Yogyakarta – SEAQiM conducted its International Symposium on Mathematics Education (ISMEI) during 1 to 3 November 2016. This forth symposium focused on a theme “Issues and Challenges in 21st Century Mathematics Education: Working towards Meaningful Teaching and Learning”. Realizing the importance of this biannual events, SEAQiM invited five mathematics experts as the keynote speakers. They were Associate Professor Allan White from the University of Western Sydney, Assistant Professor Maitree Inprasitha from the University of Khon Kaen, Professor Tom Lowrie of the University of Canberra, Professor Mohan Chinnappan from the University of South Australia, and Dr. Thien Lei Mee from SEAQiM’s sister Centre, SEAMEO RECSAM. The symposium was event more and more alive since it was attended by approximately 150 mathematics teachers, lecturers, students, and policy makers.
1st Day
The 4th ISMEI was initiated by the opening ceremony conducted at the Hall of PPPPTK Matematika. Delivering the welcoming remark during the ceremony was the Head of PPPPTK Matematika, Dr. Daswatia Astuty. She took the opportunity to welcome the participants and share with them several issues on teachers in Indonesia. First and foremost, she said “Teachers have very important and strategic roles to educate the nation. For that reason, professional teachers are highly needed to participate in the national development to create religious, skilled, and intelligent youth of the nation”. She further informed at glance the effort taken by the Minister of Education and Culture to develop the quality of teachers through a programme called Guru Pembelajar (Teacher Learners). Similar with what was previously said, Prof. Subanar stated that Indonesian teachers must be equipped with skills, confidence, and energy. “Teachers are the nation builders of the 21st century”, he said while emphasizing the very significant roles of teachers in building the nation. He ended the speech by declaring the opening of the symposium.
Figure 1. (left) Dr. Daswatia Astuty welcomes the participants to the symposium; (right) Prof. Subanar is delivering his speech in the opening ceremony
Prior to the parallel sessions, the participants attended three keynote addresses. The first keynote speakers was Associate Professor Allan White who presented “Inner Space Exploration: The Impact of Brain Research upon Mathematics Education for the 21st Century”. The following was keynote addresses from Assistant Professor Maitree Inprasitha and Professor Tom Lowrie.
Figure 2. The participants pay careful attention to the explanation of Professor Tom Lowrie regarding ELPSA framework
The intriguing topics of the three keynote addresses really captivated the audiences’ enthusiasms. Unfortunately, due to the time constraint, some of them did not have the chance to ask and had to keep their questions.
2nd Day
The last two keynote addresses were on the second day of the symposium. Dr. Thien Lei Mae presented a very interesting topic on PISA which invited many responses from the audiences. Professor Mohan Chinnapan also delivered new insights with a topic entitled “Understanding Knowledge and Knowledge Use during Teaching: The Case of Geometry”. On the second day, the participants spent much time in parallel sessions.
Figure 3. The presentations during the parallel sessions
3rd Day
On the last day of the symposium, SEAQiM invited three speakers to conduct parallel workshops. They were Dr. Thien Lei Mae, Mr. Wiworo of PPPPTK Matematika, and Mr. Amri Danades of SEAQiM. Their workshop titles were “PISA – Like Item Development”, “Developing Mathematics Teacher Basic Proofing Competences”, and “Video Scribe for Mathematics Classroom”, respectively. The three days symposium finally accomplished its aims to foster the exchange of innovative ideas and strategies for mathematics teaching and learning in modern classrooms and to encourage collaboration and partnership amongst mathematics educators. One of the participants, Mr. Imam Hidayat. from Indonesian Maritime Academy, Medan, expressed “This event is very great. We really get new knowledge on mathematics education. Moreover, we also have the chance to meet other teachers and share some teaching experiences with them”.
Figure 4. Photo session after the closing ceremony
The 4th ISMEI was officially closed by the DDP of SEAQiM, Dr. Wahyudi. In his remarks, he thanked all parties for making the symposium possible. He further delivered inspiring messages to the audiences to be extraordinary teachers instead of the ordinary ones. He also invited all participants to again participate in the next ISMEI on July 2018.