International Commission on Mathematical Instruction The Twentythird ICMI Study: Primary Mathematics Study on Whole Numbers Discussion Document Prepared by the International Program Committee 1 April 2014 Contents: Introduction and Rationale Aims Themes The Study Conference Call for Contributions Members of the International Program Committee References 1. Introduction and Rationale for ICMI Study 23 This document announces a new Study to be conducted by the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction. This Study, the twentythird led by ICMI, addresses for the first time mathematics teaching and learning in the primary school (and pre-school), taking into account international perspectives, socio-cultural diversity and institutional constraints. One of the challenges of designing the first ICMI primary school Study of this kind is the complex nature of mathematics at the early level. For this reason a focus area has been chosen, as central to the discussion, with a number of questions connected to it. The broad area of Whole Number Arithmetic (WNA) including operations and relations and arithmetic word problems form the core content of all primary mathematics curricula. The Study of this core content area is often regarded as foundational for later mathematics learning. However, the principles and main goals of instruction in the foundational concepts and skills in WNA are far from universally agreed upon, and practice varies substantially from country to country. An ICMI Study that provides a meta-level analysis and synthesis of what is known about WNA would provide a useful base from which to gauge gaps and silences and an opportunity to learn from the practice of different countries and contexts. Whole numbers are part of everyday language in most cultures, but there are different views on the most appropriate age at which to introduce whole numbers in the school context. Whole numbers, in some countries, are introduced in the pre-school, where the majority of children attend before the age of 6 years. In some countries, primary schooling includes Grades 1-6; in others it includes Grades 1-5. Thus the entrance age of students for primary school may vary from country to country. For these reasons, this Study addresses teaching and learning WNA from the early grades, i.e., the periods in which WNA is
Members of the International Program Committee Maria G. (Mariolina) Bartolini Bussi Department of Education and Human Science University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy bartolini@unimore.it Co-chair Xuhua Sun Faculty of Education University of Macau, China xhsun@umac.mo Co-chair Berinderjeet Kaur Mathematics & Mathematics Education Academic Group National Institute of Education, Singapore berinderjeet.kaur@nie.edu.sg Hamsa Mathematics Education Unit University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa hamsa.venkatakrishnan@wits.ac.za Joanne Mulligan School of Education Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia joanne.mulligan@mq.edu.au Jarmila Novotna Faculty of Education Charles University, Praha, Czech Republic jarmila.novotna@pedf.cuni.cz Lieven Verschaffel Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences KU Leuven University, Belgium Maitree Inprasitha Faculty of Education Khon Kaen University, Thailand inprasitha@hotmail.com Sarah González de Lora Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, República Dominicana sarahgonzalez@pucmmsti.edu.do Sybilla Beckmann Department of Mathematics University of Georgia, Athens, GA US sybilla@math.uga.edu Roger E. Howe Department of Mathematics Yale University, New Haven, CT US howe@math.yale.edu ICMI liason Abraham Arcavi Department of Science Teaching The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel abraham.arcavi@weizmann.ac.il ICMI Secretary General Ex-officio Ferdinando Arzarello Department of Mathematics Univeristy of Turin, Italy ferdinando.arzarello@unito.it ICMI President References The references are limited to documents from ICMI or other international bodies. The list of ICMI Studies is available at The following references can be downloaded free from the websites (last visited on April 1, 2014).