• Journal for History of Mathematics
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.259-275
• /
• 2013

It has been proposed since modern times that we need to consult the history of mathematics in teaching mathematics, and some modifications of this principle were made recently by Lakatos, Freudenthal, and Brousseau. It may be necessary to have a direction which we consult when modifying the history of mathematics for students. In this article, we analyse the elements of the cognitive interest in Hamilton's discovery of the quaternions and in the history of discovery of imaginary numbers, and we investigate the effects of these elements on attention of the students of nowadays. These works may give a direction to the historic-genetic principle in teaching mathematics.

• Journal of Educational Research in Mathematics
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.443-465
• /
• 2014

Mathematics subject has been recognized as a subject in which we resolve some problematic situations through the logical and mathematical thinking according to mathematical concepts, principles, and rules. So we has focused on cultivating logical and mathematical thinking abilities when teaching and learning mathematics. However according to Bruner, we can use the narrative mode of thought which supplements the logical and scientific mode of thought when we think about logical and scientific matters, and we could make meanings by doing so. On the other hand, the Ministry of Education has announced recently that it would develope the textbooks of storytelling type of mathematics, and then many people have been interested in using stories in mathematics subject. The purposes of this article are to investigate the effects and the defects of using stories in mathematics subject, to probe the narrative characteristics of mathematics, and to inquire how using mathematics narrative can make students to make meaning about mathematics which compensates the defects of using stories in mathematics subject. And the main purpose is to inquire the implications of using mathematics narrative in teaching and learning mathematics.