Contributions of the subject History of Mathematics to Teacher Education: Analysis based on Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching

Abstract

Considering the increase in the number of subjects related to the History of Mathematics (HM) in teacher education courses in Brazil, this investigation was conducted to describe and analyze the contributions of the subject History of Mathematics (HM) to teacher education and, more specifically, to the mobilization of Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. Thus, this study focused on the knowledge utilized by seven future teachers over a semester on the subject of HM in the curriculum of a course at a federal university in Brazil, using the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching model (MKT), proposed by Ball, Thames and Phelps in 2007, as a reference. The investigation data were obtained from audiovisual recordings of classes, a field diary, as well as activities carried out by students, and interviews carried out after the end of the course. The data obtained through the different instruments were compared and analyzed based on similarity groupings, taking the MKT domains as a reference. The analyses indicate that the undergraduates expressed knowledge regarding the three subdomains of Subject Matter Knowledge, especially regarding Specialized Content Knowledge, appearing more frequently in activities about Mathematics in Antiquity. Knowledge relating to all subdomains of Pedagogical Content Knowledge was also identified, especially the subdomains: Knowledge of Content and Students and Knowledge of Content and Teaching. Thus, the results of this investigation indicate that the subject HM has the potential to enable undergraduate students to impart relevant knowledge for teaching and, therefore, such a subject can contribute to the initial training of teachers.

History of Mathematics; Initial Teacher Education; Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching