International Congress of Mathematical Education

The reason I was in Korea was to attend the International Congress of Mathematical Education.  It was a great experience.  I brought a poster to present on Programs where teachers, students, and researchers partner together.  I highlighted three such programs that have been very successful and are funded by NSF.  It was pretty cool to present at an International conference.

I was able to meet with several Korean teachers and we had long conversations about what classrooms and schools are like in each country.  They were so kind and gracious and took us to eat.  Teachers in Korea work very hard and is very prestigious to be a teacher.  For every twenty students that apply to be a teacher, only one is chosen.  It is very difficult to get to be a teacher.  The college courses required are much more vigorous than for teachers in the U.S.  

One day of the congress was for cultural excisions.  For mine, we took a bullet train to the center section of Korea in the rural areas away from the large cities.  We visited a Buddhist temple, a summer resort area for royalty, and an ancient observatory that is very famous in Korea.