Newsletter for the Math Communication Network, a project initiated by IMAGINARY aimed at professionals of math outreach. Learn more about it on the project website.

In this Newsletter:

• New math museums
• Forthcoming conferences

Remember that you can send us any news you may want to share with the community to network@imaginary.org.

New math museums Ramanujan Math Park

The new Ramanujan Math Park is located inside Agastya Campus Creativity Lab, in Kuppam, Southern India. It is a unique outdoor and indoor mathematical experience with large scale exhibits and interactive touch screen stations. The Math Park is a project by Gyanome non-profit organisation in collaboration with Agastya. It was inaugurated on December 22th, 2017 (see inauguration note).

Agastya Campus covers an area of 172 acres and is visited by more than 500 students per day, whose curiosity is sparked by Agastya’s hands-on teaching methods. Children are bussed in for lessons in science, math, and art, which augment the curriculum in the government schools. Agastya’s instructors have been able to improve upon their methods of educating children and to develop programs for training local teachers, as well. Camps are arranged for groups from schools in faraway cities, providing urban children with a rare opportunity to experience nature close up, in a rural environment. The campus also attracts teachers from private schools all over India, who come there to learn ways to infuse their own teaching with the Agastya spark.

 

Maison des mathématiques Paris

The project of Maison des Mathématiques, a math museum in Paris affiliated to Institut Henri Poincaré,  continues to develop and evolve. The space aims to be a convivial place of exchange of ideas, an interdisciplinary meeting point for researchers and academics, and a link between mathematics, general public and society. Renovation works in the old Physical Chemistry laboratory (Jean Perrin building) will start in winter 2019 and the opening is expected by 2020.

Watch the project documentary “Maison des mathématiques 2020” (Chapter 1, Chapter 2, in French) and read the press release (January 18th 2018, in English).

 

Akiyama math museum in Santo Domingo

The Akiyama Math Museum, also known as Museo de las matemáticas Profesor Akiyama, is a new math museum in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The museum opened in November 29th, 2017 as a permanent exhibition inside the Telecommunications museum (Museo de las Telecomunicaciones del INDOTEL).

The museum was promoted and created by the Japanese mathematician and math communicator Jin Akiyama with the support of the Japan Embassy in Santo Domingo and the Education ministry (Ministerio de Educación Superior, Ciencia y Tecnología, MESCYT). The museum replicates the Math Wonderland museum in Hokkaido, Japan, on which Akiyama is the director. Akiyama and his team replicated and donated 57 exhibition modules for the Santo Domingo math museum.

Read an article by Hiroyuki Makiuchi, ambassador of Japan in Santo Domingo and promoter of the project (in Spanish), and a press article in El Nuevo Diario (in Spanish).

 

Universum - Imaginario matemático

The Universum is the science museum of the UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). On December 8, 2017 it inaugurated the Imaginario matemático, a permanent exhibition which connects mathematical concepts with art, interactive installations and images. It features a variety of topics, from prime numbers to knot theory, from polyhedra to tesselations.

 

Mathematical garden at Tekniska Museet

The Mathematical Garden is a new outdoor playground on the National Museum of Science and Technology (Tekniska Museet) in Stockholm, Sweden.

The playground features various slides in diferent shapes, climbing webs, fraction columns, several music instruments as xylophones and a dance mat, illustrating the mathematical relationship that exists between different tones, and other mazes and games.

Sunflowers and daisies, expose proportions and fractals of the golden ratio, and the roof of the gazebo is formed to reflect branches that follow Fibonnaci’s number sequence. The golden ratio’s spiral form permeates the entire garden, and mathematical relationships can be seen everywhere.

 

 Forthcoming conferences Tecnologías en la Divulgación Matemática, DI-MA (Zaragoza, Spain, May 10 - 11, 2018)

This is a foundational conference for the Spanish network of math dissemination (DIvulgación de MAtemática). Short communications can be proposed until April 16th.

Ecsite Annual Conference 2018 (Geneva, Switzerland, June 7 - 9, 2018)

Ecsite is the European Network of Science Centers and Museums. This is the largest gathering on Science Museums in Europe. On this edition there will be math-oriented sessions such as Mathematical interactive exhibits and bodily engagement, Four mixed reality games for learning science (featuring Holo-Math), What’s new in touring exhibitions - 1 (featuring Mathematics of Planet Earth), and other related sessions. Early registration until April 18.

CADGME - Conference on Digital Tools in Mathematics Education (Coimbra, Portugal, June 26-29, 2018)

This is the 7th CADGME conference, devoted to the use of IT technologies in math education. The conference will be arranged around four important themes — Teaching, Learning, Curriculum and Assessment — using any digital tools. Typical examples of such technologies include Computer Algebra Systems (CAS), Dynamic Geometry Software (DGS), Theorem Proving Systems (TPS) and many combinations of these. The conference also welcomes new horizons in technology-related areas not only mathematics, but science, technology, engineering, and arts education (STEaM disciplines). Early registration until May 1st.

CIEAEM 70 (Mostaganem, Algeria, July 15 - 19, 2018)

The International commission for the study and improvement of mathematics teaching (CIEAEM for its acronym in French) is a long trajectory group created in 1950 by mathematicians, psychologists, and teachers to face the challenges on mathematical education in the post-war Europe. Their driving motto was “Living together” as to restore bounds between different countries and social groups. Today’s society faces different problems, but many of the same principles can be transposed to respond to social challenges. The forthcoming CIAEM conference is entitled “Mathematics and living together. Social process & Didactic principle”, and it will address four sub-topics: Mathematics and sustainable education, Mathematics and multicultural classes, Mathematics and Dialogue with other disciplines, and Rethinking history of mathematics. First announcement in English and French.

4th Creative Mathematical Sciences Communication (CMSC 2018) (Wellington, New Zealand, July 21 - 23, 2018)

Scientists, researchers, teachers, artists of all sorts, will join in the CMSC conference to developing new ways of communicating computational thinking to children and to the public. The CMSC conference series was initiated in 2013 with considerable support from Google. The aim is to explore new ways of communicating mathematical sciences, focusing on algorithmic and computational thinking. The impulse is to build on materials and activities such as Computer Science Unplugged.

The call is open for activities in specific art forms (like dance, graphic art, theatre, …) and other presentations. Abstracts deadline: 15 May.

Bridges 2018 (Stockholm, Sweden, July 25 - 29, 2018)

Bridges is the biggest conference on Art and Mathematics. The 2018 edition will be hosted by The National Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Program, travel, and registration information already available.

AFRICME 5(Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, August 29 - 31, 2018)

The Aga Khan University (AKU) Institute for Educational Development East Africa, in collaboration with the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI) organizes the fifth Africa Regional Congress of ICMI on Mathematical Education (AFRICME). Focus of the program will be on key developments and research in mathematics education in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Eastern and South-Eastern countries. Participants will be able to meet with educators and experts from the continent and get some insights into the African mathematics traditions.

Mathematics Education in the Digital Age (MEDA) (Copenhagen, Denmark, September 5 - 7, 2018)

A conference organized by the European society for research in mathematics education (ERME), examines how new technologies affect the development of mathematics and its education. The specific topics are: 1) Mathematics teacher education and professional development in the digital age. 2) Mathematics curriculum development and task design in the digital age. 3) Theoretical perspectives and methodologies/approaches for researching mathematics education in the digital age.

7th International Meeting on Origami in Science, Mathematics and Education (7OSME) (Oxford, United Kingdom, September 5 - 7, 2018)

The OSME meeting is one of the most important gatherings of the origami community around the world. Previous meetings, held approximately every four years, have been highly successful; the community has grown exponentially, which is demonstrated by the fact that over 300 participants attended in the 6OSME in Tokyo. The meeting proceedings have become the definitive guide for advanced origami research.

Call for participation is open for origami artists who create artistic objects, mathematicians who model origami or use origami to solve other mathematics problems, scientists who explore folding or biological objects, engineers who use origami to tackle problems in the virtual and real worlds, and educators who use origami to inspire younger generations.

Registration is open from February 6.

6th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (Heidelberg, Germany, September 23 - 28, 2018)

Young researchers in computer science and mathematics from all over the world can apply for one of the 200 coveted spots to participate in the Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF), an annual networking event. The HLF offers all accepted young researchers the opportunity to personally interact with the laureates of the most prestigious prizes in the fields of mathematics and computer science. For one week, the recipients of the Abel Prize, the ACM A. M. Turing Award, the ACM Prize for Computing, the Fields Medal, and the Nevanlinna Prize engage in a cross-generational scientific dialogue with young researchers in Heidelberg, Germany.

MATRIX conference 2018 (Barcelona, Spain, October 29 - 31, 2018)

Pre-announcement of the conference. More information soon.

11th Forum Wissenschaftskommunikation (Bonn, Germany, November 7 - 9, 2018)

The 11th Forum Wissenschaftskommunikation (Science communication Forum) takes place from 7 to 9 November 2018 in Bonn, Germany. About 500 professionals in science communication and science marketing participate in the conference every year. The conference is organized by Wissenschaft im Dialog (Science in dialog), which promotes discussion and exchange about research in Germany. Call for proposals open until April 16th.

IC18 IMAGINARY CONFERENCE 2018 (Montevideo, Uruguay, December 5 - 8, 2018)

Pre-announcement of the conference. More information soon.

 

 

For any issues about the Network, you can email to network@imaginary.org or Daniel Ramos at daniel.ramos@imaginary.org

IMAGINARY  is a non-profit organisation for interactive and open mathematics. It was initiated at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach (MFO), an institute of the Leibniz Association. 

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