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A response to Integrating history of mathematics in the classroom


        As someone who grew up learning math in the “traditional” way, presented primarily with objective theorems and axioms, math history was often provided as a side-dish not meant to be incorporated with the entrée. If you had already eaten your fill with the main course, you could forget the side-dish, it was interesting, perhaps, but certainly not essential. Additionally, this “side-dish” of math history was inevitably European centric. It lacked the intense spices found in traditional Indian cuisine, the fragrant herbs from Arabic cooking, or the rich flavours of Chinese and other east Asian foods. This, predictably, contributed heavily to my own philosophy around math education but this chapter by Tzanakis, C. et al. has opened my eyes in a number of ways. 

        Something that jumped out at me immediately, from section 7.3.2 was the idea of integrating history directly into the teaching of math. The idea of starting with a historical problem that needed solving and letting that lead to the ideas or theorems that were developed is something quite foreign to me, but at the same time makes intuitive sense. I can see how this would also lead to increased student engagement as it gives them a purpose and motivation behind what they are learning. Additionally, I loved all the examples provided in section 7.4 about ways to implement history into classes, my favourite was the finger method of multiplication for numbers between 6 and 10. As someone who constantly struggled to memorize times tables, I am incredulous that this was never taught to me in school. 

 

        This article has inspired me to look for ways to integrate more historical methods, stories and problems into my future teaching practice. As a math teacher, I am expecting my fair share of “why are we learning this?” questions from students and having historical problems lead into the lesson will, I hope, help students to understand the importance of math in our world both in the past, for their lives today, and for our collective future. 



Reference

Tzanakis, C. et al. (2002). Integrating history of mathematics in the classroom: an analytic survey. In Fauvel, J., Van Maanen, J. (Eds), History in Mathematics Education (pp. 201-240). New ICMI Study Series, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47220-1_7

Comments

  1. Amanda FritzlanSeptember 24, 2022 at 9:45 AM

    Indeed, you will get a few "why do I need to learn this"! If you can get your students interested in the diversity of cultural contexts in which mathematical thinking developed they may be able to identify with the human need and impulse for being mathematical. Incorporating the history of mathematics may also open up space for students in your classrooms, or their parents, to share algorithms and methods that they have learned and that are not in prescribed textbooks.

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