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.
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