18, 2021. It is now planned as a hybrid conference,\nsince many researchers expect difficulties with international travel in\nSummer 2021."
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Paragraph",
      "id": "Sx2.p2",
      "content": [
        "A hybrid conference poses many challenges. How does one deal with the time\nshifts in different time zones of the world? How does one include people in the\nconference site as well as people on the screens?"
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Paragraph",
      "id": "Sx2.p3",
      "content": [
        "The main strategy for dealing with the time zones is to fix a core-time that is\nfeasible for nearly all countries in the world. This has been fixed as\n19:30–21:30 Shanghai time. During this core time-period, interactive formats\nare scheduled, such as Topic Study groups. Plenary and invited lectures, on the\nother hand, will be scheduled outside the core time, and potentially\nvideo-recorded. Only those formats which require the most intense interaction\n(e.g., the Early Career Researchers Day and the poster presentation) will be\nreserved for the “physical participants”, i.e., those who can physically be in\nShanghai. In this way, we hope to include as many people as possible in the\nconference, in spite of the potential travel limitations."
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Paragraph",
      "id": "Sx2.p4",
      "content": [
        "In order to find space to talk about the consequences of the pandemic on\nmathematics education, an additional panel is planned with this specific focus."
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Paragraph",
      "id": "Sx2.p5",
      "content": [
        "The ",
        {
          "type": "Emphasis",
          "content": [
            "registration will be open till June 20th, 2021."
          ]
        },
        " The registration fee\nfor the online participation will only be RMB 2000 (and RMB 3500 for the\nphysical participants) if early payment is made before March, 31, 2021."
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Paragraph",
      "id": "Sx2.p6",
      "content": [
        "More information on ICME 13 in Shanghai can be found at\n",
        {
          "type": "Link",
          "target": "https://www.icme14.org/",
          "content": [
            "www.icme14.org"
          ]
        },
        "."
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "Paragraph",
      "id": "authorinfo",
      "content": [
        "Susanne Prediger is a full professor in mathematics education\nresearch at TU Dortmund University, and director of the DZLM network at\nthe IPN Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education. Her\nresearch interests include developing and investigating learning\nopportunities for secondary mathematics education as well as mathematics\nteacher education.\n\n",
        {
          "type": "Link",
          "target": "mailto:prediger@math.uni-dortmund.de",
          "content": [
            "prediger@math.uni-dortmund.de"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}