Using Problems from the History of Mathematics in Classroom Instruction

1989 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. 370-377
Author(s):  
Frank J. Swetz
Keyword(s):  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Classroom Instruction ◽  
Classroom Teacher ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Historical Note ◽  
Historical Materials ◽  
History Of

Many teachers believe that the history of mathematics, if incorporated into school lessons, can do much to enrich its teaching. If this enrichment is just the inclusion of more factual knowledge in an already crowded curriculum, the utility and appeal of historical materials for the classroom teacher is limited. Thus to include a historical note in a student's text on the life or work of a particular mathematician may shed a historical perspective on the content, but does it actually encourage learning or illuminate the concept being taught? The benefits of this practice can be debated.

History of mathematics, mathematical histories, storytelling in Hungarian mathematics education

2019 ◽  
pp. 137-148
Author(s):  
Katalin Gosztonyi
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Guided Discovery ◽  
Mathematics History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nature Of Mathematics ◽  
Written Sources

History of mathematics is rarely used in Hungarian mathematics education, and even more rarely goes beyond anecdotic mentions of history. In this paper I will argue that despite of this phenomenon, a historical perspective on mathematics, in a more general way, plays a crucial role in a specific Hungarian tradition of mathematics education, called felfedeztető matematikaoktatás (“teaching mathematics by guided discovery”). I will revisit the epistemological background of this approach, analyse the role of history in this view on the nature of mathematics and its teaching, and illustrate the analysis by some examples from written sources and nowadays teaching practice. Classification: A30, D20, D40. Keywords: History of mathematics, history in mathematics education, guided discovery in mathematics education.

Using Historical Materials in the Mathematics Classroom

1987 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 13-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham Arcavi
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Mathematics Classroom ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Historical Materials ◽  
Practical Guidelines ◽  
History Of

The arguments advocating the use of the history of mathematics in mathematics education have become widespread in recent years. Theoretical and practical guidelines for using history have also appeared, some of them accompanied by the description of actual experiences (see, e.g., the review by Booker [1985]).

Computer-oriented Mathematics: An Eulerian Development for Pi: A Research Project for High School Students

1970 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 597-608
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Smithson
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
High School Teacher ◽  
School Students ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Historical Materials ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mathematics Research

During a summer's study under the auspices of the National Science Foundation,1 our History of Mathematics class encountered a most interesting Eulerian problem in infinite series. The problem is exemplary of an abundance of wonderfully rich and exciting historical materials. Acquiring a background in the history of mathematics is important to the high school teacher, for it provides an invaluable source of problem materials with which to capture the imagination and intellectual energies of students. High school mathematics curricula have often been criticized for not providing students with the opportunity to experience the excitement and the deep creative satisfaction of original se]f directed mathematical research. It is hoped that the development that fo1lows provides an example of a viable mathematics research project for secondary school students.

The Economic Impact Of Imperial Germany

1943 ◽  
Vol 3 (S1) ◽  
pp. 101-107
Author(s):  
Hans Rosenberg
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
The Political ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Subsequent Formation ◽  
Empire Building ◽  
Imperial Germany ◽  
Initial Effect ◽  
History Of ◽  
Rapid Industrialization

German political empire building had a decisive and powerful influence not only on the making, but also on the writing of economic history. The initial effect upon the history of economic history was negative rather than positive. The so-called “political historians” of the midnineteenth century were inspired by the contemporary struggle for the enhancement of the nation's political power and for constitutional liberty. The subsequent formation of Imperial Germany by “blood and iron,” instead of broadening the historical perspective and social vision of Droysen, Duncker, Häusser, Sybel, Treitschke, and the more docile among their followers, merely knocked out their liberalism and intensified and militarized their nationalism. In the new Reich they felt irritated and annoyed rather than roused and shaken by the grave economic conflicts and social disharmonies which grew out of the rapid industrialization of the German national economy and the narrow social class structure of the Imperial government and its Junker personnel. The hypnotic spell emanating from Bismarck's leadership accounted for the sterility of the political historians' response. Although the work of these academic civil servants greatly improved in technical perfection and thoroughness and extended the boundaries of factual knowledge, including knowledge not always worth knowing, it lost vigor and fertility and deteriorated into staleness and irksome monotony as to fundamental ideas and social ideals.

Using a 17th-Century Experiment as a Gateway to Critical Assessment of Scientific Reports

2010 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-19
Author(s):  
Michael Shodell
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Science Classroom ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Teaching Science ◽  
Historical Materials ◽  
Scientific Experiment ◽  
History Of

It is certainly widely appreciated that there is much to be gained in the fertile crosstalk between science and history —— whether bringing a historical perspective into the science classroom (Wieder, 2006) or a scientific perspective to the study of history (McElvaine, 2002; Smail, 2008). Perhaps the major impetus for using history in teaching science has been to better transmit a sense of how science actually gets done (Conant, 1948; Johnson, 1996). I describe a different approach: using historical materials not from a history-of-science perspective but in actively developing students' analytical abilities with respect to scientific experiment and current scientific reports.

In the classroom: Historical mathematics materials for use in teaching arithmetic

1964 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 262-266
Author(s):  
Paul C. Burns
Keyword(s):  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Historical Materials ◽  
History Of

Although there are often references to the “role” of the history of mathematics in arithmetical instruction, the role of this phase of the work has not been as frequently well defined. Because knowledge of the earlier developments in an area of learning is considered a distinct asset to the pupil working in that area, it seems reasonable to surmise that knowledge of the development of numbers may be advantageous to the pupil. Too, pupils often find this area of work interesting, so it may be said that historical materials (1) contribute to a better understanding or appreciation of arithmetic and (2) motivate the study of arithmetic.

Historically Speaking, - -

1953 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 500-503
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Schools ◽  
History Of Mathematics ◽  
Historical Materials ◽  
History Of

A bibliography of the history of mathematics would be a tremendous task involving too many languages and too many too technical works to merit space here. However, a bibliography of recent, readable historical materials available and usable by students in secondary schools and undergraduate colleges would not be so long and would be quite pertinent here. We hereby solicit such materials and, for a beginning, we include a list of our own.

Economic Views of L. Trotsky

2004 ◽  
pp. 142-157
Author(s):  
M. Voeikov ◽  
S. Dzarasov
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Russian Revolution ◽  
Russian History ◽  
History Of

The paper written in the light of 125th birth anniversary of L. Trotsky analyzes the life and ideas of one of the most prominent figures in the Russian history of the 20th century. He was one of the leaders of the Russian revolution in its Bolshevik period, worked with V. Lenin and played a significant role in the Civil War. Rejected by the party bureaucracy L. Trotsky led uncompromising struggle against Stalinism, defending his own understanding of the revolutionary ideals. The authors try to explain these events in historical perspective, avoiding biases of both Stalinism and anticommunism.

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