EARCOME 6

From March 17 until March 22 was held at Prince of Songkla University, Phuket Campus, Phuket, Thailand, the 6th East Asia Regional Conference on Mathematics Education (EARCOME 6), which theme was “Innovations and Exemplary Practices in Mathematics Education”. The Chair of International Programme Committee was Dr. Maitree Inprasitha, Dean of the Faculty of Education of Khon Kaen University, who just visited us here on the occasion of the 37th Research Presentation Meeting of the Japan Academic Society of Mathematics Education, held at Hiroshima University from February 2 to February 3.

The EARCOME 6 drew 558 attendees from all over the world, with 53 of them coming from Japan. We had three of our current lab members presenting there: at the Topic Study Group 1 (Innovations and Exemplary Classroom Practices), Mitsue Arai made a presentation entitled “Student’s Difficulties in Concept Formation of Figures: A Case of Early Primary Level in Metro Manila, Republic of the Philippines”, and Masato Kosaka made a presentation entitled “Types of Questions that Cause Context-dependency in Function between Mathematics and Science”, while Orlando González made a presentation entitled “Survey Research on Japanese Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Professional Competencies for Effective Teaching of Variability-Related Ideas” at the Topic Study Group 2 (Innovations and Exemplary Practices for Assessment). Unfortunately, and due to previously acquired professional commitments, our academic supervisor, Dr. Takuya Baba, couldn't attend to EARCOME this time.

Along the six days that EARCOME lasted, many interesting Plenary and Regular Lectures, Workshops, Short Oral and Poster Presentations were carried out, as well as Lesson Study Lectures, with their corresponding Open Classes and Reflections. Moreover, during the afternoon of March 20, an excursion tour, between five available, was a nice opportunity for all the participants to visit places beyond the beautiful campus of the Prince of Songkla University, and learn in that way more about Phuket, its culture and most emblematic places, while the participants got to know other people from different backgrounds, countries and research interests.

 

EARCOME 6 brought together many top-of-the-line mathematics educators and researchers from East Asia as well as from other latitudes. So, attending to this conference was a golden opportunity to learn from renowned specialists from all around the world, and also provided us a one-in-a-lifetime chance to meet in person, and discuss with, top-notch researchers in the field of mathematics education. Personally, EARCOME 6 also gave me the opportunity to reencounter with a number of friends from all over the region, to meet marvelous people, to make new friends, and to establish connections with several persons with similar research interest to my own.

The members of the supporting staff at the conference deserve a special mention, since they were very well organized and always friendly, providing a very efficient and prompt support for running the various events carried out during the conference as smoothly as possible. Without any doubt, attending EARCOME 6 was a great and unforgettable experience!

Finally, the next EARCOME (EARCOME 7) will be held at Cebu City, The Philippines, in 2016. By that time, I hope that the Baba-lab delegation will be bigger than the one at this year’s EARCOME, with more members making presentations and, in that way, showing, in the biggest showcase of research on mathematics education in East Asia, the good work we do here at Hiroshima University for the sake of education.