We cordially invite you to join us September 27 – 29, 2013, for the Fourth International Realistic Mathematics Education Conference (RME4), a biennial conference held at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. This three-day conference is sponsored by the Freudenthal Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, the CU-Boulder School of Education and the Freudenthal Institute US. Since 2005, the RME conference has focused on strictly mathematics as the sole content area of interest. However, this year the RME conference includes studies in mathematics and/or science education, to promote productive intra- and inter-disciplinary discussions about ways in which contexts and representations promote student reasoning.
Who Should Attend? The program is organized to address the needs of university faculty; district, state or national school administrators; and professional developers and teachers who are engaged in design and research in mathematics and science education and/or teach pre-service courses. The content addressed in this 3-day conference includes upper elementary through university level mathematics and science.
Conference Program
The 2013 conference will focus on the use of contexts and representations in science, technology and mathematics in ways that support mathematical and/or scientific reasoning. Plenary and interactive breakout sessions will include presentations focusing on the use of context and representations in instructional sequences that are either specific to mathematics or science, or involve the integration of STEM content. The purpose of this approach is to offer comparisons of design research and related empirical studies within and across disciplines, to encourage cross-disciplinary interaction in design research in mathematics, science and technology, to further understand productive similarities and differences in design research and the application of activities and instructional sequences that promote reasoning, modeling and problem solving in natural science, life science, and mathematics. The program will include keynote speakers Paul Cobb, Harrie Eijkelhof, and Alex Repenning, and an expanded program of 90 minute breakout sessions offered by researchers, educators, and curriculum designers from the Cayman Islands, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States who have engaged in research, design and use of instructional sequences to support understanding of math, science, and integrated domains from primary, secondary and undergraduate level education.
Plenary sessions
Several plenary/keynote sessions have been scheduled for the 3-day conference. Paul Cobb (Vanderbilt University, USA), Harrie Eijkelhof (Director, Freudenthal Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, NL), Alex Repenning (University of Colorado Boulder) and other plenary speakers will highlight different perspectives on the use of context, representations, and other RME-related design principles in curriculum, assessment, instruction, and teacher learning. Their presentations will further describe how materials and activities have been designed to promote student understanding of mathematics and science.
Interactive, breakout sessions
The conference program will also include seven 90-minute breakout sessions organized by thematic strands and grade bands. The themes are instructional design, professional development and student learning with grade bands addressing primary, secondary and post-secondary levels. Most of these sessions will be conducted in an interactive, workshop style to promote engagement with math and science activities, to support analysis of student responses, to reflect on classroom video excepts, and to explore the use of various technologies. Many of the resources shared in these sessions can be used for further development of resources, professional development, or classroom activities.
Session Themes
This conference will also include sessions that are related to Realistic Math Education but are not necessarily direct derivatives, to further articulate the relationships between various approaches and provoke deliberation and discussion of productive approaches that support student learning. The use of contexts, models and tools will be shared and discussed in light of this goal. The ways in which research on student learning, productive instructional sequences, and assessment practices are aligned with such approaches will be used to inform future research and design in topics beyond the scope of this conference.
In addition to a mix of plenary and breakout sessions, ample time for discussion between sessions for informal meetings and professional networking has been planned into the schedule. Saturday afternoon will offer an opportunity for local tours of downtown Boulder and early evening hikes in the foothills of the Rockies.
Registration
As a courtesy for participants who preferred to wait until more program information was available, we have extended the pre-enrollment deadline to July 19th.
Please register by the July 19th pre-enrollment deadline for a reduced conference fee of $295. After July 19th the standard registration fee is $365.
The conference registration page is: https://cucs.colorado.edu/confreg/4th-realistic-mathematics-education-conference