Course Reflection

 

I didn't know what to expect when I first entered this course, I had reservations about 'math history' and honestly thought it would be a boring class. I think mainly because the portrayal of history throughout my education career has been one of boring facts and learning about when a historical figure was born - I really thought this class would just be looking into the life of famous mathematicians. Boy howdy was I wrong about that! From the very first reading 'Why teach math history?' my ideology changed. To me, math history was just 'when was Rene Descartes born? Where was he born? What did he do? Ok moving on...". That first reading made me realize there's more to math history than just the historical figures. There's layers of representation, inclusion, exclusion, inaccuracies, and techniques that deserve deeper dives into. It also really set the tone of the entire course and gave purpose to all the readings and assignments we were to complete throughout the course. I think my favourite reading was the one on if Pythagoras was Chinese and the Eye of Horus. The first paper opened my eyes about how representation can be important for young students, and also how Eurocentric our education system is on the west. The Eye of Horus was exciting because it allowed me to explore; I absolutely love myths and stories about ancient gods - tying it in with math was extremely fun and I think can be used in the classroom. 

I think I've also learnt that history can be used to build on current ideas. How can we use our ideas of fractions to solve ancient Egyptian problems? How did they solve them? How were they able to build such fantastical structures or have functioning societies? They needed math! 

In terms of potential changes to the course, I wonder if changing the name of the course could be an option -- perhaps it's a pessimistic viewpoint, but some students may be unenthusiastic when initially thinking about 'history of mathematics'. Having a different name like 'Exploration of ancient math puzzles' sounds interesting. I'm not really sure if that's a good suggestion or not though (lol)! I think another potential change would be more doing. I think there were obvious constraints with COVID this year and everything being online, but I felt very disconnected (no pun intended) at times. Even if there were more mini assignments like creating our method of false position, or making our own 3x3 magic square in place of longer readings could be more engaging for students.

Overall, I had a blast with this course. I learned a lot about the history of math, but even more about myself and how this course can effectively enhance my pedagogy moving forward. I'm excited to take my knowledge in the classroom and I'm thankful to both Susan and Amanda for putting on such an enjoyable course. It was an absolutely crazy semester, but it was also one that filled me with optimism for the future. Have a wonderful holiday!