Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T06:58:33.317Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core

21 - Teachers' Conceptions of History of Mathematics

Bjørn Smestad
Affiliation:
Oslo University College
Victor Katz
Affiliation:
University of the District of Columbia
Constantinos Tzanakis
Affiliation:
University of Crete, Greece
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Many researchers are convinced that history of mathematics merits a more important role in mathematics education than it currently occupies. To achieve that goal, more knowledge on teachers' conceptions of history of mathematics is needed.

In this paper, I will describe an interview study on Norwegian teachers' conceptions of the history of mathematics. After giving some background, I will describe the method used before discussing the main findings of the study. These findings provide insights that should be taken into account in further attempts to get more teachers to include history of mathematics in their teaching.

Background—Norway

Curriculum: In the Norwegian curriculum for primary and lower secondary schools of 1997, the history of mathematics had a prominent place. One of the six main goals of mathematics was “for pupils to develop insight into the history of mathematics and into its role in culture and science” [13]. In addition, the history of mathematics was mentioned in specific goals for several grades.

Textbooks: In Smestad [27] the textbooks for the new curriculum were analyzed. There was not much content involving the history of mathematics in the textbooks. The texts were not relevant to stimulate pupils' inquiring. In addition, a number of errors were found. The texts mostly consisted of dull, biographical information (such as year of birth and country of origin) and they rarely touched upon the development of concepts, mathematicians' motivations for working on mathematics or how mathematics has been used throughout history.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Mathematical Association of America
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×