Mathematics Teachers’ Opinion about the History of Mathematics

Abstract

In this study, we used the case study to determine the views of mathematics teachers towards history of mathematics. The participants consisted of 21 mathematics teachers who worked in different provinces in Turkey and were determined by purposeful sampling. A structured interview form was used as a data collection tool. The data obtained from interview were analyzed through the content analysis technique. As a result, the participants usually stated that, considering the history of mathematics, they mostly thought about the famous mathematicians and the emergence of mathematics. It was found that they felt inadequate in utilizing the history of mathematics, and as a result, they did not sufficiently include it in their classes. The participants also stated that there is no sufficient amount of materials that would allow them to utilize the history of mathematics. Moreover, they reported that they used history of mathematics usually in developing the affective characteristics of their students.

Integration of the History of Mathematics in Mathematics Education: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Despite having positive views about HoM, some of the studies revealed that many teachers encountered problems in applying HoM in class (Alpaslan et al, 2014;Baki & Gürsoy, 2018;Bașibüyük & Șahin, 2019;Bütüner, 2017;Tol et al, 2015). Three of the articles mentioned knowledge of HoM as the factor in integrating HoM in teaching (Alpaslan & Haser, 2012;Bașibüyük & Șahin, 2019;Bütüner 2017). Bütüner (2017); Bașibüyük and Șahin (2019) in their studies, stated that teachers did not utilise HoM in teaching due to a lack of knowledge on HoM.…”

“…Three of the articles mentioned knowledge of HoM as the factor in integrating HoM in teaching (Alpaslan & Haser, 2012;Bașibüyük & Șahin, 2019;Bütüner 2017). Bütüner (2017); Bașibüyük and Șahin (2019) in their studies, stated that teachers did not utilise HoM in teaching due to a lack of knowledge on HoM. Bütüner (2017) stated that teachers in general had a low level of knowledge in HoM and those who did not practice HoM had a lower level of knowledge in HoM compared to ones who applied it in teaching.…”

“…Another factor that affects teachers' views of applying HoM in teaching is a lack of resources and materials (Baki & Gürsoy, 2018;Bașibüyük & Șahin, 2019;Dejic & Mihajlovic, 2014;Tol, 2015). Buchholtz & Schorcht (2019) revealed that some pre-service teachers think that HoM is too complex for students to learn.…”

“…Besides that, three articles mentioned a lack of time as the factor (Baki & Gürsoy, 2018;Dejic & Mihajlovic, 2014;Schorcht & Buchholtz, 2019). One article stated that teachers have no idea where and how to integrate HoM in teaching (Fadlelmula, 2015) and three articles emphasised its exclusion in the syllabus and examination as a factor for why teachers did not apply HoM in class (Bașibüyük & Șahin, 2019;Bütüner, 2017;Schorcht & Buchholtz, 2019).…”

“…In addition, HoM is also used to ensure students' engagement in the classroom, gain their attention, arouse curiosity and help them to construct positive beliefs and attitudes towards Mathematics. HoM can also help students to understand the origins of a topic in Mathematics in addition to helping them to relate what they have learned in Mathematics to their everyday life (Bașibüyük & Șahin, 2019). Bütüner and Baki (2020) stated that students' beliefs about Mathematics can be increased by applying HoM in Mathematics classes through fun, useful and interesting class activities.…”