What do mathematics teachers and teacher trainees know about the history of mathematics?

• Autores: Avikam Gazit
• Localización: International journal of mathematical education in science and technology, ISSN 0020-739X, Vol. 44, Nº. 4, 2013, págs. 501-512
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1080/0020739x.2012.742151
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• Resumen

  • The aim of this study is to present the findings of a study that examined the knowledge of mathematics teachers and teacher trainees, in different tracks, about the concepts, topics and characters from the history of mathematics. The findings indicate a lack of knowledge concerning most of the topics examined. Only about 40% of the participants knew about the origin of our counting system and the only item that reached above 50% was the item relating to the man who edited the book which is the basis for the plane geometry � Euclid (about 83%). Another meaningful finding was that the group with the highest score was that of mathematics teacher trainees in the accelerated track � a unique training scheme for middle school teachers (65.7%). The group with the lowest score was that of the elementary school mathematics student teachers (19.3%). One obvious conclusion is that we need to strengthen the knowledge of the history of mathematics in teacher training and in-service teachers� advanced studies.