A Short History of Japanese Innovative Movement with ATCM

Masami Isoda
Japan

   On the Tenth Asian Technology Conference in Mathematics, I would like to congratulate it with all of contributors and friends. I am grateful to Dr. Yang Wei-Chi and Dr. Sung-Chi Chu for their management of ATCM. For celebration, I would like to describe my short history in relation to ATCM.

   Before the establishment of ATCM, there were the conferences on technology in East Asia but not specialized in mathematics education. In 1986, ‘Microcomputers in Secondary Education’ of International Federation Information Processing TC3 Regional Conference was held in Tokyo by Prof. Toshio Nishimura, University of Tsukuba, who had developed an automatic proof system in 1960-70’s. I presented the classroom laboratory research on LAN with the example of the picture transformation such as a cat.  Such kind of research was innovative because they focused on mathematics activity and computers were used for exploration and communication.  My major research issue has been theoretical and practical research on mathematization by H. Freudenthal (1976). At that time, I recognized that microcomputer was a strong tool for enhancing the reform movement for humanizing mathematics education.

   On the other hand, it was necessary to expense the hundreds of hours in programming only for one hour teaching practices. From the end of 1980’s, several graphing software packages and geometric construction software packages for secondary school classroom have been developed by Japanese matheducators. We have still used it only for classroom research experimentally even if most of software had been distributed free. The Tsukuba School has been leading the innovative movement in mathematics education such as Professor Kyoko Kakihana et al, who developed Japanese version of Cabri in 1980’s. As a member of the schools, I was ambitious to spread the movement, and lead teachers’ community and academic societies. In 1993, I began to use CASIO’s graphing calculators. Almost articles about graphing tools published in U.S. were translated in Japanese by my group in Tsukuba for catching up the movements. For expanding the innovative movement such as visualization of algebra, I began teachers’ summer course and published annual reports for using technology more than 250 pages including experiments in classrooms. We developed current basement for using technology through these activities.

   In 1995, I had a chance to stay in Professor Jere Confrey’s group in Cornell University almost a year for researching the movement of technology and theory of constructivism. While staying in U.S., I met two researchers who strongly influenced my work afterward. The one is my sincerely friend, Dr Wei-Chi Yang. In the ICTCM, Professor Bert Waits told me that there was a young researcher who was ambitious to spread the ICTCM movement in Asia as well as me! In the ICTCM, I saw the meeting of Wei-Chi and Bert in the lobby with a little bit complicated feelings. I did not have a chance to talk to Wei-Chi at that time but he also well remembered me and knew I had same idea. At that time, he already planned the first ATCM in Singapore. I joined with him from the second ATCM and have been working with him in this decade. The other is Dr. David Dennis who was Jere’s doctoral student. Jere and David had been researching the project of Linkage with Descartes’ Geometry. I had been familiar with history for researching mathematization.  At Jere’s Lab, I studied how to use historical texts and technology for mathematics education. From that time, I have enhanced the meaning of technology from innovative one to traditional one even if it was lost in the historical process of innovation. Additionally, because I was in U.S., I was lucky to come into contact with TI-92. I was the first Japanese user of TI-92 trial version and the first Japanese owner of it in sales product.

   In 1998, I held the third ATCM in Tsukuba with Professor Tateaki Sasaki. It was the second step for Japanese to enhance the movement with innovative software and tools for mathematics. There were a number of teachers who were using technology but the problem was the language barrier. In ATCM Tsukuba, 421 people participated including the summer courses.  It must be one of the hottest ATCM. Graduate students and many Japanese scholars had supported. Professor Frank Demana and the other participants enjoyed eating cold watermelon in Japanese muggy summer evening. He addressed the audience on the innovative movement in U.S. ATCM Tsukuba influenced mathematics teachers very well at technical college and high school level with using visualization tools in their classroom. Pure mathematicians who were working for high school mathematics also participated. They evaluated that the conference succeeded and recognized the power of technology even if they can not change curriculum based on technology.

   The Japanese Ministry of Education has setup the projector and computer with internet into all school classrooms until 2005 and has been supporting researchers to develop free contents on the web. As for the next step, I have sifted my research topic from the innovation via the newest technology to developing contents for integrating historical, traditional and current tools for mathematics on the reform context. Now, I am offering two thirds of high school mathematics contents on the National Information Center for Educational Resources in Japan and one of my commercial products using Cabri II with sincere support of Dr. Jean-Marie Laborde was awarded by the Minister of Education in Japan. As in Dr. Benton LEONG's address in ATCM Tsukuba, he noted software for mathematics is currently working behind web browser, and getting more interactive such as drawing on the screen like chalkboard. I believe that the innovative movement based on multimedia contents such as e-textbook for classroom use will be one of good topics for sharing through ATCM.

   I have learned a lot of ideas through ATCM. Especially lectures and tutorials have helped me to know innovative information about newest researches/products. I would like to take this opportunity to memorize the name of Professor James Kaput. His big contribution in mathematics education research had been related with representation on early algebra and initiation of calculus. We were looking forward to his plenary lecture in ATCM Korea but he died by traffic accident on his daily jogging in July 30, 2005. It was a very sad news in my memory of ATCM but my friends said that his works, software and tools have been used by matheducators in the world. We believe that he is still alive in his software, tools and on his website. Technology embedded our heart for mathematics and mathematics education. We realize the heart through using of it!

   I would like to say thank you my friends and participants very much again and congratulate the beginnings of the next decade of ATCM!