Presentation of Lilliam Avlarez, Member of ICSU ROLAC Regional Committee, on the Priority Area of Mathematics Teaching for the #ICSUFocalPointsinLAC workshop in Universidad de Panamá March 9-10, 2015

1. Workshop of ICSU Focal Points in Latin
America and the Caribbean
Panel: Regional Office for Latin America
and the Caribbean
Priority Area:
Mathematics Education
Lilliam Alvarez Díaz
Member of ICSU RCLAC (Regional Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean)
Merit Member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences
lilliam@ceniai.inf.cu

2. • ICSU - Regional Office for Latin America and
the Caribbean is the only regional office that
has included improving the teaching of
Mathematics as a key line to contribute to
sustainable economic and social
development…
• It was the Mexican Mathematician José Antonio de
la Peña the developer and leader of this initiative.
The former President of the ICSU Regional
Committee, has offered continued leadership and
guidance to the initiative.

4. • It is known that nowadys, world development and
international competition depends on
Education of citizens and
Investment in Science and Technology.
• But Why Mathematics? , How to explain to
decision makers, scientists, other professionals who
have to draw attention to the importance of this
discipline for development?
- Without Mathematics there are no Statistics ,
indexes, indicators to measure development or
Policy impact .

5. -Mathematics is necessary for the development of the
common citizen, to develop, to understand many facets of
the world in which we live, from banking, to interpret a
graph or to do the simplest operation in a grocery.
-Without Mathematics there are not Climate change
studies or databases and analysis for biodiversity or models
to predict hurricane tracks . The great advances of the
twentieth centuries and so far the 21st
were possible by​​
the development of Physics whose language is
Mathematics.
-Furthermore, the Method and the development of abstract
thinking that is acquired during the process of
Mathematical learning, is essential to promote and
develop other sciences and technologies and also for
decision making at different scales.

6. • Periodic reports of the UNDP on "Technological
advancement" in different countries, use an
indicator called Specialized knowledgments ,
explaining that is indispensable that countries have
a critical mass of citizens with expertise to ensure
technological dynamism. Both creators and users
of new technologies need skills.
• Current technologies require skills to master the
constant stream of new innovations. This capacity
depends on the basic education necessary to
develop cognitive skills and abilities in science and
Mathematics.

7. "Technological advancement"
- indicator Specialized knowledgments ,
Two indicators are used to reflect the specialized
knowledge required to create and absorb
innovations:
• 1. Average years of schooling and
• 2. Gross enrollment rate in studies of Science,
Mathematics and Engineering tertiary students
This means that if a country hopes to have "
Technological advancement " must necessarily
strengthen the teaching of Mathematics.

8. ICSU-ROLAC Steps:
• 2010: A FIRST ANNUAL
REPORT ON MATHEMTICS
EDUCATION
• A CALL FOR ACTION OF
THE PROFESSIONAL
MATHEMATICIANS WITH
THE TEACHERS
• General coordinator:
Alice Rangel de Paiva
Abreu

9. OUR REGIONAL CONTEXT:
• The fundamental problems we face are the bad
results obtained by children and young people in
our region are due to poor training of teachers and
the lack of priority given to this discipline from
education policies.
• Another problem is the lack of integration between
scientists working in different lines Matemática and
Mathematics teachers .
• Encourage girls to pursue the dream of becoming
teachers or researchers in this discipline will be a
way to incorporate that 50 % of female talent to
increase the critical mass .

10. Pruebas de Matemática
de la UNESCO a alumnos
de tercero y sexto grado,
muestran los resultados
generales por puntuaciones
medias por países y se
observa que son pocos los
que obtienen puntuaciones
por encima de la media (500):
Cuba, Uruguay, Costa
Rica, México y Chile.
Más distantes aparecen
Argentina y Brasil, lo que
refleja una pésima situación
en un universo de 16 países
donde se aplican los tests.

11. The Programme for International
Student Assessment (PISA),
examines not only knowledgments
in Sciences but also Reading on
Sciences. Only 7 countries of Latin
America participate in these
contests.
The results published in 2012 of
PISA survey, showed that
Assian students obtain the
best performance in the
solution of Mathematical
problems and in a second
places are Canadá, Australia
and Finland. Germany and USA
are in average positions and in
the last places are Chile, Brasil
and Colombia –

12. The last ICSU-ROLAC meeting on Math Education,
held in Santiago de Chile, resulted in the
definition of the following strategies for the
region:
1.Realization of massive-scale Olympiads. Math
Olympiads are restricted in most of the world to
students that have already shown special
abilities for mathematics. Such Olympiads do not
appear to have wide impact on Math education.
Brazil has implemented a successful massive-
scale Math Olympiad involving most students in
levels 6-12 of public schools which demonstrated
positive social impact.

13. 2. Initial teacher training: Deficient initial Math training
of school teachers is a common problem. ICSU and
Regional networks of scientists and educators could
influence National Policies. Chile, Cuba El Salvador, Costa
Rica have already taken initiatives in this regard.
3. Continuing education for teachers: A long term
project in Mathematics Education, including Master
in Sciences degrees should include initiatives to
aim effective results.
4. Repository of Education materials: The SBM has
made an effort to build its digital library. It provides
links to already existing educational resources. The
UNAM in Mexico has also created a repository with
links to didactic resources.

14. Meeting in the Institute fo Pure and Applied
Mathematics, Rio deJaneiro, June 2013
Working group:
• Manuel Limonta (Director of ICSU-ROLAC),
• Marcelo Viana (Vice President SBM, Brazil),
• José Antonio De la Peña (President of the Commission for Developing
Countries (CDC) of the International Mathematical Union, IMU,
Mexico),
• Vanderlei Horita (Secretary SBM, Brazil),
• Lilliam Alvarez (Member of the ICSU-ROLAC regional Committee, Cuba),
• Yuriko Baldin (Member-at-large Executive Committee of the
International Commission on Mathematical Instruction, ICMI),
• Patricio Felmer (Member of the ICSU-ROLAC Regional Committee,
Chile),
• Victor Giraldo (ICMI representative from Brazil),
• Angela Guzmán (Scientific Officer, ICSU-ROLAC),

15. Some considerations, 2013:
• The core issue in the Region is considered to be the
initial and continued training of Math teachers and
the associated involvement of mathematicians in
this endeavor.
• Former ICSU reports and Brazilian studies show a
large deficiency in teacher preparation and sketch
an ambitious program for the improvement of
Math Education at all school levels.
• ICSU has promoted Regional Meetings for
diagnosis and planning of activities to be
undertaken in the region during the coming years.

16. PROPOSED STRATEGIC ACTIONS FOR ICSU-ROLAC:
• In Rio there was agreement on the need for coordination
between ICMI and ICSU-ROLAC initiatives in all areas of
mutual interest. Both organizations should stimulate the
participation of local institutions (universities, research
and education centers, and governmental agencies) in
capacity building to achieve further support and
continuity of other initiatives.
• ICSU-ROLAC should promote the realization of special
sessions on Math education within the EMALCA schools.
These sessions should have active participation of
Mathematicians, Math educators, and teachers.

17. PROPOSED STRATEGIC ACTIONS FOR ICSU-ROLAC:
• We need active participation and commintment of the
Mathematical Societies in the Region.
• In countries lacking Mathematical Societies, ICMI and ICSU-
ROLAC can approach the organizations in charge of the
local Mathematics Olympiads.
• ICSU-ROLAC should promote the participation of
Mathematicians in universities and Research institutions in
the continued education of teachers. Successful
experiences like that of Brazil and that of the University of
Guanajuato should serve as example.
• ICSU-ROLAC could help integrate and further develop the
various initiatives of creating repositories of resources for
math education and facilitate the sharing of links,
experiences, teaching materials, and literature.

18. PROPOSED STRATEGIC ACTIONS FOR ICSU-ROLAC:
• ICSU-ROLAC should serve as a Math Education advocate for decision-
making persons and establish communication channels with
education ministries, organisms for science and technology,
mathematical societies, academies of sciences, and associations for
the advancement of science.
• ICSU-ROLAC should establish contacts and closer links to other
international organizations that could be supportive of its Math
education initiative (IANAS, OEA, JICA, TWAS, ICTP, BID, etc.)
• ICSU-ROLAC should foster international collaboration for the
improvement of math education by collaborating in the construction
and strengthening of regional networks on math education.
• ICSU-ROLAC should establish and promote links between math
education and other ICSU-ROLAC programs (risk management,
sustainable energy, biodiversity) emphasizing the need to interface
actively with initiatives linked to the Future Earth Program, and their
implementation in the Region.

19. PROPOSED STRATEGIC ACTIONS FOR ICSU-ROLAC:
• ICSU-ROLAC should serve as a Math Education advocate for decision-
making persons and establish communication channels with
education ministries, organisms for science and technology,
mathematical societies, academies of sciences, and associations for
the advancement of science.
• ICSU-ROLAC should establish contacts and closer links to other
international organizations that could be supportive of its Math
education initiative (IANAS, OEA, JICA, TWAS, ICTP, BID, etc.)
• ICSU-ROLAC should foster international collaboration for the
improvement of math education by collaborating in the construction
and strengthening of regional networks on math education.
• ICSU-ROLAC should establish and promote links between math
education and other ICSU-ROLAC programs (risk management,
sustainable energy, biodiversity) emphasizing the need to interface
actively with initiatives linked to the Future Earth Program, and their
implementation in the Region.

20. MATH EDUCATION ICSU-ROLAC AGENDA:
• 2010- First ICSU-ROLAC Report
• 2012- Workshop of Mathematicians
in the Mathematical teaching in the School, Chile.
• 2013-Working Group in IMPA, Brasil
• 2014- January, Banff International Meeting,
Ontario, Canada
• 2014 – Workshop on Mathematical teaching, El
Salvador
• 2015- January, Workshop on Mathematical
teaching, La Habana
• 2015 – Workshop in Dominican Republic

21. • ICSU-ROLAC should explore a Proposal for Standards in
Mathematics in the Region for the initial training of
primary and secondary school math teachers. The
objective is the preparation of a reference document
with participation of representatives of several countries
in the region (mathematicians and math educators),
UNESCO (Oficina Regional de Educación de la UNESCO
para América Latina y el Caribe OREALC/UNESCO
Santiago), ICMI, ICSU-ROLAC, and other organizations.
The Chilean experience on elaboration of Math
standards could serve as starting point.
PROPOSED STRATEGIC ACTIONS FOR ICSU-ROLAC:

22. BEST EXPERIENCES:

23. Brazil:

24. Chile: Libros de la colección de Recursos para
la formación inicial de profesores de educación
básica en Matemáticas.
Primary Mathematics Standards for Pre-
Service Teachers in Chile: A Resource
Book for Teachers and Educators (Series
on Mathematics Education) [Hardcover]
by Patricio Felmer, Renato Lewin, Salome Martinez, Cristian Reyes, Leonor Varas,
Eugenio Chandia, Pablo Dartnell, Alejandro Lopez, ClaudGloria Schwarzeio artinez,
Arturo Mena, Andres Ortiz, Gloria Schwarze, Pierina Zanocco
Be the first to review this item

26. Cuba:
Low cost festivals
in open places
Sofia Kovalievskaia
Prizes to young
women in Exact
Sciences

27. Mexico: La Ciencia en tu Escuela, el
Concurso de Primavera de Matemáticas ,
“Competencia Cotorra de Matemáticas”
Web www.lacienciaentuescuela.amc.edu.mx

28. SEGUNDO TALLER INTERNACIONAL DEL ICSU
SOBRE LA ENSEÑANZA DE LAS
MATEMÁTICAS EN AMERICA LATINA
EL SALVADOR -2014
Matemática y Desarrollo

29. La Habana, 5 y 6 de Enero de 2015
THE FOURTH EDITION WILL BE HELD IN
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IN JUNE, 2015.
One of the main results was to see and share the Cuban experiences in the
preparation of the Teachers for Mathematics
(The Curricula and the obligation of a BSc. for all the teachers)

30. • ABC • ICSU ROLAC • ISSC WORKSHOP
“Society and Nature: Dialogue between natural
and social scientists on the challenges of
sustainability”
• Jacob Palis (President ABC, Brazil)
• Heide Hackmann (Executive Director ISSC)
• Gordon McBean (President ICSU)
• Session 1: The Social Responsibility of Science and the Challenges of the
Present
• Session 2: Future Actions in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the
Contribution of ICSU ROLAC
• Session 3: Sustainability – the Contribution of the Social and Natural
Sciences
• Session 4: Science for Policy: a Dialogue with Decision Makers
• Session 5: Management of Environmental Conflicts in Several Contexts
• Session 6: Panel. Science and Politics in the context of Latin America and
the Caribbean
EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE THAT NEED TO BE MULTIPLY

31. IANAS CENSUS SURVEY
• What Measures do you Think Would be Most Effective to
Encourage Young Women to Enter a Career in Science?
This question elicited many answers and the most often mentioned was that
encouragement should be provided through schools by teachers, counselors and
other educational officers. The provision of role models for young women
students was also considered important and it was specifically noted that there
should be increased interaction between established women in science and
younger women and students in order to make them more aware of the life
stories of women scientists and technologists. Another set of answers stated that
governments should take a bigger role in implementing policies directed to
scientific and technological programs. Providing more funding to schools and
universities to promote science education was considered an important step.
Eliminating political discrimination and bias in the allocation of research was also
mentioned. Identifying the barriers against women's participation such as
discrimination in Science, Technology and in particular Physics and Mathematics
was referred to, as was the need for non-sexist and inclusive language policies.

32. Women for Science: Inclusion and
Participation in IAP Member
Science Academies
A Survey of IAP: The Global
Network of Science
AcademiesMembers

33. • Women in Mathematics:
barriers, advancements and
new perspectives
To be held in BIRS- Oaxaca,
Mexico, August, 2016.
UN Women and Global Fund for Women
To call on governments and the UN system
to ensure that girls and women are at the
center of scientific and technological
revolutions.

34. • Also a strong recommendation is to include
Gender perspectives, and in particular to focalize
Women in Sciences, in the Strategy, Progranmmes
and actions of ICSU and ICSU-ROLAC also.
• The role of Women in Sciences has to be more
visible and prioritize in an International Council for
Sciences, as ICSU is.
• We are not only the half of the Humankind, but
are the mothers of the other half, and our role will
be crucial not only for Sciences but for the Future
of the Earth.

35. Conclusions
• From ICSU -ROLAC concrete actions have been
drawn and we strongly hope that the medium and
long term and we will change significantly
improving the landscape of ;athematics in our
Region .
• We have been gaining step by step the
convincement that Mathematics, and basic
sciences in general, are pillars if a country aspires
to have economical, social, sustainable
development.

36. IMPORTANCE OF THE RELATION
MATHEMATICS – MATH EDUCATION
FOR THE OTHER ICSU PRIORITIES IN THE REGION
• Biodiversity
• Sustainable Energy
• Disaster Risk Reduction
Mathematics plays a central role in the scientific effort to understand dynamic
processes in our planet, including those involving the effect of human
activities, in particular sustainable energy.
Mathematical models and indicators are at the core of analysis, planning and
monitoring of sustainable development, environmental changes, food and
water supply, and risk management.
The Mathematics of Planet Earth (MPE) Program encourages research in this
regard and the outreach by educators of all levels to inform the public about the
challenges to our planet and the essential role of the Mathematical sciences in
identifying and helping to facing them.

37. HavanaHavana CityCity
lilliam@ceniai.inf.cu