The International Commission on Mathematical Instruction, 1908-2008: People, Events, and Challenges in Mathematics Education

The purpose of this volume is to understand and outline the evolution of the objectives and field of action of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI) from its creation in 1908 in Rome until 2008, through an analysis of the main events and protagonists of its history. It consists of three parts, each exploring different facets of these hundred years of ICMI’s life. In Part I, four chapters retrace the three main phases in the century of ICMI's life: The foundation and early period up to WWI (Chapter 1); The rebirth in 1952 as a permanent subcommission of the International Mathematical Union and the broadening of the scope of action until Freudenthal’s innovations (Chapter 2); The “Renaissance” in the late 1960s and further development up to 2008 (Chapter 3). Chapter 4 presents a wide selection of unpublished letters and documents belonging to the period 1908-1974, coming from different archives, especially from the IMU Archives in Berlin. Part II presents useful data about the life of ICMI: The Timeline of ICMI, 1908-2008; The Central and Executive Committees of the Commission (1908 -2009); The Terms of Reference for ICMI (1954-2007); Mathematics Education in the International Congresses of Mathematicians (1897-2006); Maps on the process of internationalization of ICMI; Data concerning the first ICME (Lyon 1969). Part III contains biographical portraits of the 54 members of the Central/Executive Committee of ICMI who passed away in the first hundred years of the Commission, and also includes the portraits of scholars awarded the title of Honorary Member of the Commission during the International Congress of Mathematicians in Oslo (1936), and of Charles-Ange Laisant, one of the founders of the journal L’Enseignement Mathématique, the official organ of ICMI. The portraits in Part III of the volume are designed according to a particular point of view because they focus on the actual involvement of these scholars in ICMI’s development and, more generally, in mathematics education.