La lettre de la Preuve

ISSN 1292-8763

 

Argumentation and proof

Group 4 to CERME 3 Conference

The Third Conference of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME 3) takes place at Bellaria , Italy, from February 28th to March 3rd, 2003.

CERME is a conference organized by the European Society for Research in Education, and is designed to foster a communicative spirit. It deliberately and distinctively moves away from research presentations by individuals towards collaborative group work. Its main feature is to be a number of thematic groups whose members will work together in a common research area. This message refers to one, Group 4, of 12 such groups.

We will have 12 hours over four days in which to meet and progress our work on Argumentation and proof. Submitted papers will be peer-reviewed, as far as possible chosen from the group of participants in Group 4. The process will NOT be blind review. If you submit a paper to Group 4, you are likely to be asked to review one or more papers. Please indicate when submitting a paper if you think this is inappropriate.
All accepted papers will be published on the internet and made available to participants in the group to read before the conference. The group leaders will organize activity and discussion in the conference around issues raised by the papers.

The organisers for Group 4 invite research-based papers on argumentation and proof, including epistemological and historical studies, learning issues and classroom situations.

We will be particularly interested in theoretical, empirical or developmental papers that address one or more of the following themes (though any papers of relevance to the overall focus of the group will also be considered):

I. The importance of argumentation and proof in mathematics education;
II. Conditions for generating argumentation and building proofs in classrooms;
III. Long-term building of mathematical ideas related to argumentation and proof making.

These issues will be considered from the following points of view:

(a) Historical and epistemological, related to the nature of mathematical argumentation and proof and its functions in mathematics;
(b) Cognitive, concerning the processes of production of conjectures and construction of proofs;
(c) Social-cultural aspects for student construction of proofs and for proof teaching;
(d) Comparative, coming to a better understanding of cultural differences in students' arguing and in the teaching of proof, especially as they relate to learning in different cultural contexts;
(e) Terminological, based on the difference between explanation, justification, argumentation, and proof in mathematics education;
(f) Educational, based on the analysis of students' thinking in arguing and proving, research on proof teaching and implications for the design of curricula;
(g) Mathematical aspects, concerning the didactical transposition of mathematical proof patterns into classroom.

We wish to encourage papers from researchers world-wide.

Papers for Group 4 on Argumentation and Proof should be submitted electronically by September 15th, 2002, to Rudolf vom Hofe (vom.hofe@mathematik.uni-regensburg.de), together with the submission form. This form and details of format for papers are given on the CERME3 web site (see above for URL).

If you have further questions, please contact any of the leaders of the group (email addresses are given below).

Rudolf vom Hofe (Group 4 Coordinator)

Christine Knipping

Maria Alessandra Mariotti

Bettina Pedemonte

Reactions? Remarks?

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