My thoughts on Integrating history of mathematics in the classroom

This is my pre-reading thoughts on the idea of incorporating mathematics history into classes:
During my K-12 mathematics study, there are often little to no mention of its history. The only tidbit of that was from the names of the theorems. For example, when learning Pythagorean Theorem, I was curious who he is and how he came up with this. This allowed me to explore further information about the discoveries he made through his life as a mathematician. Although it piqued my interest, I did this mostly outside of the classroom and on my own. One of the constraints of incorporating history background is the extra time and attention needed. The current curriculum is already quite compact and adding more seems to be unrealistic. For my future teachings, I believe I can incorporate short historical stories given it can be relatable to the problem. This method provides context to the real-world problems humans faced, as well as the thought process on how a mathematician solves it.

When reading the Objection section, I was in strong agreement with the points of Lack of Time and Lack of Resources. This speaks strongly of the design of current curriculum which only fills content and asks students to chase a high grade through assessment. Back in my school days, I would have thought a math class elaborating on history is taking away time for me to chase the perfect grade. If the design was more about student learning the context of mathematics or even holistic view of it, incorporating history would be greatly beneficial in student’s true understanding in this subject matter.

Section 7.4.6 outlines possible types of historical topic which a teacher can leverage in mathematical history teaching. Each subsection provided a few detail examples on how to incorporate history on topics of past errors, alternative conception etc. I read this section twice to appreciate the potential history I can bring into the classroom.

After reading the 32-page chapter arguing (and teaching how to incorporate) that history is integral in mathematical learning, I genuinely changed my mind that it can be and should be done in a classroom. The journey will be difficult, but the text provided a vast selection of techniques which are suitable for student’s learning.

Comments

  1. Erica HuangSeptember 10, 2024 at 2:23 PM

    Great first post, Raymond! Your point about focusing on student learning the context of mathematics and a more holistic view is important (and you may see later on in EDCP 342 how this idea aligns with the latest BC K-12 curriculum). I’m glad to hear that you already see how you could bring history into your classroom after this reading. Hopefully, this course will provide more resources for you to enrich students’ math experiences through history!

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