CERME 4: Group 4

ARGUMENTATION AND PROOF

(This includes epistemological and historical studies, learning issues and classroom situations)

The Fourth Conference of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME 4) takes place at Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Spain, on February 17 - 21, 2005.

CERME is a conference organised by the European Society for Research in Education, and is designed to foster a cooperative spirit. It deliberately and distinctively moves away from research presentations by individuals towards collaborative group work. Its main feature is its organisation into thematic groups whose members will work together in a common research area. This message refers to onesuch group, Group 4.

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, i.e. as far as possible reviewers will be 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, remember that when you submit a paper you accept this agreement.
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 organise activity and discussion in the conference around issues raised by the papers.
We invite prospective participants to Group 4 to view the proceedings of the previous Conference at :
http://www.dm.unipi.it/~didattica/CERME3/
and in particular to read the contributions to TG4.

For more details about CERME 4, see:
http://cerme4.crm.es/

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 explanation, justification, and proof in mathematics education;
II. Conditions for constructing proofs in mathematics classrooms; and
III. Long-term building of mathematical ideas related to proof construction.

These issues will be considered from the following points of view:
(a) Historical and epistemological, related to the nature of mathematical proof and its functions in mathematics in an historical perspective;
(b) Cognitive, concerning the processes of production of conjectures and construction of proofs;
(c) Social-cultural aspects for student construction of proofs;
(d) Educational, based on the analysis of students' thinking in approaching proof and proving, and implications for the design of curricula.

We wish to encourage papers from researchers world-wide.

Papers for Group 4 on Argumentation and Proof should be submitted electronically by 30 September 2004, together with the submission form.
This form and details of format for papers are given on the CERME4 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).

Maria Alessandra Mariotti
mariotti@dm.unipi.it

Kirsti Nordstrom (S)
kirsti@math.su.se

Christine Knipping (D)
christine.knipping@uni-oldenburg.de

Dietmar Küchemann (UK)
d.kuchemann@ioe.ac.uk