Creative Mathematical Sciences Communication CMSC 2024

The 7th edition will be held in Trier, Germany, October 7.-10., 2024, i.e., MON-THU. For the timeline, see below.

Important News: You can find the precise schedule here. For those who only want to listen online to the first keynote delivered by Michael R. Fellows, there is the possibility to register for free here. This is the only talk that is presented online. The conference proceedings are accessible as a pdf or as an ebook for four weeks.

Registration for the conference is closed now.

Technical information: The registration fee is 135 €. This includes lunches (in the university restaurant (mensa)), coffee breaks, excursion and conference dinner, as well as free bus rides in the city. The fee for accompanying persons is 54 €. Precise payment instructions will be given in an invoice sent to the registrants shortly after registration.

Registration for teachers is a bit different, see the webpage of the teacher's day.

CMSC 2024 is organized by Henning Fernau and Jacqueline Staub, Trier University, as well as by Inge Schwank, University of Cologne, Germany.

Apart from talks and discussions about the presented papers (see below), there will be also a poster presentation, some social program and different further activities.

It emanated from the "Computer Science Unplugged" initiative of Tim Bells, Mike Fellows and Frances Rosamond. Fran and Mike also hosted the 6th edition in Bergen, Norway. This esteemed conference is dedicated to exploring new and creative ways of communicating computational thinking ideas to learners of any age without the use of a computer. CMSC brings together scholars, researchers, and practitioners from around the globe to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and innovative research in the fields of computer science and mathematics. In an exciting collaboration, CMSC will be collocated with the third "Trierer Tag des Informatikunterrichts" (teachers’ day TTI), featuring a series of hands-on workshops conducted in German, French, and English.

We will see two keynotes by

  • Mike Fellows (Games That Cannot Go On Forever! Active Participation in Research is the Main Issue for Kids) and by
  • Valentina Dagienė (Solving Bebras-like Tasks: Approaches for Concept Building).

In addition, on Thursday during TTI, there will be a panel discussion on visions of computer science and, more generally speaking, (natural) sciences and mathematics education in schools, including Dorothee Brömmling-Lewe (from the ministry of education in Rhineland-Palatinate) and Daniela Hau (from the ministry of education in Luxembourg).

For the first time, CMSC 2024 will have refereed proceedings, to appear within Springer's LNCS series. The submission server can be reached under this EquinOCS link. Also, poster proposals can be submitted through this link. The submission phase is over by now.

Accepted Papers

  • T. Bell, H. Hickman: Why Teach About Binary Numbers?
  • G. Bulanchuk, O. Bulanchuk, O. Piatykop, V. Ilkevych: Distance Teaching of Mathematical and Computer Disciplines During the War in Ukraine
  • J. Hromkovic, R. Lacher: Teaching Tangible Division Algorithms or Going from Concrete to Abstractions in Math Education by the Genetic Socratic Method
  • R. Jacob, F. Silvestri: Unplugging Dijkstra's Algorithm as a Mechanical Device
  • H. Kaarto, J. Bilbao, A. Pears, V. Dagienė, J. Kilpi, Zs. Pluhár, Y. Gülbahar, M.-J. Laakso:  BeLLE: Detecting National Differences in Computational Thinking and Computer Science Through an International Challenge
  • S. Laplante, L. Perez, S. Tissot, L. Vettier: QuBobs Teaching Kits to Explain Quantum Computing
  • L. Lehner, M. Landman: Unplugged Decision Tree Learning – A Learning Activity for Machine Learning Education in K-12
  • M. Löffler: The Algorithm Experience at Primary Schools: An Experience Report
  • M. Müller, B. Weißing, P. Lütscher: Solid Geometry Modeling: 3D Printing Is Not Always the Best Option
  • M. Ren, L. Nitschke, P. Perekietka: From Caesar Shifts to Kid-Enigma. The CS Unplugged-like Path in the MuMa Science Centre
  • V. Shah, R Ramanujam: Curricular Choices for Computational Thinking in Large Scale Low Resource Environments
  • M. Sysło: Mathematical versus Computational Thinking with a Computer in the Background
  • S. Szeider: Large and Parallel Human Sorting Networks
  • J. Thakkar, M. Jain: Computational Thinking based STEM Art Exhibits
  • R. Thamburaj, K. Desikachari, G. Thomas Durairaj: Tactile Kolam Patterns – Communicating Art and Mathematics to Students with Vision Impairments

Call for Contributions

Authors are invited to submit their manuscripts on topics related to the scope of the conference (see below). All papers will be double-blind peer-reviewed by Programme Committee members.

There are three submission categories for the conference:

  • Full Papers, divided into two subcategories (10 to 12 pages):
    • Best practice papers/country reports/experience reports
    • Research papers (e.g., empirical, qualitative, quantitative, theory building, research methods, comparative studies, transferability of methods and results from other disciplines)
  • Short Papers, divided into two subcategories (5 to 6 pages):
    • Position/discussion papers
    • Work in progress
  • Poster proposals (2-4 pages)

The page limitations include references. Full and short papers may have an appendix, whose length must not exceed 3 pages.

Accepted papers (full or short) will be published in the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series. The submissions should be formatted accordingly.

Posters will not be published.

Conference Scope

The main topics of the conference include (but are not limited to):

  • Teaching Computer Science in early-childhood, primary, secondary, and higher education
  • CS Unplugged, 
  • Computational Thinking / Algorithmic Thinking, 
  • Broadening engagement and diversity for the exact sciences,
  • Teacher education in Mathematics and Computer Science, 
  • Teaching CS in relation with other subjects, 
  • Contests and competitions, 
  • Education for students with special needs, 
  • Linking mathematical and computational content for fundamental competency development, 
  • Education within resource-limited environments, 
  • Remote learning amidst the effects of conflict - Teaching for Ukrainian refugees inside and outside the nation.

Work submitted to CMSC should be novel and material that has been previously published should not be republished unless the work has been significantly revised. Note, however, that while novel work is highly valued, constructive replication of previous studies can also be a significant contribution, and a new interpretation or evaluation of previously published work can make a good contribution.

Important Dates / Timeline

  • Abstract submission first round: May 13th, 2024
  • Full/short paper submission first round: May 26th, 2024
  • Notification of acceptance for papers first round: June 30th, 2024
  • Abstract submission second round: June 24th, 2024
  • Full/short paper submission second round: July 1st, 2024
  • Notification of acceptance for papers second round: August 5th, 2024
  • Camera-ready versions of accepted papers: August 8th, 2024
  • Poster submission: July 29th, 2024
  • Notification of acceptance for posters: August 12th, 2024
  • Registration start: August 23rd, 2024
  • Registration end: September 30th, 2024
  • Main conference: October 7-10, 2024
  • Teachers’ day: October 10, 2024

All dates (but the conference dates) are midnight “anywhere on earth“.

Submission in Phases

We do encourage submissions in the first phase: here, we can also offer a revision process, i.e., authors may update their papers according to the requirements set by the reviewers and re-submit it, so that the changes can be checked by the reviewers, while for papers submitted to the second phase, no checks of the requested modifications can be implemented.

Submission Guidelines

All contributions (papers and posters) will be submitted through EquinOCS: https://equinocs.springernature.com/

Submissions must be formatted according to the Springer LNCS style guidelines using LaTeX. The maximum length of the paper (including references, but excluding the optional appendix) is 12 pages. The length of the abstract should be 200-300 words.

To prepare a poster (2-4 pages), authors are also asked to use the same Springer templates. Posters are not published.

As the short and full papers will be double-blind peer-reviewed, the authors should leave their names and affiliations blank in the initial submission, and take care to avoid details in the article that could be used to identify the authors. These include institution information, specific funding information and clear self-citations.

Poster Requirements

The purpose of the poster is to stimulate discussion with conference participants during the conference about your presented activity. During the poster session, the poster presenters should be present at their booth to give short presentations to interested participants.

Size and orientation: A1 portrait (594 × 841 mm)

Contains at least: title, author(s), institution(s), contact information, problem statement, description of work, gained results, future work, main references.

Please bring a printed poster of the correct size to the conference.

Program Committee

  • Sebastian Berndt, Technische Hochschule Lübeck, Germany
  • Sarah Carruthers, Vancouver Island University, Canada
  • Valentina Dagiene, Vilnius University, Lithuania
  • Christian Datzko, Gymnasium Liestal, Switzerland
  • Jens Gallenbacher, JGU Mainz, Germany
  • Juraj Hromkovic, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  • Tobias Kohn, KIT Karlsruhe, Germany
  • Dennis Komm, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  • Regula Lacher, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  • Barnaby Martin, Durham University, UK
  • Valia Mitsou, IRIF, Université Paris Cité, France
  • Matthias Mnich, Hamburg University of Technology, Germany
  • Xavier Munoz, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain
  • Jean-Philippe Pellet, University of Teacher Education, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Paweł Perekietka, Museum of Mathematics, Poland
  • R Ramanujam, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, India
  • Rüdiger Reischuk, ITCS, Universität zu Lübeck, Germany
  • Michał Ren, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
  • Adish Singla, Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, Saarbrücken, Germany
  • Matt Skoss, Northern Territory Dept of Education, Australia
  • Bernadette Spieler, Zurich University of Teacher Education, Switzerland
  • Ulrike Stege, University of Victoria, Canada
  • Torstein Strømme, University of Bergen, Norway
  • Robinson Thamburaj, Madras Christian College, Chennai, India

Program Chairs and Local Committee

  • Henning Fernau, University of Trier
  • Inge Schwank, University of Cologne
  • Jacqueline Staub, University of Trier

About CMSC

Kids of all ages, modern citizens, need to appreciate algorithms and computational thinking. Join scientists, researchers, teachers and artists in developing new ways of communicating computational thinking, including computing activities across the curriculum, at every level. CMSC welcomes contributions in forms such as story, dance, art, theatre,  … many ways to communicate science to the public.

CMSC aims to create activities to teach kids without computers, following the Computer Science Unplugged philosophy (www.csunplugged.org). The design and analysis of algorithms, modeling, clever information representation, all have the potential to unlock a great amount of creativity. Bring your ideas, your experimental attempts. The atmosphere is casual with a focus on brainstorming.

CMSC aims to encourage researchers to provide open problems from their area that are accessible to authentic engagement by kids, and to explore ways of mentoring their work. Let’s attract children to open problems, to dare reach for gold. We also seek new ways to show the open, unsolved problems that researchers are pursuing.

We celebrate when outreach results in greater progress in science. Outreach can be a two-way street. Let us know  the benefits to your scientific research or teaching.

Steering Committee

  • Frances Rosamond, University of Bergen, Norway (Chair)
  • Małgorzata Bednarska-Bzdęga, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, Poland
  • Tim Bell, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
  • Sarah Carruthers, Vancouver Island University, Canada
  • Valentina Dagiene, Vilnius University, Lithuania
  • Michael Fellows, University of Bergen, Norway
  • Valia Mitsou, IRIF, Paris Diderot University, France
  • Jam Ramanujam, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India
  • Rüdiger Reischuk, University of Lübeck, Germany
  • Matt Skoss, The Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers, Australia
  • Verena Specht-Ronique, HLTM Marburg, Germany
  • Brett Stephenson, University of Tasmania, Australia