Report of BCME-5 / Proceedings of the 2001 CAME Symposium

Report of BCME-5 by David Stirling: Although the population at large finds this surprising, there are plenty of occasions when mathematics gives pleasure. One such was the opening plenary address by Hyman Bass and Deborah Ball to BCME-5. This included an intriguing video clip in which a school class in the USA were discussing odd and even numbers and formulating their own conjectures, with one young lad tenaciously defending his position that 6 is both odd and even. Truly the convergence to mathematical understanding is neither absolute nor uniform. The British Congress of Mathematics Education, however, is not just about sitting in as an audience receiving the wisdom; you have to work. Apart from the three plenary sessions, the structure included a wide range of interest sessions, in smallish groups with active discussion in which participation was easy, and “discussion groups ”in which keeping silent was not an option. There was something for everybody at BCME-5…/… Proceedings of the 2001 CAME Symposium by David Stirling: The second symposium of the Computer Algebra in Mathematics Education (CAME) organisation was held at the Freudenthal Institute in the Netherlands in July. The theme of the event was Communicating Mathematics through Computer Algebra Systems, with four special topics under discussion: CAS and techniques; CAS and teachers; The role of theoretical frameworks on current CAS research into students’ learning; The explicitness and expressiveness of a CAS Environment….