Blog Response #1: Integrating history of mathematics in the classroom: an analytic survey

I liked the idea from our first class that Math History could personify math, making it relatable and appealing to students. Having known people that would've be much more attracted to math class had there been more references to actual real-life people, I believed immediately that Math history should have its place in the math curriculum. However, upon reading the text, I found it immediately surprising that I agreed with so many of the objections to teaching Math History. There is so little time to include it within math classes seeing as so many students struggle with math in the first place. Additionally, as someone who loved the actual calculations portion of math, Math History might have taken away from what I loved most about math. This made me question if there could be multiple class options available to students where they could choose to take a course with or without the inclusion of Math History.

As I continued reading, I found more and more wonders that would come with the inclusion of Math History in classes. I absolutely loved the idea that by teaching math history, teachers will be aware of "the difficulties, or, even obstacles, that appeared in history [which] may reappear in the classroom". It's so incredibly fascinating that the difficulties of math pioneers may be similarly faced by present-day students! Teachers could use the learning curves of students as an opportunity to teach Math History. It could also be used as an opportunity for students to search for solutions to their difficulties and learn from these ancient mathemetician's mistakes and successes.

Lastly, I connected so much with the idea of experential learning in math and especially outdoor math experiences. Exploring navigational and surveying equipment in order to learn trigonometry or showing films that highlight the human, cultural nd social context of math is absolutely genius to me. I've found such success with my summer camp students when we focused on providing them with high-quality experiential learning. We focused on gardening and cooking which both include math. Eperiential learning is such an incredible way to personify math class and make students more engaged! What a wonderful new perspective I've gained about teaching math.

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