1 The ICMI’s Grammar

In this paper we raise the issue of the different names and terms which has taken part on the history of the International Commission of Mathematics Instruction (ICMI). We contend that ICMI history must be understood in the broader context of the reform of mathematics school proposed in the beginning of last century. The reform aimed the internationalization of educational system. We conclude that the meaning of ‘international ’ is wider than the meaning of the mathematics universality'. The reform of the school mathematical curriculum grammar An essential part of the broad theme of this working group WG5 (ICMI 2008) is the impact of International Committee on Mathematics Instruction’s (ICMI) on mathematics education. But we will argue firstly that there is some difficulty in addressing this broad theme. That difficulty is in dissociating mathematics education and ICMI, one from the other. This dissociation would take us to answer questions such as the following: Was ICMI a chapter of mathematics education history? Or is mathematics education a development of a history initiated by the epoch of Commission Internationale de l’Enseignement Mathématique? In fact, there are positive evidences which seem to ground a historical line from the Commission Internationale de l’Enseignement Mathématique constituted in 1908 to the establishment of International Commission on Mathematics Instruction in 1952. What follows next is the establishment of the International Congresses on Mathematical Education (ICMEs) and the journal Educational Studies on Mathematics. Finally, there would be the impact of these processes on mathematics education. It may be unwise to deny these evidences. However, if one looks at these evidences more closely it may confuse its own vision. Yet, the belief that ICMI is celebrating one hundred years indicates that Commission Internationale de l’Enseignement Mathématique and ICMI are the same in some way. We may be looked upon as a ‘gatecrasher ’ if we highlight their differences instead of overlooks it. Does this paper abuse the limits of the centenary celebration remarking, for instance, that the language from which the names have been attributed to these institutions ar