<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><div class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">ICMI’S GENERAL ASSEMBLY</div><div class="">The General Assembly (GA) of ICMI was established in 2006 as the meeting space for the two constituent components of ICMI: the Executive Committee and the ICMI Representatives of the member states. The General Assembly meets every four years for one full day immediately before an ICME conference is inaugurated – this year it will take place in Hamburg on July 24th, 2016 (see <a href="http://www.mathunion.org/icmi/icmi/icmi-as-an-organisation/general-assembly/?no_cache=1&sword_list%5B%5D=assembly" class="">http://www.mathunion.org/icmi/icmi/icmi-as-an-organisation/general-assembly/?no_cache=1&sword_list%5B%5D=assembly</a>)</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">ICMI is very happy that, in its third meeting, 42 country representatives (about half of all the country representatives) confirmed their attendance. This is the largest participation of representatives in a GA. A main activity to take place at the GA is the culmination of the election process of the upcoming Executive Committee which will take office on January 1st, 2017 for a period of four years. For the election process which spreads over more than a year, please refer to <a href="http://www.mathunion.org/fileadmin/IMU/EC/Procedures_ICMI_2006-31-12_2012-01.pdf" class="">http://www.mathunion.org/fileadmin/IMU/EC/Procedures_ICMI_2006-31-12_2012-01.pdf</a></div><div class="">The new members of the Executive Committee will be made known during ICME13.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">THE ICMI COMMUNITY WISHES ALL ITS MEMBERS AND FRIENDS WHO ATTEND ICME-13 A SUCCESSFUL AND PRODUCTIVE MEETING AND SAFE TRAVELS. </div><div class="">FOR OUR COLLEAGUES WHO CANNOT ATTEND THE MEETING, STAY TUNED, ICMI WILL DO ITS OUTMOST TO DISSEMINATE THE IDEAS, INITIATIVES AND RESULTS PRESENTED DURING THE CONGRESS.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">ICSU</div><div class="">The International Council for Science (ICSU) is a non-governmental organization with a global membership of national scientific bodies (122 Members, representing 142 countries) and International Scientific Unions (31 Members). ICSU’s goals are to to strengthen international science for the benefit of society, by identifying and addressing major issues of importance to science and society, facilitating amongst scientists across all disciplines and from all countries (regardless of race, citizenship, language, political stance, or gender), and stimulating constructive dialogue between the scientific community and governments, civil society, and the private sector (for more details see, <a href="http://www.icsu.org/" class="">http://www.icsu.org/</a>).</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The International Mathematical Union (IMU), of which ICMI is a Commission, is a Scientific Union Member of ICSU2. The international bodies ICSU and ICMI are working together to establish collaborations given that science education is a major preoccupation of most scientific organizations nowadays.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Recently, ICSU has prepared an interesting report on mathematics education which brings a thought provoking quote from 1908 by Henri Poincaré who asked: “Why is it that there are so many spirits who refuse to understand mathematics? Isn’t there something paradoxical about this? If mathematics is underpinned by simple principles and logical reasoning that appeal to common sense, why do most people find it obscure? Might there be a contradiction between the nature of the mathematical task and the methods used in its teaching?” This quote may sound controversial to some of us, however it reminds us that mathematics education has a great responsibility and much work to do.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The whole ICSU document can be accessed at</div><div class=""><a href="http://www.icsu.org/latin-america-caribbean/what-we-do/priority-areas/mathematics-education/a-proposal-from-rolac-to-education-authorities-in-the-region/a-proposal-from-icsu-rolac-to-educational-authorities-in-the-region" class="">http://www.icsu.org/latin-america-caribbean/what-we-do/priority-areas/mathematics-education/a-proposal-from-rolac-to-education-authorities-in-the-region/a-proposal-from-icsu-rolac-to-educational-authorities-in-the-region</a></div><div class="">1 Freudenthal H. (1969). Allocution du Premier Congrès International de l'Enseignement Mathématique. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 2(2/3), pp.135-8</div><div class="">2 See <a href="http://www.icsu.org/publicdb/frmDisplayMember?docid=33a00f3936390731b87da9f649a09a35" class="">http://www.icsu.org/publicdb/frmDisplayMember?docid=33a00f3936390731b87da9f649a09a35</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">SUBSCRIBING TO ICMI News</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">There are two ways of subscribing to ICMI News:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">1. Click on <a href="http://www.mathunion.org/index.php" class="">www.mathunion.org/index.php</a> with a Web browser and go to the "Subscribe" button to subscribe to ICMI News online.</div><div class="">2. Send an e-mail to <a href="mailto:icmi-news-request@mathunion.org" class="">icmi-news-request@mathunion.org</a> with the Subject-line: Subject: subscribe</div><div class="">In both cases you will get an e-mail to confirm your subscription so that misuse will be minimized. ICMI will not use the list of ICMI News addresses for any purpose other than sending ICMI News, and will not make it available to others.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Previous issues can be seen at: <a href="http://www.mathunion.org/pipermail/icmi-news" class="">www.mathunion.org/pipermail/icmi-news</a></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""></div></body></html>