Why Teach the History of Mathematics?

    Thinking back onto my previous schooling, math had always emphasized the doing of mathematics. In secondary school, the history of mathematics was limited to the names of theorems or perhaps a one-of 'did-you-know' of something Archimedes did in 250BC. During my math degree, the history of mathematics was never a focus either, and classes stayed fixated on the theory behind it all. Even during the last couple of years of taking education classes (when we were told the importance of garnering interest in mathematics through examples of real world situations), application of mathematics was through the lens of that such as engineering, business, or architecture. However, I think there is so much potential for math history in a math classroom. It could be through a hook at the start of the period to get the class's attention, a longer research project, or can even become the reason a student starts to become more aware and interested in mathematics as a whole. Sometimes, the idea of being a teacher is so daunting, especially after being in this program for a few years already. We're expected to be mentors, role-models, social justice advocates, and now history teachers as well. Maybe not everyone in the class needs to learn about math history in depth. But promoting awareness in the students that math history exists and is an interesting subject, and giving them that opportunity to learn more if they wish can inspire more students to embrace math.

    It wasn't until last year did I learn that The Pythagorean Theorem wasn't really Pythagoras' theorem after all. Well, at least he wasn't the first person to discover it or use it. This idea is linked to a quote in Integrating history of mathematics in the classroom that I connected with. It mentions that "mathematics seems to progress by a more or less linear accumulation of new results" (Tzanakis et al., 2002, p. 201) and due to the way we learn math in school, I never questioned that the acquisition of mathematical knowledge was not linear. However, the discovery of mathematical concepts in history happened all over the world in sometimes isolated bursts of innovation. As someone mentioned in the first class, The Pythagorean Theorem was used in ancient Egypt and Babylonia and one of the oldest mathematical tablets, the Plimpton 322, details what historians believe to be Pythagorean triples.

    All my thoughts so far have been about how integrating the history of mathematics in the classroom can enrich the student's learning. That's why I was surprised to see on page 206, Tzanakis et al. mention that studying the history of mathematics can be beneficial to the teacher as well. The point that resonated with me the most was the last one, where they talked about how there may be a situation where a teacher may have to "to decipher and understand a known piece of correct mathematics but whose treatment is not modern" (Tzanakis et al., 2002, p. 206). This links to what I learned in another EDCP course on assessment in mathematics. Sometimes, marks are hard to give and following a marking scheme can be inflexible. Especially in a situation described in the quote above. As a teacher, knowing more about math history can allow you to give more accurate assessment and in turn better feedback to help the student grow. After reading this article, it made me realize that I could approach this class by taking into considerations how it can enhance my student's learning, but also how it can improve mine as well.

    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. 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 10:00 AM

    I appreciate your honesty about the daunting expectations for mathematics teachers! I think that if you believe in and are excited about the material you are teaching, this will excite your students too. I am glad that you are making that connection in the assessment class as well. I with your agree that Tzanakis and colleagues discussion of the non-linear nature of mathematics knowledge acquisition is enlightening for an understanding of history, and also for an understanding of expectations for students.

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