Meeting of the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society and the Argentinian Matheatical Union.

From December 1st to 5th, the 3rd Joint Meeting of the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society (RSME) and the Argentine Mathematical Union (UMA) was held in Bariloche, Argentina. This international congress brought together the mathematical community from Spain, Argentina, and other Latin American countries, providing opportunities for academic, educational, and outreach exchange. The event integrated four important meetings in the field of mathematics, including the 48th Meeting on Mathematics Education. More information about the congress is available at: https://www.union-matematica.org.ar/reunion2025/

Within this framework, Professor Carlos Segura was invited to give a plenary lecture on Wednesday, December 3, entitled “Fermi Problems: Challenges and Opportunities for Introducing Mathematical Modeling in Primary and Secondary Education.” During his presentation, he shared recent findings on the formulation and resolution of modeling problems—particularly Fermi problems—as well as future research directions linked to the emerging research group CIGE/2024/64, funded by the Valencian Regional Government.

The conference included recent empirical evidence on the impact of different types of modeling problems on student performance and motivation (interest, confidence, value, etc.). For example, the influence of the amount of information in the problem statements was highlighted (problems with excessive data versus problems without data). Progress on ongoing studies regarding the effect of the problem-solving environment on learning and motivation was also presented. Among the findings, the importance of students experiencing modeling problems in real-world scenarios—as a kind of “mathematical pathway”—rather than solely solving them in the classroom was emphasized. The role of artificial intelligence in supporting mathematical modeling problem-solving was also addressed. The full conference abstract is available at: https://www.union-matematica.org.ar/reunion2025/conferencias

The conference will be published as a scientific article in the Journal of Mathematical Education (RevEM), published by the University of Córdoba (Argentina) and indexed in Latindex. As principal investigator of the CIGE/2024/64 project, Carlos Segura gratefully acknowledges the partial funding of the trip provided by the Valencian Regional Government, as well as the support of the University of Málaga (UMA) in covering the remaining travel and accommodation expenses.

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