Board and working groups

Officers, IC and Working groups

Current Officers and IC

Past officers and IC 2010-2023

Working Groups

The Newsletter Team

Roza Leikin, Establishing Editor 

Current members

• Scott A. Chamberlin, Editor-in-chief

• Christine Weiss, Associate Editor

• Viktor Freiman, MCG president

• Matthias Brandl, MCG president-elect 

• Research News – Section editors - to be appointed 

• Problem Corner –  Section editors -  James Gintner

• Math Competitions News – Section editors -  to be appointed

• Technology News – Section editors - Viktor Freiman

• Educational Innovations and History – Section editor - Alexander Karp

• MCG Blog editor - Elisabet Mellroth

The Constitution and By-laws Task Force

 Linda Sheffield, Bill Speer

This team works on questions about adaptions and actualizations of the legal aspects concerning MCG.

The Treasurer Team

Ralf Benölken – the Treasurer- MCG

The Team currently is comprised of Ralf Benoelken, Mike Mhlolo, Bill Speer, Peter Taylor. As a result of the recent conference in Busan running at a surplus the MCG has received this surplus as a generous donation. This money was held in trust by the Australian Mathematics Trust until February 2018. It is now held in trust by the German Verein (Mathematische Kreativität und Begabung), which is prepared to mind it, until called by MCG

The Treasurer's Team will soon commence a discussion to explore the following areas

* whether the charging of membership fees would be an enhancement for MCG

* whether the current constitutional model is the most appropriate for MCG or whether some more formal model, maybe even corporatization, might be beneficial

* any related matter raised by the membership.

Please make any submission to the Treasurer's Team to Ralf Benölken: benoelken@uni-wuppertal.de

AYR-MCG Working Group

Working Group for the Assistance to Young Researchers in Mathematical Creativity and Giftedness

WG Leaders: Boris Koichu,             Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

   Marianne Nolte,        University of Hamburg, Germany

This announcement is addressed to either young or experienced researchers in the field of mathematical creativity and giftedness, as well as to those who perceive themselves as both young and experienced researchers, as the authors of this announcement do.

To a young researcher

Imagine that you decided to submit a research paper to a highly reputed international journal in the field of your study. Imagine that four or five months later the reviewing set – a decision letter from the editor and three reviews by anonymous reviewers – appear in your mail box. You open the set with excitement, digest the decision, and then find in the reviews some of the following:

The paper is about an interesting ­and important topic… However, the paper in its present form raises serious concerns related to its theoretical background and contribution.

Or:

The second research question is particularly important… Unfortunately, it is out of reach of the implemented research methodology.

Or:

This reviewer was impressed by the clarity of the introduction and by the detailed procedure the author developed for analyzing his or her data. I am much less satisfied with presentation and discussion of the results of the study and suggest major restructuring of these sections.

Now imagine that some of the reviewers' criticism could be anticipated and that you are given a chance to improve your paper prior to formally submitting it to a journal.

Sounds great, isn't it?

To an experienced researcher

Imagine that you are a young researcher…Your chance to be advised and assisted at the early stages of your career depends on the good will of your experienced colleagues.

Many of us gratefully remember a piece of advice from a caring stranger, in addition to the immense advice that came from our research advisors. Our working team needs you in the role of such a caring stranger for young MCG researchers.  

To the MCG scholarship

The main goal of the AYR-MCG working team is to assist young researchers in conducting their first studies and preparing their first research publications. Our additional goal is to facilitate the development of the community of practice involving MCG researchers from different countries and at different stages of their careers. We hope that the team will accumulate the expertise of the members of the MCG International Group in conducting and publishing high-quality research. The work of the team will be organized in two directions.

1. Assist and be assisted

We will respond – within reasonable time and at reasonable level of detail – to requests regarding the informal evaluation of research reports and proposals prior to their submission. Young researchers may also seek in the AYR-MCG team advice regarding the journals for publishing or conferences for presenting their results, methodological issues, etc. The requests will be addressed by us, the authors of this announcement, or will be redirected to other researchers cooperating with the AYR-MCG team. Currently, we are able to respond to requests written in English, German, Russian and Hebrew.

We believe in expert advice, and we also believe in sharing experiences within the communities of practice. As it is already done in some well-established research organizations in the field of mathematics education (e.g., MAVI and CERME) we plan to facilitate mutual reviewing processes: once assisted, you may expect an invitation to become an assistant. (Needless to say, you may expect an invitation to assist also if you have not yet been assisted.)      

1. Research tips

We plan to occasionally publish on the MCG Website tips on preparing the reports, comments on research methodology, reflections of reviewing processes etc.

If you wish to take part in the work of AYR-MCG WG, that is, to assist or be assisted or share with the MCG members tips based on your research experience, please contact Boris Koichu (bkoichu@technion.ac.il) and Marianne Nolte (Marianne.Nolte@uni-hamburg.de )

STIN-MCG WG

Working Team for Supporting Teachers in Nurturing   Mathematical Creativity and Giftedness

WG Leaders: Mark Saul, Center for Mathematical Talent, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, NYU

 Mark Applebaum, Kaye Academic College of Education, Israel

 Choi Jong Sool, Kaist Academy, Bussan, South Korea

This announcement is addressed to either young or experienced teachers in the field of mathematical creativity and giftedness

This WG is planning to open several forums for 

(a) Promoting teaching for creativity:  in many cases, teachers of gifted students, or those with a classroom goal of fostering creativity, work in isolation. This forum will offer a platform for discussion of issues that arise in everyday pedagogical and mathematical life.

(b) Encouraging teachers who foster creativity:  discussing the problems of supporting teachers in this subtle area of teacher education.

(c) Developing resources for gifted students: gifted students often cannot find resources to fit their special needs in their classroom. Meeting with other gifted students and experts in this area can help them.   (Note that this is a forum for teachers, not for the students themselves). 

(d) Supporting parents of creative or gifted students: A discussion of the need for family support of students who think out of the box.  This includes parents of home-schooled students, parents in remote areas, or parents looking for a support network in nurturing their creative or gifted child. 

Forums will be intended for brief interchanges among many people.  In addition, we plan 'corners', where lengthier essays can be posted, offering deeper insight into experiences and issues:   

ü  Corner for specialists' (including teachers') essays, sharing practical ideas and experiences

ü  Corner for mathematical problems and other resources, written from a pedagogical viewpoint.

If you wish to take part in the work of STIN-MCG WG, that is, to assist or be assisted or share with the MCG members tips based on your teaching experience, please contact Mark Saul (marksaul@earthlink.net), Mark Applebaum (mark@kaye.ac.il), Choi Jong Sool (choijon@kaist.ac.kr)

WEBSITE-MCG TEAM

Website Managers:

since October, 2022 Tyler Clark, Western Kentucky University, USA

Jack Marumo, Central University of Technology, Bloemfotein, Southafrika

Viktor Freiman, Université de Moncton, Canada

2019-2022                     Anton Amchislavski, PriMa-Project, Hamburg, Germany

Jack Marumo,  Central University of Technology. Bloemfontein, Southafrika 

Marianne Nolte, University of Hamburg, Germany

This working team will take leadership on the development of the MCG website and encouraging broad educational community to share their ideas and experiences in the field of MCG. This WG will provide support to AYR-MCG WG and STIN-MCG WG as well as to other initiatives.

The MCG members are invited to share their ideas about development and promotion of the site by writing an e-mail to Marianne (marianne.nolte@uni-hamburg.de) Mark (mark@kaye.ac.il) and Viktor(viktor.freiman@umoncton.ca).

ISCIL WT - INTERNATIONAL SUMMER CAMPS AND INFORMAL LEARNING

Coordinator: Florence Mihaela Singer, University of Ploiesti, Romania

The ISCIL Working Team of the MCG is planning to support members of the educational community in organization of mathematical competitions, summer camps and other out-of school activities directed at promotion of MCG.

As a start for the work of WT we invite teachers, teacher educators and researchers to attend the 2013 edition of the International Summer Camp Kangaroo in Romania.

The International Camp Kangaroo emerged in 1997 to award the winners of the International Competition of Applied Mathematics Kangaroo. Within the expansion of the Kangaroo competition in Romania (and elsewhere), the summer camp has become more and more developed. The camp is organized by the Institute for the Development of Educational Assessment (IDEA) and the Foundation for European Integration Sigma (FIES). The camp becomes a place of meetings between students, teachers, and researchers, where ideas develop and are put into practice, with important educational benefits. It involves a high degree of flexibility in order to create an environment for highly effective informal learning.

For more details about Kangaroo competitions and to join ISCIL WT, please contact Florence Mihaela Singer (mikisinger@gmail.com)

ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION FORM

Membership on-line registration form is now available on the MCG website. Please join MCG International group by clicking Here