Math & History

I think that Ms. Wilson and Ms. Chavot made some interesting points in their article on the whos, hows, and whats of mathematics and including history in math lessons. It neat that they said most mathematicians we learn about didn't consider themselves such, but were astronomers or philosphers or inventors. Also interesting was the point that only a few names come up in most classes, not evenly representing all the cultures and people which developed a lot of the important tools and theorems which we regularly implement. It seems that prejudices turn up in all areas of life, even implicitly in math education. I think teaching a little about the history of mathematics as students learn the methods is a useful idea because I learn better when I understand the reasoning behind a procedure than when I merely follow instructions, and the history facts give additional frames of reference when learning to aid memorization and provoke thought. Though I don't think Wilson and Chavot offered much practical advice, the message is a good starting point for integrating this teaching method. I actually wrote the above yesterday and today my math teacher spent the majority of the period on a history lesson! Interesting timing. I liked it a lot because it was a nice change of pace but still related to our current topic, primes, and it was informative.