Using the Publimath Database to Bring History into our Teaching: Two Important Actors in French Mathematics Education

The IREM Network consists of 28 regional IREMs (Institutes for Research on Mathematics Education) in France. It has been funded by the Ministry of Education and the universities since 1969. National committees (called CII = Commission Inter Irem) are organized either around a level of education or a theme. Two of these CII, Repères IREM and Publimath, are intended to disseminate the work of IREM. The CII History and Epistemology of Mathematics coordinates the regional groups that work with history, philosophy and/or epistemology of mathematics.

The APMEP (Association des Professeurs de Mathématiques de l'Enseignement Public) was created in 1910. It is a federation of 26 regional associations of mathematics teachers, with regional activities and national committees, funded by membership fees and the sale of its productions.

Both organizations act as an interface between research (in history and/or didactics) and teaching/training, bringing together teachers of mathematics from kindergarten to university. They produce paper and digital working documents that are published by the IREMs or APMEP themselves, as well as conference proceedings, journal articles and book manuscripts for submission to outside (academic or commercial) publishers.

Both organizations also have websites that focus in part on the history of mathematics:

• The APMEP website is https://www.apmep.fr/. The page dedicated to the History of Mathematics group is https://www.apmep.fr/-Histoire-des-maths.
• The national IREM website is “Le Portail des IREM”: http://www.univ-irem.fr/.
• The page dedicated to the CII “Histoire et Epistémologie des mathématiques” is http://www.univ-irem.fr/spip.php?rubrique15.