Friday, September 14, 2012

CONFERENCE- IVth international congress on the anthropological theory of didactics (ATD)

21-26 Apr 2013 Toulouse (France)


CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS OF THE RELATION TO MATHEMATICS AND OTHER KNOWLEDGES AT SCHOOL AND IN SOCIETY

This international conference is organised under the auspices of the IUFM (Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maîtres; teacher professional development institute) Midi-Pyrénées, an affiliated school of the University Toulouse 2, and is supported in particular by [1]:

– The Mixed Unit of Research EFTS (education, professional development, work, knowledge);
– The Research commission of IUFM and especially CCLEPODI (curricula, skills, language, assessment, versatility, didactics of the disciplines, interdisciplinarity);
– The Department MEFST IUFM (professions in education and training in science and technology);
– The ARDM (Association for Research in Didactics of Mathematics).

The scientific focus of the conference
Today, the Anthropological Theory of the Didactical (ATD) holds a strong position on research on the didactics of mathematics as well as the didactics of other disciplines.
Since 2005, three international conferences have been held on this subject. The first was held in Baeza (Spain) in 2005, the second took place in Uzès (France) in 2007, and the third in Sant Hilari Sacalm (Spain) in 2010. The 3rd conference was organised by the Mathematics Research Center of Catalonia, which also published the proceedings.

Like the preceding conferences, this conference brings together researchers who work or wish to work [2] within the frame of ATD with the following objectives:

- Establishing an overview of the results and the progress of ATD concerning both basic research and the development of education and teachers’ training systems ;
- Developing a research programme around the most pertinent open problems, whether related to problems affecting education systems or the development of didactics as a scientific discipline ;
- Identifying and studying the specific problems raised by the extension of ATD conceptual and methodological tools to other fields.

The 4th conference should be of significant importance for symbolic as well as scientific reasons. On the one hand, the awarding of the Hans Freudenthal Medal to Yves Chevallard (awarded at the ICME conference in july 2012 in Seoul) exemplarily marks the prominent role of this research program in the world panorama of didactics of mathematics [3]. On the other hand, it should in particular promote research on the conditions and constraints that affect the current historic crisis which influences school and university mathematics as well as other disciplines in many countries. This crisis is associated with an apparently systematic undervaluation of the contributions of research in the field of didactics, which therefore remains largely unknown.

The Rise of Teaching Machines

At Arizona State University, a high-tech teaching tool with roots in the pre-Internet 1950s has created a bit of a buzz. "I think it's going to be quite good," says Philip Regier, dean of ASU Online. "Looking forward to it," says Arthur Blakemore, senior vice provost of the university. "I'm excited," says Irene Bloom, a senior lecturer in mathematics at the downtown campus.

All are anticipating this summer's debut of Knewton, a new computerized-learning program that features immediate feedback and adaptation to students' learning curves. The concept can be traced back a half-century or so to a "teaching machine" invented by the psychologist B.F. Skinner, then a professor at Harvard University. Based on principles of learning he developed working with pigeons, Skinner came up with a boxlike mechanical device that fed questions to students, rewarding correct answers with fresh academic material; wrong answers simply got them a repeat of the old question. "The student quickly learns to be right," Skinner said.
....