First Reading Response: Why teach math history

Studying the historical development of mathematical concepts helps students understand why certain mathematical ideas were created and how they have evolved throughout time. Moreover, stories of mathematicians making groundbreaking discoveries can inspire students and show them that anyone can contribute to the field. For example, when teaching arithmetic series, I will tell the story of Gauss’s teacher told him to go away and add up the numbers from 1 to 100.

When I read “History may be liable to breed cultural chauvinism and parochial nationalism”, I stopped. I agree that there's a possibility of emphasizing the achievements and contributions of one's own culture while downplaying or overlooking the contributions of other cultures when history is presented in mathematics education. When I read “History as a bridge between mathematics and other subjects” l stopped again. I remembered that when teaching calculus, I introduced the historical context of how Newton and Leibniz independently developed calculus to solve problems in physics and engineering. 

After reading this article, it makes me feel that to systematically stimulate students' curiosity about mathematics and actively seek to learn more through these stories, l truly need a certain understanding of the history of mathematics.


Location: Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada

Comments

  1. stephalafSeptember 19, 2023 at 12:35 PM

    Hi Sheng, I enjoyed how you are connecting your experiences with the article, and how parts of the article have inspired you to reflect on the practicality of including history of math in your future teaching. I wonder about your reflection on emphasis on particular culture's achievements. I encourage you to think about which cultural histories of mathematics you would want to explore with your future students, and how you might go about doing that.

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