1) Pre-reading: Why and how should math history be incorporated into my own math teaching?
In my view, learning about the history of mathematics can be beneficial in several ways. On the one hand, learning math history can add a cultural and historical element to a math class which might otherwise lack cultural context completely. The ways that societies and civilizations studied and developed mathematics not only tells us about their scientific endeavours, but about what things were important to them in thew world. For example, for many civilizations, math was deeply connected to astronomy and cosmology, and informs us about the civilizations faith, belief in higher powers or "greater forces at play". Indeed, we have all wondered whether math hints at some universal design which we look to for answers.
I think that math history can be incorporated as a background section to provide context or motivation for learning a module, but also can be used as a tool to learn about those cultures themselves. Using math from a civilization or culture can help us understand the culture better itself. Bringing math history into the classroom can add colour to a subject which many students view as being bland.
2) Three quotes/ideas/paraphrases from the article:
"A more accurate view of mathematics and mathematical activity may be provided by historically important questions, problems, and answers."
Students learn that it's normal to have uncertainties, doubts. They can see that math was something that people have grappled with for centuries. This passage prompted me to reflect on the fact that student's may relate to those who developed the math they're studying. For those people it wasn't easy either, and that it's normal to struggle, but it's possible to understand!
"Understanding the advantages and/or disadvantages of modern forms of mathematics".
I paused here because I had not considered that some older forms of mathematics may have advantages over the modern ones. For example, old number tricks from ancient Indian mathematics do have their place in modern society when one must perform quick calculations without the use of technology.
3) How has my view changed after reading the article?
Studying the history of mathematics has more benefit than just by providing context for modern day mathematics. It can also provide ways for students learn math in different environments, tools which suite alternative learning needs, and opens avenues for students to explore other aspects of the cultures which produced the math they studied from that time and place.
Bibliography
Tzanakis, C., Arcavi, A., de Sa, C. C., Isoda, M., Lit, C.-K., Niss, M., de Carvalho, J. P., Rodriguez, M., & Siu, M.-K. (2002). Integrating history of mathematics in the classroom: An analytic survey. In J. Fauvel & J. van Maanen (Eds.), History in mathematics education: The ICMI study (pp. 201–240). Kluwer Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47220-1_7
Your point about older methods sometimes having advantages over modern ones was interesting to me. We often assume the newer way is automatically better, but looking at older methods can give students another way to think about or approach a problem.
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