05/12/2018

The two-year period brought society and mathematics closer together.

Marcelo Viana, Alex Canziani e Lucimar Gusmão na Comissão de Educação da Câmara

The Mathematics Biennium comes to an end with the desired legacies, realized through the events organized in 21 states of the country, according to the general director of IMPA, Marcelo Viana, in a lecture this Wednesday (5), at the Education Committee of the Chamber of Deputies. The teaching, playful and artistic activities carried out for the most diverse audiences over the last two years have popularized and demystified the discipline, encouraging logical and abstract reasoning.

At the start of his presentation at the meeting, promoted by the commission and the Mixed Parliamentary Front for Education, chaired by Deputy Alex Canziani (PTB-PR), Viana highlighted the data on the events registered on the Mathematics Biennium website , information that reveals the breadth of the movement, embraced by public and private institutions throughout the country.

"We are proud to have registered 175 events, but I have to say that this number falls short of reality. As we have seen, the Mathematics Festival in Paraná, registered as a single event, had a much greater reach than the number might indicate," noted the Director-General of IMPA.

According to him, one of the legacies of the Biennium, established by law by the National Congress, was to have brought Mathematics closer to society and the press.

“The media got closer. There was a certain apprehension about touching on a subject they didn't master. That started to change, to the point that one day I received a phone call from TV Globo,” Viana recounted, referring to the Jornal Nacional series on Mathematics . “We were surprised. Almost 30 minutes of TV, in prime time, dedicated to Mathematics. Who would have imagined such a feat back then?” Viana joked.

During his lecture, the Director-General of IMPA highlighted important moments of the biennium, such as the 2017 National Science and Technology Week (SNCT) – which, at IMPA's suggestion, addressed the theme "Mathematics is in Everything"; the Mathematics Festival , attended by 18,000 people of all ages over four days in Rio; and the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM 2018) , the most important global meeting in the field, which brought together around 3,000 researchers and a total of 10,000 people in August at Riocentro.

“We were delighted to see all the stakeholders involved during the week. Universities and research centers thoughtfully considering how their own activities relate to mathematics, placing the topic on the national agenda. This greatly honored and satisfied us,” noted Viana, a member of the Biennial Honorary Committee, regarding the National Science and Technology Week.

Regarding the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools), a highlight of IMPA's annual calendar since 2005, Viana cited two important changes that occurred during the biennium: the inclusion of private schools in 2017, at Canziani's suggestion, and the expansion of the competition to students in the 4th and 5th grades of elementary school, which occurred this year. According to Viana, the participation of 1.5 million students in the new OBMEP modality, launched in September, demonstrates the enormous success of the initiative.

In its traditional edition, from the 6th grade of elementary school to the final year of high school, OBMEP brought together 18.2 million students from 99.44% of municipalities. "This is achieved at a surprisingly low cost of R$1.80 per participating student. These are impressive numbers, showing what is possible when you have a competent team," the mathematician emphasized.

According to Viana, the highlight of the opening of ICM 2018 was, for some of the foreign participants, the presence of the 575 gold medalists from OBMEP . “It was the first time anyone thought of bringing children from basic education to see the Fields Medal ceremony (the most important award in the field). They watched in the same place where, later on, they would receive their own OBMEP medals,” reported the director-general of IMPA, who thanked the Congress and other partners for the warm welcome during the biennium. “I believe we achieved our objectives,” he said, concluding his presentation with a promotional video.

More work in 2019: Mathematics Festival and expansion of OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools).

The author of the bill that created the Mathematics Biennium, along with Representatives Pedro Fernandes (PTB-MA) and Wilson Filho (PTB-PB), who were also present at the meeting, Canziani opened the last meeting of the current administration of the Education Committee by highlighting "the great movement in Mathematics, throughout Brazil," that has emerged with the Biennium. According to him, there are tangible impacts, such as the improvement in the IDEB (Basic Education Development Index) performance of Londrina (PR). "Great satisfaction in seeing the results of this work."

During the meeting, Lucimar Donizete Gusmão, PhD in Science and Mathematics Education, spoke about Paraná's participation in the Biennium and showed a video of the activities carried out in the state. The local Mathematics Festival alone mobilized approximately one million students. "The mathematical activities we developed had a playful character, but without losing the mathematical knowledge."

At the end of the meeting, Canziani wanted to know about perspectives for Mathematics. Lucimar and Viana assessed the need to invest in teacher training, which is fundamental for improving the teaching of Mathematics, as well as in other areas of knowledge.

“The solution to our difficulties in Education starts, first and foremost, with teacher training,” declared Viana, who, upon learning about the recent recognition of the Augustinho Brandão School Unit, a public institution in Cocal dos Alves (PI), in the 2018 Darcy Ribeiro Award, reported by Canziani, took the opportunity to cite one of the OBMEP success stories as an example to be followed.

“The work done there is a viable model for the entire country. Professor Antônio Amaral, whenever asked about the secret to achieving such a large number of medalists in the OBMEP every year in one of the poorest municipalities in the country, says there's no secret. It shows that we shouldn't seek solutions to our problems with a magic trick, but rather do serious work,” said Viana, adding that the self-esteem of both teachers and students is absolutely fundamental. “We cannot underestimate how much people are capable of achieving, even with limited resources, when their work is valued. This is one of the things that OBMEP has been doing for a long time,” he concluded.

Despite the important results achieved with the Mathematics Biennium, Viana highlighted that this is a work "that never ends". Therefore, IMPA is already in full swing, organizing another edition of the Mathematics Festival in 2019, and focused on realizing a dream: having all of Basic Education in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools).

“Obviously, we are aware of the challenges involved. How do you organize a Mathematics Olympiad for children who are still learning to read and write? But it is possible. Another legacy. Proof that we are not resting on our laurels from the Biennium. On the contrary: we have created more problems to solve.”