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UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online<br />
Journal Of Educational Research<br />
Ἔχεις μοι εἰπεῖν, ὦ<br />
Σώκρατες, ἆρα<br />
διδακτὸν ἡ ἀρετή; ἢ<br />
A National and International Interdisciplinary Forum<br />
for Scholars, Academics, Researchers and Educators<br />
from a wide range of fields related to<br />
Educational Studies<br />
οὐ διδακτὸν ἀλλ’<br />
ἀσκητόν; ἢ οὔτε<br />
ἀσκητὸν οὔτε<br />
μαθητόν, ἀλλὰ<br />
φύσει παραγίγνεται<br />
τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἢ<br />
ἄλλῳ τινὶ τρόπῳ<br />
The Use of History of Mathematics in<br />
Mathematics Education<br />
2 nd Thematic Issue<br />
Florina, May 2016
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
ABOUT <strong>MENON</strong><br />
The scope of the <strong>MENON</strong> is broad, both<br />
in terms of topics covered and<br />
disciplinary perspective, since the<br />
journal attempts to make connections<br />
between fields, theories, research<br />
methods, and scholarly discourses, and<br />
welcomes contributions on humanities,<br />
social sciences and sciences related to<br />
educational issues. It publishes original<br />
empirical and theoretical papers as well<br />
as reviews. Topical collections of articles<br />
appropriate to <strong>MENON</strong> regularly<br />
appear as special issues (thematic<br />
issues).<br />
This open access journal welcomes<br />
papers in English, as well in German<br />
and French. Allsubmitted manuscripts<br />
undergo a peer-review process. Based<br />
on initial screening by the editorial<br />
board, each paper is anonymized and<br />
reviewed by at least two referees.<br />
Referees are reputed within their<br />
academic or professional setting, and<br />
come from Greece and other European<br />
countries. In case one of the reports is<br />
negative, the editor decides on its<br />
publication.<br />
Manuscripts must be submitted as<br />
electronic files (by e-mail attachment in<br />
Microsoft Word format) to:<br />
mejer@uowm.gr or via the Submission<br />
Webform.<br />
Submission of a manuscript implies that<br />
it must not be under consideration for<br />
publication by other journal or has not<br />
been published before.<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research<br />
2<br />
ABOUT <strong>MENON</strong><br />
EDITOR<br />
• CHARALAMPOS LEMONIDIS<br />
University Of Western Macedonia,<br />
Greece<br />
EDITORIAL BOARD<br />
• ANASTASIA ALEVRIADOU<br />
University Of Western Macedonia,<br />
Greece<br />
• ELENI GRIVA<br />
University Of Western Macedonia,<br />
Greece<br />
• SOFIA ILIADOU-TACHOU<br />
University Of Western Macedonia,<br />
Greece<br />
• DIMITRIOS PNEVMATIKOS<br />
University Of Western Macedonia,<br />
Greece<br />
• ANASTASIA STAMOU<br />
University Of Western Macedonia,<br />
Greece<br />
<strong>MENON</strong> © is published at<br />
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN<br />
MACEDONIA – FACULTY OF<br />
EDUCATION<br />
Reproduction of this publication for educational<br />
or other non-commercial purposes is authorized<br />
as long as the source is acknowledged. Readers<br />
may print or save any issue of <strong>MENON</strong> as long<br />
as there are no alterations made in those issues.<br />
Copyright remains with the authors, who are<br />
responsible for getting permission to reproduce<br />
any images or figures they submit and for<br />
providing the necessary credits.<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research<br />
3<br />
SCIENTIFIC BOARD<br />
• Barbin Evelyne, University of Nantes, France<br />
• D’ Amore Bruno, University of Bologna, Italy<br />
• Fritzen Lena, Linnaeus University Kalmar Vaxjo,<br />
Sweeden<br />
• Gagatsis Athanasios, University of Cyprus, Cyprus<br />
• Gutzwiller Eveline, Paedagogische Hochschule von<br />
Lucerne, Switzerland<br />
• Harnett Penelope, University of the West of England,<br />
United Kingdom<br />
• Hippel Aiga, University of Munich, Germany<br />
• Hourdakis Antonios, University of Crete, Greece<br />
• Iliofotou-Menon Maria, University of Cyprus,<br />
Cyprus<br />
• Katsillis Ioannis, University of Patras, Greece<br />
• Kokkinos Georgios, University of Aegean, Greece<br />
• Korfiatis Konstantinos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus<br />
• Koutselini Mary, University of Cyprus, Cyprus<br />
• Kyriakidis Leonidas, University of Cyprus, Cyprus<br />
• Lang Lena, Universityof Malmo, Sweeden<br />
• Latzko Brigitte, University of Leipzig, Germany<br />
• Mikropoulos Anastasios, University of Ioannina,<br />
Greece<br />
• Mpouzakis Sifis, University of Patras, Greece<br />
• Panteliadu Susana, University of Thessaly, Greece<br />
• Paraskevopoulos Stefanos, University of Thessaly,<br />
Greece<br />
• Piluri Aleksandra, Fan S. Noli University, Albania<br />
• Psaltou -Joycey Angeliki, Aristotle University of<br />
Thessaloniki, Greece<br />
• Scaltsa Matoula, AristotleUniversity of Thessaloniki,<br />
Greece<br />
• Tselfes Vassilis, National and<br />
KapodistrianUniversity of Athens, Greece<br />
• Tsiplakou Stavroula, Open University of Cyprus,<br />
Cyprus<br />
• Vassel Nevel, Birmingham City University, United<br />
Kingdom<br />
• Vosniadou Stella, National and Kapodistrian<br />
University of Athens, Greece<br />
• Woodcock Leslie, University of Leeds, United<br />
Kingdom<br />
LIST OF REVIEWERS<br />
The Editor and the Editorial<br />
Board of the <strong>MENON</strong>: Journal<br />
Of Educational Research thanks<br />
the following colleagues for their<br />
support in reviewing<br />
manuscripts for the current<br />
issue.<br />
• Konstantinos Christou<br />
• Charalampos Lemonidis<br />
• Konstantinos Nikolantonakis<br />
Design & Edit: Elias Indos<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research<br />
4<br />
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTORY NOTE<br />
INTRODUCTION TO THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
“The Use of History of Mathematics in Mathematics Education”<br />
The question of the integration of the History of Mathematics in<br />
Mathematics Education has been discussed since the 20 th century by Educators<br />
(Barwell, Brousseau, Freudental, Piaget), Philosophers (Bachelard),<br />
Mathematicians (Klein, Poincare), and Historians of Mathematics (Loria,<br />
Smith), who have supported the proposal and have given arguments on the<br />
interest and challenges in school Mathematics courses.<br />
Since the 1960s the use of the history of mathematics in mathematics<br />
education has become more popular and many papers in scientific journals,<br />
books, proceedings of conferences and groups of researchers have focused on<br />
this in contrast to the paradigm of the “modern mathematics” reform. We can<br />
find many didactical situations, mathematical problems, teaching series but also<br />
empirical and theoretical studies, Master and Phd level dissertations on the role<br />
and the ways of using historical, social and cultural elements in the teaching of<br />
mathematics. During the 2 nd International Congress on Mathematics Education<br />
(ICME) in 1972 we have the creation of an International research group<br />
(International study group on the relation between the History and Pedagogy<br />
of Mathematics (HPM)) which organizes a congress every 4 years. The idea of a<br />
European Summer University (ESU) on the Epistemology and History in<br />
Mathematics Education started from the Instituts Universitaires de Formation<br />
de Maîtres (IUFM) in France, and an ESU is organized every three years in<br />
different European countries. Since 2009 in the context of the Congress of the<br />
European Society for Mathematics Education (CERME) we have also the<br />
appearance of a discussion group on The Role of History of Mathematics in<br />
Mathematics Education: Theory and Research (WG 12). This group also<br />
concentrates on empirical research. We should also mention the publication of<br />
the ICMI study History in mathematics education: the ICMI study (Fauvel & van<br />
Maanen, 2000) which presents the state of the art until this period.<br />
Since the publication of this study, researchers address in a more<br />
demanding way questions about the efficacy and pertinence of many efforts<br />
(examples) of applications in classrooms. They are also wondering about the<br />
transferability of positive experiences from educators on different levels of<br />
education. They are considering questions on the capacity of students but also<br />
of educators when they were in front of the difficulties of studying the<br />
historical aspect of many notions.<br />
Recently researchers΄ activities are moving to investigations in terms of<br />
didactic and educational foundations from which they believe that it could be<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research<br />
5<br />
possible to think better about the role of the history of mathematics in the<br />
teaching and learning of mathematics and the development of theoretical and<br />
conceptual frameworks which could provide the required equipment for the<br />
production of finer and more focus investigations.<br />
These issues include, among others, the educational and teaching<br />
foundations of a cultural-historical perspective in the classroom, the need to<br />
give voice to community stakeholders about the introduction and more<br />
broadly, the nature and the terms of the empirical investigation prevailing in<br />
the research environment.<br />
Parallel to these advancements in research, an attempt to humanize<br />
Mathematics is increasingly present in the mathematics curricula worldwide.<br />
For over 20 years, the presence of the history of mathematics in training<br />
teachers’ environments has increased considerably in many countries.<br />
However, despite the different objectives associated with the introduction of<br />
the history of mathematics in training mathematics teachers, this presence,<br />
implicit or explicit, took the form of specific initiatives for each establishment of<br />
teacher training.<br />
By browsing through the literature since 1990, it is possible to classify the<br />
empirical studies on the use of history in the mathematics classroom into two<br />
categories: studies that relate to the narrative of grounded experiences and<br />
quantitative studies on a larger scale.<br />
Overall, it appears necessary to restore the research field on the introduction<br />
of History in the teaching and learning of mathematics within Didactics of<br />
mathematics and more generally with the educational sciences. This<br />
repositioning should enable research to get inspired from the contexts of the<br />
exploratory work from Humanities as well as theoretical, conceptual and<br />
methodological issues from the Didactics of mathematics and educational<br />
sciences.<br />
This issue includes eight invited papers. Six papers are written in English<br />
and two in French. Each text is accompanied by an abstract in English. The<br />
following papers discuss specific issues in the domain of Using History of<br />
Mathematics in Mathematics Education and are ordered according to the<br />
instructional level; from elementary school to the university and in service<br />
teachers training.<br />
• Evelyne Barbin suggests a new thinking on technique, proposed in the<br />
texts of Simondon and Rabardel. Her purpose, in introducing an<br />
historical instrumental approach of geometrical teaching for students<br />
aged 11-14 years, is to show how an instrument can be conceived both as<br />
an invention to solve problems and as a knowledge or theorem in action.<br />
In particular, she stresses the links between different varieties of<br />
instruments and different kinds of knowledge and shows the<br />
consequences of an instrumental failure for the construction of new<br />
knowledge. Her goal is a coherent using where teaching is based on<br />
families of instruments.<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research<br />
6<br />
• Matthaios Anastasiadis and Konstantinos Nikolantonakis describe the<br />
context of an instructional intervention focused on isoperimetric figures<br />
and area-perimeter relationships with the use of one historical note and<br />
two primary sources, from Pappus’ Collection and from Polybius’<br />
Histories. Their findings are based on classroom observations, worksheets<br />
and interviews with sixth grade Greek students.<br />
• Vasiliki Tsiapou and Konstantinos Nikolantonakis present part of a<br />
research study that intended to use the Chinese abacus for the<br />
development of place value concepts and the notion of carried number<br />
with sixth grade Greek students.<br />
• Ingo Witzke, Horst Struve, Kathleen Clark and Gero Stoffels describe<br />
how the concepts of empirical and formalistic belief systems can be used to<br />
give an explanation for the transition from school to university<br />
mathematics during an intensive Seminar. They stress the usefulness of<br />
this approach by outlining the historical sources and the participants’<br />
activities with the sources on which the seminar is based, as well as some<br />
results of the qualitative data gathered during and after the seminar.<br />
• David Guillemette tries to highlight some difficulties that have been<br />
encountered during the implementation of reading activities of historical<br />
texts in the preservice teachers training context. He describes a history of<br />
mathematics course offered at the Université du Québec à Montréal,<br />
with reading activities that have been constructed and implemented in<br />
class and the efforts made by the students and the trainer to articulate<br />
both synchronic and diachronic reading, in order to not uproot the text<br />
and his author from their socio-historical and mathematical context.<br />
• Michael Kourkoulos and Constantinos Tzanakis present and analyze a<br />
teaching work on Pascal's wager realized with Greek students,<br />
prospective elementary school teachers, in the context of a probability<br />
and statistics course. They focus on classroom discussion concerning<br />
mathematical modeling activities, connecting elements of probability<br />
theory and decision theory with elements of philosophical discussions.<br />
• Areti Panaoura examines in-service teachers’ beliefs and knowledge<br />
about the use of the history of mathematics in the framework of the<br />
inquiry-based teaching approach at the educational system of Cyprus,<br />
and the difficulties teachers face in adopting and implementing this<br />
specific innovation in primary education.<br />
• Snezana Lawrence offers ideas for teachers to engage with mathematics<br />
through the historical ‘journeys’ and relationship with art and cultural<br />
and intellectual history. She treats the question of how teachers could<br />
find their own ‘mathematical’ voice through series of historical<br />
investigations and what impact that may have on their teaching and<br />
pupils’ progress.<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research<br />
7<br />
Aknowledgements<br />
Firstly, I would like to express my warmest thanks to Christina Gkonou 1 for<br />
her precious efforts to read and ameliorate the English texts.<br />
Secondly, I would also like to express my thanks to the Editorial Committee<br />
of Menon Journal for giving me the chance to work this Thematic Issue on<br />
the field of Using History in Mathematics Education.<br />
Finally, I would like to express my grateful thanks to my Colleagues who<br />
sustain with their papers this publication.<br />
The Editor of the 2 nd Thematic Issue of<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal for Educational Research<br />
Konstantinos Nikolantonakis<br />
Associate Professor<br />
University of Western Macedonia<br />
Greece<br />
1 Christina Gkonou is Lecturer in Teaching English as a Foreign Language in the Department of Language<br />
and Linguistics at the University of Essex, UK. She received her BA from Aristotle University and her MA<br />
and PhD from the University of Essex. Her research interests are in foreign language pedagogy and the<br />
psychology of language learning and teaching.<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research<br />
8<br />
CONTENTS<br />
CONTENTS<br />
9-30 Εvelyne Barbin<br />
L’INSTRUMENT MATHÉMATIQUE COMME INVENTION ET<br />
CONNAISSANCE-EN-ACTION<br />
31-50 Matthaios Anastasiadis, Konstantinos Nikolantonakis<br />
PRIMARY SOURCES AND HISTORY-BASED PROBLEMS ABOUT<br />
ISOPERIMETRY: A USE OF MATHEMATICS HISTORY IN GRADE SIX<br />
51-65 Vasiliki Tsiapou, Konstantinos Nikolantonakis<br />
THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLACE VALUE CONCEPTS AND THE<br />
NOTION OF CARRIED NUMBER AMONG SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS<br />
VIA THE STUDY OF THE CHINESE ABACUS<br />
66-93 Ingo Witzke, Horst Struve, Kathleen Clark, Gero Stoffels<br />
ÜBERPRO – A SEMINAR CONSTRUCTED TO CONFRONT THE<br />
TRANSITION PROBLEM FROM SCHOOL TO UNIVERSITY<br />
MATHEMATICS, BASED ON EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL<br />
IDEAS OF MATHEMATICS<br />
94-111 David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION<br />
DES ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À<br />
L’AIDE DE L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION<br />
SUR LES MODALITÉS DE LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
112-129 Michael Kourkoulos, Constantinos Tzanakis<br />
DISCUSSING MATHEMATICAL MODELING CONCERNING<br />
PASCAL'S WAGER<br />
130-145 Areti Panaoura<br />
THE HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS DURING AN INQUIRY-BASED<br />
TEACHING APPROACH<br />
146-158 Snezana Lawrence<br />
THE OLD TEACHER EUCLID: AND HIS SCIENCE IN THE ART OF<br />
FINDING ONE’S MATHEMATICAL VOICE<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research<br />
9<br />
L’INSTRUMENT MATHÉMATIQUE COMME INVENTION ET<br />
CONNAISSANCE-EN-ACTION<br />
Εvelyne Barbin<br />
Laboratoire LMJL & IREM - Université de Nantes<br />
evelyne.barbin@wanadoo.fr<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
The role of instruments had been underestimated widely in history, including in the<br />
case of the geometry, and that is linked with the Aristotelian partition between theory<br />
and technique. In this paper we work with a new thinking on technique, proposed<br />
recently in the texts of Simondon and Rabardel. To introduce an instrumental<br />
approach of geometrical teaching for students aged 11-14 years, we choose to examine<br />
beginnings of a geometrical thought in history. Our purpose is to show how an<br />
instrument can be conceived both as an invention to solve problems and as a<br />
knowledge or theorem in action. With some examples, we analyze the dynamical<br />
process by which an instrument can be involved in the introduction of geometrical<br />
notions and in the construction of mental schemes. In particular, we stress on the links<br />
between different varieties of instruments and different kinds of knowledge and we<br />
show the consequences of an instrumental failure for construction of new knowledge.<br />
Our goal is not a heteroclite using of instruments in teaching but a coherent using<br />
where teaching is based on families of instruments.<br />
Keywords: geometry, instruments, measurement of distances, technics, trisection of<br />
angle<br />
1. INTRODUCTION<br />
Le rôle des instruments dans l’histoire des mathématiques a été largement<br />
sous-estimé, y compris pour ce qui concerne l’histoire de la géométrie. Plus<br />
largement, nous avons été longtemps tributaires de la séparation<br />
aristotélicienne entre la technique qui est ‘poïétique’, c’est-à-dire du côté de<br />
l’action, de la science, qui est ‘théorétique’, c’est-à-dire du côté de la<br />
contemplation et de la spéculation (Aristote 1991: 4-9). C’est ainsi que, par<br />
exemple, tout rôle des techniques dans la révolution scientifique du XVIIe siècle<br />
(Barbin 2006: 9-44) a été refusé par Alexandre Koyré. Les figures de la<br />
géométrie grecque ont été rattachées à une conception purement idéale, qui est<br />
héritée d’écrits platoniciens et qui les rattache uniquement au discours<br />
axiomatique des Éléments d’Euclide.<br />
Une nouvelle pensée de la technique a été proposée par le philosophe<br />
Gilbert Simondon, qui écrit dans son ouvrage Du mode d’existence des objets<br />
techniques:”il semble que cette opposition entre l'action et la contemplation,<br />
entre l'immuable et le mouvant, doive cesser devant l'introduction de<br />
l'opération technique dans la pensée philosophique comme terrain de réflexion<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
Εvelyne Barbin<br />
L’INSTRUMENT MATHÉMATIQUE COMME INVENTION ET CONNAISSANCE-EN-<br />
ACTION<br />
10<br />
et même comme paradigm” (Simondon 1969: 256). Dans cet article, nous<br />
reprenons les réflexions de Simondon sur les objets techniques pour les<br />
rapporter aux instruments mathématiques dans leur histoire, ainsi que celles du<br />
psychologue Pierre Rabardel qui publie en 1995 Les hommes et les technologies:<br />
approche cognitive des instruments contemporains, où il fait état des écrits de<br />
Simondon et de travaux concernant le travail, la connaissance et l’action.<br />
L’ouvrage de Rabardel a subi une transposition didactique dans des écrits<br />
récents, qui tendent à simplifier, à réifier, et à mettre de côté les propos de<br />
l’auteur, sur le sujet connaissant et sur ‘les autres’, propos qui intéressent en<br />
revanche l’épistémologie et l’histoire des mathématiques. Pour servir à une<br />
approche instrumentale de l’enseignement, nous avons choisi de nous<br />
restreindre à des instruments correspondant aux débuts de la construction<br />
d’une pensée géométrique dans l’histoire, et qui s’adressent à l’enseignement<br />
des élèves du cycle 3 en France (9 ans-12 ans).<br />
2. L’INSTRUMENT COMME INVENTION ET L’ÉDIFICATION DE LA<br />
GÉOMÉTRIE<br />
Un instrument mathématique, comme tout instrument technique, apparaît<br />
d’emblée comme le résultat d’une invention et son fonctionnement suppose,<br />
pour être possible, cette invention (Barbin 2004: 26-27). Simondon écrit à propos<br />
de l’objet technique: “l’objet qui sort de l’invention technique emporte avec lui<br />
quelque chose de l’être qui l’a produit […] ; on pourrait dire qu’il y a de la<br />
nature humaine dans l’être technique” (Simondon 1969: 248). Cette approche<br />
indique que l’instrument peut, mieux que le discours, apporter une forme<br />
dynamique à la connaissance qui est sous-jacente au fonctionnement d’un<br />
instrument. De plus, l’invention, tout comme la science, est la réponse à un<br />
problème. Rabardel écrit à propos de l’artefact: “l’artefact concrétise une<br />
solution à un problème ou à une classe de problèmes socialement poses”<br />
(Rabardel 1995: 49). Pour lui, l’artefact désigne largement toute chose<br />
transformée par un humain, tandis que l’instrument désigne “l’artefact en<br />
situation dans un rapport à l’action du sujet, en tant que moyen de cette action”<br />
(Rabardel 1995: 49). L’artefact n’est donc pas ‘un outil nu’, comme l’écrit Luc<br />
Trouche (Trouche 2005: 265), dans la mesure où il porte avec lui la solution à un<br />
problème et, activé dans une situation analogue à celle qui a présidé à son<br />
invention, il devient un instrument de réponse à ce problème.<br />
En accord avec l’importance que nous accordons au problème, nous<br />
considérons donc que c’est l’enseignement qui donnera son sens à l’instrument<br />
et non l’instrument qui donnera le sien à l’enseignement, à l’instar de ce que<br />
Simondon écrit à propos des rapports entre le travail et l’objet technique.<br />
L’histoire du baromètre, que l’on attribue au physicien Ernest Rutherford, est<br />
une manière amusante d’illustrer ce propos. Elle raconte que l’on a demandé à<br />
un étudiant de mesurer la hauteur d’un immeuble à l’aide d’un baromètre.<br />
L’étudiant est monté en haut de l’édifice et ayant attaché le baromètre à une<br />
corde, il a descendu la corde et l’a remontée pour mesurer la longueur de la<br />
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corde descendue. Le professeur le recale, mais il lui donne une chance de se<br />
rattraper: il faut qu’il fasse preuve de connaissance physique. L’étudiant monte<br />
alors en haut de l’édifice et laisse tomber le baromètre, il mesure le temps de<br />
chute avec un chronomètre et il applique la loi de chute pour trouver la<br />
longueur de la chute. Il est admis à l’examen et il indique qu’il a d’autres<br />
réponses: en faisant osciller le baromètre comme un pendule ou en comparant<br />
la hauteur de l’ombre du baromètre à celle de l’immeuble. L’étudiant ajoute que<br />
la meilleure solution est de sonner chez le concierge de l’immeuble et de lui<br />
dire: “si vous me donnez la hauteur de l’immeuble, je vous donne ce superbe<br />
baromètre”. Rappelons que lorsque Blaise Pascal a fait entreprendre<br />
l’expérience du Puy de Dôme, son problème n’était pas d’en mesurer la<br />
hauteur, mais de montrer qu’il y avait du vide en haut du tube du dispositif de<br />
Torricelli.<br />
Quels sont les problèmes qui ont accompagné la genèse d’une science<br />
géométrique? Le terme de géométrie signifie ‘mesure de la terre’, il renvoie à<br />
l’arpentage, qui consiste, pour mesurer les terrains, à reporter un bâton et à<br />
compter le nombre de reports. Mais la géométrie grecque a été au-delà de<br />
l’arpentage. Les historiens attribuent aux Ioniens, au VIe siècle avant J.-C., la<br />
solution du problème de déterminer la distance d’un bateau en mer.<br />
L’arpentage avec un bâton est inadéquat, mais”quand les techniques échouent<br />
la science est proche” (Simondon 1969: 246). Pour résoudre le problème, il faut<br />
ruser: les Ioniens ont utilisé un dioptre, c’est-à-dire un instrument de visée, qui<br />
pouvait être un cadran sur lequel tourne une partie flexible autour d’une partie<br />
maintenue verticale grâce à un fil à plomb (fig. 1). En montant sur un endroit<br />
élevé, il est possible de faire une visée vers le bateau en orientant la partie<br />
flexible du dioptre. Ensuite, il faut se retourner en gardant la même inclinaison<br />
et viser un point sur le sol. Deux nouveaux gestes pour résoudre le problème:<br />
une visée et un retournement qui balaie l’espace. Le problème est résolu parce<br />
que le sujet géomètre a remplacé le ‘schème primitive’, celui du report de<br />
l’arpentage, par un processus d’instrumentation au sens de Rabardel. Un<br />
nouveau schème est formé, qui englobe non seulement des mesures de<br />
distances mais des visées, qui relie des visées et des distances. En quoi consiste<br />
ce schème? Par quel processus l’instrument et le nouveau schème sont-ils<br />
potentiellement porteurs d’une connaissance géométrique?<br />
Figure 1. Le cadran ionien<br />
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La géométrie a pour objet de voir et de faire voir ce que l’on pense. Il faut<br />
d’abord représenter la situation. En détachant du réel les éléments essentiels à<br />
sa compréhension, on réalisera un schéma (fig. 2), puis une mise en figure<br />
composée de droites permettra de connecter ces éléments essentiels (fig. 3). Sur<br />
cette figure, certaines droites représentent des distances concrètes, mais pas<br />
celles qui correspondent aux rayons visuels. Pour tenir un discours qui explique<br />
la solution à un autre (qui le demanderait), il faut dire ce qui est maintenant<br />
représenté par un espace entre deux droites et qui correspond à ce qui est une<br />
‘vise’ dans le contexte instrumental. Cet espace a une signification dans le<br />
contexte du problème et il est relié à une distance: on l’appellera un ‘angle’. La<br />
notion d’angle est attribuée aux Ioniens. Cette notion n’est pas présente dans les<br />
mathématiques égyptiennes, dont ont hérité les Grecs, y compris dans les<br />
problèmes de pente de pyramide.<br />
Figure 2. La distance d’un bateau en mer: schéma<br />
Figure 3. La distance d’un bateau en mer: figure<br />
Le schème consiste en une connaissance sur la figure: l’égalité des angles<br />
implique l’égalité des distances. Nous appellerons schème géométrique (ou<br />
simplement schème) une connaissance qui coordonne des éléments d’une<br />
configuration géométrique particulière, et qui peut être activée, transformée ou<br />
généralisée par re-connaissance de cette configuration dans des situations<br />
variées. Pour démontrer (à un autre qui n’en serait pas convaincu) que l’égalité<br />
des angles implique l’égalité de droites, il faudrait encore introduire les notions<br />
de triangle et d’égalité de triangles, puis des lettres pour désigner les éléments<br />
de la figure. La géométrie qui s’édifie ainsi est une science qui raisonne sur des<br />
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grandeurs pour les comparer. La dioptre est une connaissance-en-action parce<br />
que son fonctionnement demande l’effectuation de gestes et l’activation d’un<br />
schème qui reprennent ceux de l’invention et qui seront repris dans d’autres<br />
situations problématiques. Ici, la connaissance instrumentale et la science<br />
procèdent de manière identique.<br />
Examinons maintenant l’instrument scolaire qui est associé à l’angle, c’est-àdire<br />
le rapporteur (fig. 4), et son usage. Il est demandé aux élèves de mesurer<br />
des angles, c’est-à-dire de dire des nombres qui correspondent (plus ou moins)<br />
à un angle dessiné ou de dessiner des angles qui valent 30°, 45°, etc. Le<br />
rapporteur est un outil qui sert essentiellement dans le contexte de dessins de<br />
figures qui n’ont pas toujours ou peu un statut de représentation d’une<br />
situation. Tant qu’il reste dans ce cadre numérique étroit, le rapporteur est peu<br />
susceptible de provoquer des raisonnements géométriques. Il vaut d’ailleurs<br />
mieux que l’élève l’oublie quand il lui sera adjoint de ‘démontrer’. Il en va<br />
différemment si un élève demande, ce qui n’est pas rare, pourquoi les angles<br />
sont mesurés de la même façon, quelle que soit la taille du rapporteur. La<br />
réponse à cette question est une connaissance: le rapport de l’arc intercepté par<br />
un angle au centre à la circonférence tout entière est le même, quel que soit le<br />
rayon du cercle. Avec cette réponse, le rapporteur devient une connaissance-enaction.<br />
Figure 4. Un rapporteur<br />
Avec les deux instruments examinés, nous avons abordé le rôle de ‘l’autre’,<br />
qui dans chacun des deux cas questionne. Cette intrusion n’est pas artificielle<br />
dans l’histoire, où les instruments sont inventés et discutés par des hommes.<br />
Lorsque Rabardel décrit les relations entre les trois pôles constitués par le sujet,<br />
l’instrument et l’objet, il indique bien la composante essentielle qui est<br />
l’environnement. Puis plus loin, il enchérit avec un ‘modèle’ incluant les autres<br />
sujets. Ce modèle SACI (fig. 5) des ‘situations d’activités collectives<br />
instrumentées’ devrait également attirer l’intérêt des didacticiens (Rabardel<br />
1995: 62).<br />
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Figure 5. Modèle SACI d’après Pierre Rabardel<br />
3. GENÈSE INSTRUMENTALE ET CONNAISSANCE-EN-ACTION<br />
L’invention d’un instrument à partir d’un autre et la mise en connexion des<br />
instruments entre eux sont deux processus que nous pouvons explorer dans<br />
l’histoire des mathématiques. Nous les analyserons en reprenant les notions<br />
d’instrumentation et d’instrumentalisation proposées par Rabardel qui<br />
concernent la production de nouveaux artefacts et de nouveaux schèmes. Il<br />
écrit : ”un processus de genèse et d’élaboration instrumentale, porté par le sujet<br />
et qui, parce qu’il concerne les deux pôles de l’entité instrumentale, l’artefact et<br />
les schèmes d’utilisation, a lui aussi deux dimensions, deux orientations à la fois<br />
distinguables et souvent conjointes : l’instrumentalisation dirigée vers l’artefact<br />
et l’instrumentation relative au sujet lui-même” (Rabardel 1995 : 109). Il<br />
caractérise le premier processus comme “un processus d’enrichissement des<br />
propriétés de l’artefact par le sujet” (Rabardel 1995: 114) ou encore comme une<br />
transformation de l’artefact par le sujet. Tandis qu’il caractérise le processus<br />
d’instrumentation en constatant que “la découverte progressive des propriétés<br />
(intrinsèques) de l’artefact par les sujets s’accompagne de l’accommodation de<br />
leurs schèmes, mais aussi de changements de signification de l’instrument<br />
résultant de l’association de l’artefact à de nouveaux schemes” (Rabardel<br />
1995:116). Le schéma ci-dessous (fig. 6) indique que les deux processus sont<br />
effectivement ‘portés par le sujet’ et orientés vers le sujet ou l’artefact, “dans un<br />
même processus de genèse et d’élaboration instrumentale”.<br />
Figure 6. La genèse instrumentale<br />
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Avec la transposition en didactique effectuée par Luc Trouche, la place du<br />
sujet n’est plus la même et le processus d’instrumentalisation va de l’artefact<br />
vers le sujet (fig. 7). Pourtant Rabardel precise: “ces deux types de processus<br />
sont le fait du sujet. L’instrumentalisation par attribution d’une fonction à<br />
l’artefact, résulte de son activité, tout comme l’accommodation de ses schèmes.<br />
Ce qui les distingue c’est l’orientation de cette activité. Dans le processus<br />
d’instrumentation elle est tournée vers le sujet lui-même, alors que dans le<br />
processus corrélatif d’instrumentalisation, elle est orientée vers la composante<br />
artefact de l’instrument” (Rabardel 1995: 111-112).<br />
Figure 7. La genèse instrumentale d’après Trouche<br />
Trouche écrit que “Rabardel distingue, dans la genèse d’un instrument,<br />
deux processus croisés, l’instrumentation et l’instrumentalisation:<br />
l’instrumentalisation est relative à la personnalisation de l’artefact par le sujet,<br />
l’instrumentation est relative à l’émergence des schèmes chez le sujet (c’est-àdire<br />
à la façon avec laquelle l’artefact va contribuer à préstructurer l’action du<br />
sujet, pour réaliser la tâche en question)” (Trouche 2015: 267). Les termes en<br />
italiques sont le fait de l’auteur, mais celui-ci n’indique pas de pagination en<br />
référence à l’ouvrage de Rabardel. Les conceptions d’un sujet qui ‘personnalise’<br />
l’artefact, tandis que l’artefact ‘préstructure’ l’action du sujet, doivent être<br />
rapprochées du projet de l’auteur, à savoir « de guider et intégrer les usages des<br />
outils de calcul dans l’enseignement mathématiques ». En effet, qu’il s’agisse de<br />
calculateur ou d’ordinateur, le sujet ne peut prétendre modifier ce que nous<br />
pouvons appeler ‘machines’, plutôt qu’artefacts. Tandis que les exemples<br />
nombreux donnés par Rabardel, y compris dans le cadre de formation de sujets,<br />
concernent effectivement les modifications des artefacts et des schèmes.<br />
3.1 De l’outil à l’instrument<br />
L’analyse de processus historiques de modifications d’artefacts permet<br />
d’approfondir la notion d’instrument comme connaissance-en-action. En effet,<br />
il n’y a pas dans l’histoire de simultanéité de tous les instruments mais passage<br />
de l’un à l’autre, avec parfois des crises ou des ruptures. En reprenant ce<br />
qu’écrit Simondon à propos de la technique, nous dirons que l’éducation<br />
mathématique ne doit pas “manquer ces dynamismes humains”, “il faut avoir<br />
saisi l’historicité du devenir instrumental à travers l’historicité du devenir du<br />
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sujet” (Simondon 1969: 107-109).<br />
Nous possédons peu de témoignages ou de traces des premiers instruments<br />
de la géométrie. De ce point de vue, l’ouvrage Géométrie de Gerbert d’Aurillac,<br />
datant de l’an 1000, possède un rôle vicariant. L’auteur a été pape en Avignon,<br />
il a voyagé en Espagne et il a ainsi pu connaître les sciences mathématiques<br />
arabes. Il explique dans son ouvrage comment mesurer la largeur d’une rivière<br />
avec un bâton, il s’agit donc encore ici d’un ‘problème de distance inaccessible’.<br />
Les gestes à effectuer sont les suivants: Gerbert plante son bâton sur le bord de<br />
la rivière, il s’éloigne du bord jusqu’à ce que son œil, l’extrémité du bâton et<br />
l’autre bord de la rivière soient alignés. Comme précédemment, nous réalisons<br />
un schéma qui représente la situation, puis une mise en figure lettrée qui permet<br />
de formuler le schème opérant à condition d’adopter une échelle de proportion<br />
(fig. 8). La configuration est constituée de deux triangles emboîtés pour lesquels<br />
le rapport des côtés BD à CD est égal au rapport de BP à OP, on a la proportion<br />
BD : CD :: BP : OP. Ce schème permet d’obtenir la distance BP, qui est la somme<br />
de BD et de DP, à l’issue d’un calcul sur les grandeurs.<br />
Figure 8. La largeur de la rivière par Gerbert<br />
Ce schème intervient aussi dans le fonctionnement de la ‘lychnia’ (lanterne),<br />
présentée au IIe siècle dans les Cestes de Jules l’Africain. Il s’agit d’une<br />
accommodation pratique du bâton, plutôt que d’une genèse instrumentale: elle<br />
comporte un bâton muni à son sommet d’un autre bâton qui peut tourner et qui<br />
permet ainsi d’effectuer des visées plus aisées (fig. 9). Dans le traité Sur la<br />
Dioptre, datant du Ier siècle, Héron d’Alexandrie présente un dioptre assez<br />
semblable à la lychnia et il lui associe un autre outil: un poteau muni d’un<br />
disque, qui peut coulisser le long du poteau. Il résout de nombreux problèmes<br />
de distances inaccessibles (Barbin 2016) : mesurer des différences de niveaux,<br />
joindre deux lieux qui ne sont pas visibles l’un pour l’autre, creuser un tunnel<br />
connaissant ses extrémités, mesurer l’aire d’un champ en restant à l’extérieur<br />
du champ, etc. L’adjonction de poteaux constitue une instrumentalisation, elle<br />
ne modifie pas le schème primitif des triangles emboîtés. Mais la complexité des<br />
problèmes s’accompagne de celle des figures, et les raisonnements demandent<br />
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‘d’imaginer’ de nombreuses droites qui ne représentent pas d’objets tangibles<br />
(fig. 10).<br />
Figure 9. La lychnia de Jules l’Africain et la dioptre d’Héron d’Alexandrie<br />
Gerbert écrit que “un géomètre doit toujours avoir un bâton avec lui”, mais<br />
la possession de cet outil ne suffit pas pour obtenir la solution. Il faut de plus un<br />
raisonnement extérieur à l’outil, qui est singulier pour chacune des utilisations<br />
de l’outil. Examinons de ce point de vue un autre instrument de Gerbert. Il est<br />
composé de deux bâtons, solidaires et perpendiculaires, dont les trois parties<br />
ainsi déterminées sont égales (fig. 10). Pour mesurer la hauteur d’un édifice,<br />
Gerbert aligne l’extrémité du bâton horizontal, le haut du bâton vertical et le<br />
haut de l’édifice. Le schème précédent permet d’obtenir l’égalité de BH et HE, et<br />
donc AB est égal à la somme de HE et FC. La distance HE est accessible par<br />
arpentage et si FC est égal à 1 (par exemple), alors AB égale HE + 1. Notons que,<br />
pour obtenir la solution, il faut adjoindre à la figure une droite HE, qui est le<br />
témoin de la ruse et de la connaissance du géomètre. Cette droite ne représente<br />
aucun élément tangible, elle est ‘imaginative’.<br />
Figure 10. L’instrument de Gerbert<br />
Nous dirons que nous avons affaire ici à un instrument, parce que Gerbert<br />
incorpore dans la conception de son instrument une connaissance du géomètre:<br />
l’instrument est instruit. Le mot instrument vient du mot latin instrumentum, qui<br />
signifie matériel, outillage ou ressource et qui dérive du verbe instruere. Ce verbe,<br />
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francisé en enstruire, donne disposer, outiller et équiper. Ainsi, les mots instrument<br />
et instruire renvoient l'un à l'autre (Barbin 2004: 7-12). Le passage du bâton à<br />
l’instrument peut-être compris comme un processus d’instrumentation, car<br />
l’instrument incorpore le schème dans sa conception. Celui qui l’utilisera<br />
tiendra en main une connaissance-en-action.<br />
3.2 Connexions entre instruments et connaissances<br />
Dans sa Protomathesis de 1532, Oronce Fine présente un instrument que nous<br />
appelons aujourd’hui ‘équerre articulée’. Il est géomètre, astronome et<br />
cartographe, il a enseigné les mathématiques au Collège Royal de Paris et il<br />
publiera en 1556 un ouvrage de géométrie intitulé De re & Praxi geometrica.<br />
Depuis le XIIIe siècle, les Éléments d’Euclide sont connus en Occident par une<br />
traduction latine d’une traduction arabe et ils sont imprimés en 1482. Fine cite<br />
le texte euclidien lorsqu’il présente son équerre articulée (Fine 1532: 67).<br />
Illustration. Extrait de la Protomathesis d’Oronce Fine<br />
L’instrument est composé d’un bâton qui sera dressé verticalement et de<br />
deux bâtons perpendiculaires l’un à l’autre (les alidades) fixés au sommet du<br />
bâton et qui peuvent tourner autour. Pour mesurer, par exemple, la largeur<br />
d’une rivière, il faut poser l’instrument au bord de la rivière et viser à l’aide<br />
d’une alidade l’autre bord de la rivière, puis viser à l’aide de la seconde alidade<br />
un point qui se trouve de notre côté de la rivière, mais en terre ferme (fig. 11).<br />
La distance entre ce point et la base du bâton est connue, ainsi que la hauteur<br />
du bâton. Ceci suffit à connaître la largeur de la rivière.<br />
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Figure 11. La largeur d’une rivière avec l’équerre articulée<br />
En effet, si nous représentons sur une figure les droites intervenant dans la<br />
situation, nous pouvons en extraire un triangle rectangle ABC et sa hauteur AH<br />
(fig. 12). Cette configuration permet de formuler un nouveau schème, qui<br />
correspond à l’un des théorèmes appartenant à la figure. En effet, ‘le théorème<br />
de la hauteur du triangle rectangle’ affirme que, dans un triangle rectangle avec<br />
l’angle droit en A et AH la hauteur, on a BH : AH :: AH : HC ou encore, la<br />
hauteur AH égale le produit des segments déterminés sur la base, AH 2 = BH <br />
HC. Par conséquent, HC s’obtient à partir de BH et AH, qui nous sont connus,<br />
et si AH = 1 alors HC = 1 : BH. Ce théorème est la proposition 8 du Livre VI<br />
d’Euclide (Euclide 1994: 176-179), il est déduit de la similarité des triangles<br />
ABH et CAH, car deux triangles semblables (qui ont leurs angles égaux) ont<br />
leurs côtés proportionnels. L’équerre articulée est une connaissance-en-action,<br />
celle du théorème de la hauteur du triangle rectangle. Sa genèse correspond à la<br />
fois à un processus d’instrumentation, car le schème correspond à une forme<br />
plus complexe que celle des triangles emboîtés, et à un processus<br />
d’instrumentalisation puisque l’usage de l’instrument est amélioré. Le nouveau<br />
schème est une connaissance géométrique qui pourra intervenir dans d’autres<br />
instruments. Rabardel écrit à ce propos que “L’instrument est un moyen de<br />
capitalisation de l’expérience accumulée (cristallisée disent même certains<br />
auteurs). En ce sens, tout instrument est connaissance” (Rabardel 1995: 73).<br />
Figure 12 . Le théorème de la hauteur d’un triangle rectangle<br />
Nous trouvons dans l’histoire de la géométrie, qu’on appelle pratique et que<br />
nous préférons nommer instrumentale, de nombreux instruments de visée pour<br />
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trouver des distances inaccessibles. Ils forment un monde d’individus liés les<br />
uns aux autres, dont l’exploration est bien préférable pour l’enseignement, à<br />
l’utilisation d’un seul d’entre eux. En effet, la dynamique instrumentale peut<br />
introduire un ordre des connaissances qui constituera un apprentissage<br />
dynamique de la déduction mathématique. Nous reprenons en ce sens ce que<br />
Simondon formule pour la réalisation technique: elle “donne la connaissance<br />
scientifique qui lui sert de principe de fonctionnement sous une forme<br />
d’intuition dynamique appréhensible par un enfant même jeune, et susceptible<br />
d’être de mieux en mieux élucidée, doublée par une compréhension discursive”<br />
(Simondon 1969: 109).<br />
4. DYNAMIQUE INSTRUMENTALE ET CONSTRUCTIONS DE<br />
CONNAISSANCES<br />
Depuis la géométrie grecque, la règle et le compas sont les outils de<br />
construction des figures par excellence. Cependant, en conformité avec<br />
l’héritage aristotélicien qui sépare la poïétique de la théorétique, Euclide ne<br />
mentionne pas ces outils, ni aucun autre, mais son ouvrage contient de<br />
nombreuses constructions de figures qui sont obtenues par intersections de<br />
droites et cercles, au point qu’il peut être lu comme un ouvrage de<br />
constructions tout autant que de théorèmes. Les Éléments répondent aux<br />
préceptes aristotéliciens d’une science démonstrative, c’est-à-dire dans laquelle<br />
chaque proposition est déduite soit d’un axiome (demande ou notion<br />
commune), soit de propositions précédemment démontrées. Les premières<br />
demandes sont “de mener une ligne droite de tout point à tout point” et “de<br />
décrire un cercle à partir de tout centre et au moyen de tout intervalle” (Euclide<br />
1994: 167-169). Les historiens ont discuté sur le rôle existentiel de ces demandes,<br />
mais, de toute façon, mener une droite et décrire un cercle sont deux opérations<br />
de base pour effectuer une construction concrète à l’aide d’outils de figures sur<br />
lesquelles le géomètre spécule et raisonne. Il apparaît dès lors difficile de bannir<br />
la considération de tout outillage dans l’interprétation des Éléments.<br />
Il y a deux sortes de propositions dans les Éléments, les constructions (ce que<br />
les Anciens appellent les problèmes) et les théorèmes. L’intrication entre les<br />
deux sortes de propositions est forte et déterminée puisqu’un théorème sur une<br />
figure ne peut pas être démontré sans que celle-ci et les lignes nécessaires à la<br />
démonstration soient construites à la règle et au compas. Il est nécessaire aussi<br />
que toute construction soit justifiée par des théorèmes démontrés<br />
précédemment. Quelle conception prévaut à cette nécessité? Nous pouvons lire<br />
une réponse dans le dialogue du Ménon de Platon qui permet de lier<br />
l’édification de la géométrie grecque à un échec, à une impossibilité de dire qui<br />
est compensée par une possibilité de montrer par une construction et par des<br />
gestes.<br />
Dans ce célèbre dialogue, Socrate expose à Ménon la théorie de la<br />
réminiscence et il fait venir un esclave pour montrer que, par de simples<br />
questions, il va conduire l’esclave à se ressouvenir. Il présente à l’esclave un<br />
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carré de côté deux et donc d’aire quatre, puis il lui demande s’il est possible de<br />
construire un carré d’aire double. Il continue en demandant quel serait le côté<br />
d’un carré d’aire huit: “essaie de me dire quelle serait la longueur de chaque<br />
ligne dans ce nouvel espace”. L’esclave essaie donc de dire: il dit d’abord<br />
quatre, puis trois. Les deux tentatives échouent. Socrate modifie alors sa<br />
demande: “taches de me le dire exactement, et si tu aimes mieux ne pas faire de<br />
calculs, montre la nous”. Il ne s’agit plus de dire un nombre mais de montrer une<br />
figure. Socrate construit étape par étape la figure, qui permet de montrer la<br />
droite demandée. Il accole quatre carrés égaux au carré de départ, puis trace<br />
dans chacun une diagonale (fig. 13). Les quatre diagonales délimitent le carré<br />
cherché. Ainsi ce qui n'est pas dit exactement est construit exactement à la règle<br />
et au compas. Socrate déplace l’objet de l’exactitude, du nombre à la figure.<br />
Figure 13. La construction géométrique de la duplication d’un carré<br />
4.1 Les compas<br />
La seconde demande d’Euclide, de décrire un cercle, peut être satisfaite avec<br />
une corde ou avec un ‘compas à balustre’ (avec un crayon et une pointe). Mais<br />
un compas peut servir aussi à reporter des longueurs de segments. Dans ce cas,<br />
un ‘compas à pointes sèches’ (sans crayon) est suffisant. L’opération de report<br />
est nécessaire en géométrie, elle intervient dès les premiers théorèmes sur les<br />
triangles. Aussi, dans la proposition 2 du Livre I, Euclide demande de placer en<br />
un point donné A, un segment égal à un segment donné BC (Euclide 1994: 197).<br />
Il donne les étapes de la construction: il faut joindre A et B, construire un<br />
triangle équilatéral DAB sur AB (la construction est donnée dans la proposition<br />
1), prolonger DA et DB, puis construire un cercle de centre B et de rayon BC et<br />
un cercle de centre D et de rayon DG (avec G intersection du cercle précédent<br />
avec le prolongement de DB) (fig. 15). Euclide démontre que l’intersection L de<br />
ce dernier cercle avec le prolongement de DA répond au problème car AL est<br />
égal à CB.<br />
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Figure 14. Le report géométrique d’un segment<br />
Le compas à balustre et le compas à pointes sèches sont deux outils<br />
ressemblants d’un point de vue matériel, mais leurs fonctions sont différentes,<br />
et la théorie montre comment l’une peut se ramener rationnellement à l’autre.<br />
Nous allons examiner deux autres compas que nous qualifions d’instruments,<br />
car chacun est une connaissance-en-action. Ils sont également ressemblants l’un<br />
à l’autre d’un point de vue matériel et d’un usage très ancien chez les artisans.<br />
On les retrouve décrits jusqu’à récemment, dans Le dictionnaire pratique de<br />
Menuiserie, Ébénisterie, Charpente de Justin Storck, édité au début du XXe siècle.<br />
Le ‘compas d'épaisseur’, joliment appelé ‘maître à danser’ à cause de sa<br />
forme suggestive, est composé de deux tiges égales, croisées et articulées autour<br />
de leur milieu. Il permet de mesurer le diamètre extérieur d'un cylindre ou d'un<br />
flacon en y introduisant la partie inférieure de l’instrument, les pieds du ‘maître<br />
à danser’ (fig. 15).<br />
Figure 15. Le compas d’épaisseur ou maître à danser<br />
Le problème est encore de trouver une longueur inaccessible à une mesure<br />
exacte. Puisque les segments OA, Oa, OB et Ob sont égaux, et que les angles au<br />
sommet O sont égaux, les deux triangles OAB et Oab sont égaux<br />
(superposables) donc en mesurant AB, nous obtenons ab. La connaissance en<br />
action présente dans la conception et le fonctionnement de l’instrument<br />
correspond à la proposition IV du Livre I des Éléments d’Euclide (premier cas<br />
d’égalité de deux triangles).<br />
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Le ‘compas de réduction est composé de deux tiges égales, croisées et<br />
articulées autour de leur intersection. La place de cette intersection est<br />
modifiable grâce à des fentes placées sur les deux tiges et une fixation (fig. 16).<br />
Ce compas permet d’obtenir une figure réduite d’une figure donnée, mais tout<br />
aussi bien agrandie. En effet, supposons par exemple que l’on veuille réduire<br />
une figure au tiers, il suffit de placer l’intersection O de telle sorte que aO et bO<br />
soient le tiers de OA et OB. Pour réduire au tiers un segment quelconque, il faut<br />
placer A et B à ses extrémités, alors a et b sont les extrémités du segment réduit.<br />
La conception et le fonctionnement du compas de réduction manifestent une<br />
connaissance-en-action, énoncée un peu plus haut. En effet, les triangles Oab et<br />
OAB sont semblables, donc leurs côtés sont proportionnels, par conséquent ab<br />
est le tiers de AB.<br />
Figure 16. Le compas de réduction.<br />
4.2 Échec instrumental et construction de connaissances<br />
Nous allons examiner deux problèmes qui illustrent l’expression de<br />
Simondon, “quand les techniques échouent la science est proche” (Simondon<br />
1969: 246), et qui fournissent d’autres exemples d’inventions d’instruments et<br />
de schèmes. Ils font partie des fameux problèmes à la règle et au compas que les<br />
géomètres grecs ne sont pas parvenus à résoudre, ce sont la duplication d’un<br />
cube et la trisection d’un angle. Dès la science grecque et durant des siècles, ils<br />
vont connaître de très nombreuses solutions instrumentales et géométriques<br />
(Barbin 2014: 87-146). Nous avons choisi de présenter des solutions anciennes<br />
ou élémentaires.<br />
Le problème de la duplication du cube consiste à construire le côté d’un<br />
cube ayant un volume qui est double d’un cube donné. Il peut être considéré<br />
comme une suite du problème de la duplication d’un carré, dont la solution est<br />
obtenue à la règle et au compas grâce à la figure du Ménon, puisqu’un carré est<br />
constructible. Selon Proclus, pour parvenir à la solution pour le cube, le<br />
mathématicien grec du Ve siècle avant J.-C. Hippocrate de Chios ramène le<br />
problème à un autre problème, celui de construire deux segments qui soient<br />
moyennes proportionnelles entre un segment et son double, ou plus largement<br />
entre deux segments quelconques. En écriture symbolique, nous cherchons à<br />
construire deux segments x et y tels que a : x :: x : y :: y : b. Les Commentaires<br />
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d'Eutocius d'Ascalon sur le traité de la sphère et du cylindre d’Archimède (Ve siècle)<br />
indiquent différentes solutions de géomètres grecs, des instruments mais aussi<br />
des constructions à l’aide des coniques, qui auraient été inventées à cet effet par<br />
Ménechme (IVe siècle avant J.-C.) (Archimède 1969: 551-718).<br />
Nous allons nous intéresser à l’instrument attribué à Platon en commençant<br />
par examiner si effectivement, comme l’écrit Ératosthène, pour Hippocrate<br />
“l’embarras fut changé en un autre et non moindre embarrass”. En effet, le<br />
problème proposé par Hippocrate est une suite de la construction d’une<br />
moyenne proportionnelle entre deux segments, qui s’effectue à la règle et au<br />
compas. Étant donnés deux segments BH et HC mis bout à bout, il suffit de<br />
construire à la règle et au compas le milieu de BC, le demi-cercle de diamètre<br />
BC et la hauteur en H à BC. Si A est l’intersection du demi-cercle et de la<br />
hauteur alors AH est la solution au problème (fig. 17 gauche). En effet, ceci<br />
résulte du théorème de la hauteur d’un triangle rectangle car le triangle ABC est<br />
inscrit dans un demi-cercle, donc il est rectangle. Cette solution indique que<br />
l’équerre est aussi un outil commode pour construire la moyenne<br />
proportionnelle à deux segments (fig. 17 droite): il suffit de placer le coin de<br />
l’équerre sur une perpendiculaire (construite avec l’équerre) en H à BC.<br />
L’équerre est un outil qui permet de mettre en action le théorème du triangle<br />
rectangle.<br />
Figure 17. La moyenne proportionnelle avec le compas et avec l’équerre<br />
Notons que la construction de la moyenne proportionnelle AH entre deux<br />
segments BH et HC est aussi celle du côté d’un carré de même aire que le<br />
rectangle de côtés BH et HC. Le théorème du triangle rectangle fournit donc la<br />
solution au problème de la quadrature d’un rectangle. Ce problème est une<br />
étape essentielle dans la quadrature d’un polygone établie par Euclide, il est<br />
donc légitime de rattacher le théorème du triangle rectangle et son invention à<br />
un problème de construction.<br />
L’instrument de Platon pour construire deux moyennes proportionnelles<br />
consiste en trois barres fixes, Hθ, HZ et Mθ. Les deux dernières barres sont<br />
munies de rainures, de sorte qu’une quatrième barre KΛ coulisse parallèlement<br />
à Hθ (fig. 18 gauche). Pour construire deux moyennes proportionnelles à deux<br />
segments AB et BC, on les dispose perpendiculairement l’un à l’autre (avec une<br />
équerre) et on les prolonge (avec une règle). Posons l’instrument de sorte que<br />
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l’angle θHZ soit sur le prolongement de AB et que Hθ passe par C, puis faisons<br />
coulisser KΛ de sorte qu’elle passe par A (fig. 18 droite). Alors nous avons:<br />
BA : BK :: BK : BH :: BH : BC.<br />
En effet, dans le triangle rectangle AKH nous avons BA : BK :: BK : BH, et<br />
dans le triangle rectangle KHC nous avons BK : BH :: BH : BC. L’instrument de<br />
Platon est le résultat d’un processus d’instrumentalisation car il améliore la<br />
simple équerre et il s’appuie sur le même schème, celui de la hauteur d’un<br />
triangle rectangle.<br />
Figure 18. L’instrument de Platon et son fonctionnement<br />
L’invention de l’instrument résulte d’une nouvelle considération du<br />
problème de la moyenne proportionnelle, il faut s’emparer du schème qui a<br />
réussi pour le compas tout en prenant en compte l’échec du compas au-delà.<br />
Nous pouvons alors regarder l’instrument de Platon comme deux équerres<br />
coordonnées qui permettent d’aller au-delà de la simple équerre. En effet, ce<br />
redoublement répond au redoublement de la moyenne proportionnelle<br />
nécessaire pour résoudre la duplication du cube. Le passage par les instruments<br />
constitue ainsi encore une entrée dynamique dans le raisonnement déductif.<br />
L’embarras dans lequel serait tombé Hippocrate est donc profitable, comme<br />
cela est souvent le cas en mathématiques. Auprès de Ménon, Socrate soutenait<br />
l’intérêt de l’embarras de l’esclave pour l’enseignement.<br />
Le problème de la construction à la règle et au compas de la trisection de<br />
l’angle (en trois angles égaux) est également la suite d’un problème qui est<br />
constructible, celui de la bissection d’un angle (en deux angles égaux). Tenant<br />
compte de l’expérience précédente, nous examinons le schème qui autorise la<br />
réussite dans ce cas. Diviser un angle en n parties égales est équivalent à diviser<br />
en n parties égales l’arc correspondant à cet angle quand il est inscrit au centre<br />
d’un cercle. Étant donné un angle de sommet A, traçons un arc de cercle de<br />
centre A qui coupe les côtés de l’angle en B et C, il faut diviser en deux l’arc BC.<br />
Pour cela, il suffit de construire le milieu M de la corde BC en construisant la<br />
médiatrice. Traçons à partir de B et C deux arcs de cercle égaux qui se coupent<br />
en D, alors AD est la médiatrice (fig. 19 gauche). Les deux triangles AMB et<br />
AMC sont égaux car leurs trois côtés sont égaux, donc les angles BAM et CAM<br />
sont égaux. Cette construction ne va pas au-delà de la division en deux parties<br />
égales. Si nous divisions en trois parties égales la corde BC, ce qui est possible à<br />
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la règle et au compas alors l’arc BC n’est pas divisé en trois parties égales (fig.<br />
19 droite).<br />
Figure 19. Division d’un angle et de la corde sous-tendue<br />
Nous allons examiner trois instruments de trisection dont l’invention prend<br />
en compte ce qui a produit la réussite pour la bissectrice mais aussi l’échec audelà.<br />
Les deux premiers sont des instruments d’artisans et le troisième est<br />
inventé par un mathématicien.<br />
Le ‘couteau de cordonnier’ est présenté dans la Géométrie appliquée à<br />
l’Industrie à l’usage des artistes et des ouvriers de Claude Lucien Bergery de 1828.<br />
D’après l’auteur, il était utilisé par les ouvriers messins. Le couteau est composé<br />
d’une règle BE, d’une équerre BCD et un demi-cercle de centre F et diamètre AB<br />
tels que BC est égal à BF. Pour obtenir la trisection d’un angle GHI, il suffit de<br />
poser le couteau sur l’angle, le demi-cercle étant tangent à l’un des côtés et C<br />
étant sur l’autre côté. En effet, les angles GHB, BHF et FHI sont égaux et donc<br />
valent le tiers de l’angle GHI (fig. 20).<br />
Menons HF et FI, l’angle FIH est droit. Les triangles CBH et FBH sont égaux,<br />
donc l’angle CHB est égal à l’angle BHF. Les triangles BFH et FIH sont égaux,<br />
donc l’angle BHF est égal à l’angle FHI. L’invention et le fonctionnement du<br />
couteau de cordonnier reprennent le schème primitif qui préside à la<br />
construction de la bissectrice d’un angle, à savoir l’égalité de deux triangles<br />
rectangles. L’invention du couteau contourne l’obstacle en mimant la situation<br />
des cordes égales et en introduisant un schème qui prolonge le précédent: celui<br />
qui est attaché à la configuration de trois triangles égaux.<br />
Figure 20. Le couteau du cordonnier<br />
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‘L’équerre du charpentier’ est présentée dans un article de Scudder intitulé<br />
“How to trisect an angle with a carpenter’s square”, paru en 1928 dans la revue<br />
American Mathematical Monthly. L’équerre est posée sur l’angle BOA, dont on<br />
cherche la trisection, de façon à tracer le long de la partie GH de l’équerre une<br />
parallèle au côté OA de l’angle. Sur l’équerre est marqué un point F tel que FH<br />
est égal à HK. L’équerre est ensuite posée sur l’angle de sorte à ce que le coin K<br />
de l’équerre soit sur la parallèle au point E, que le sommet O soit sur la partie<br />
GH de l’équerre et que le point F soit sur OB (fig. 21). Les points F, K et H sont<br />
marqués sur la figure. Traçons OH, OK et KF, la perpendiculaire à OA passant<br />
par K. Les trois angles FOH, HOK et KOF sont égaux car les trois triangles<br />
rectangles FOH, HOK et KOF sont égaux. Ainsi, bien que le couteau du<br />
cordonnier et l’équerre du charpentier soient deux instruments très<br />
dissemblables d’un point de vue matériel, la connaissance-en-action est la<br />
même.<br />
Figure 21. L’équerre du charpentier<br />
Un problème posé par James Watt pour améliorer le fonctionnement des<br />
machines à vapeur attire l’intérêt des mathématiciens pour ce qui sera appelé<br />
‘systèmes articulés’, c’est-à-dire un système de tiges articulées les unes aux<br />
autres. Tout au long du XIXe siècle, ils recherchent des systèmes particuliers<br />
pour tracer les courbes ou pour résoudre des problèmes de construction (Barbin<br />
2014: 137-139). Dans ce contexte, le mathématicien Charles-Ange Laisant<br />
introduit ‘un compas trisecteur’, qui fait l’objet d’un article d’Henri Brocard en<br />
1875 (Brocard 1875 : 47-48). L’instrument est composé de deux losanges<br />
articulés OABC et BEDC et d’une tige rigide OBD sur laquelle D peut glisser.<br />
Pour obtenir la trisection d’un angle il suffit de poser l’instrument sur l’angle de<br />
sorte que A et E soient sur ses côtés. Alors les angles EOB, BOC et COA sont<br />
égaux et l’angle AOE est coupé en trois parties égales. En effet, les diagonales<br />
d’un losange sont perpendiculaires, donc OD est la médiatrice de EC et les<br />
triangles EOB et BOC sont égaux. La diagonale OC divise aussi le losange<br />
OBCA en deux triangles BOC et COA égaux.<br />
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Figure 22. Le compas trisecteur de Laisant<br />
Les trois instruments de trisections activent des schèmes similaires, mais les<br />
deux premiers sont singuliers, ils ne sont pas susceptibles de résoudre d’autres<br />
problèmes, alors que le compas trisecteur appartient à une famille<br />
d’instruments qui peuvent se coordonner les uns aux autres, de s’enrichir par<br />
l’introduction d’autres schèmes, comme pour l’inverseur de Peaucellier qui<br />
permet de résoudre exactement le problème de Watt. Avec les systèmes<br />
articulés s’ouvre la construction de courbes.<br />
5. CONCLUSION: APPROCHE INSTRUMENTALE ET HISTORIQUE DE<br />
L’ENSEIGNEMENT<br />
Comme nous l’avons souligné à plusieurs endroits, l’invention et la genèse<br />
instrumentales permettent une entrée dynamique dans la déduction<br />
mathématique: elles définissent des schèmes opérants et elles construisent une<br />
suite ordonnée de schèmes. Le fonctionnement de l’instrument constitue une<br />
connaissance-en-action, susceptible d’être reprise ou prolongée avec l’emploi de<br />
nouveaux instruments ou l’intervention de nouveaux problèmes. Le processus<br />
d’instrumentation va souvent de pair avec le processus d’instrumentalisation,<br />
car ils correspondent tous les deux à des modifications de l’instrument. Comme<br />
l’écrit Séris pour la technique, la genèse instrumentale dépend d’une<br />
“aspiration à faire les choses autrement et mieux” (Séris 1994: 20-21). Nous<br />
rencontrons dans l’histoire deux dynamiques de la genèse instrumentale: pour<br />
un même problème, il faut inventer des instruments de plus en plus commodes,<br />
ou il faut chercher à résoudre des problèmes de plus en plus complexes. Dans<br />
l’enseignement, il semble donc nécessaire d’une part, d’introduire des<br />
instruments dont le fonctionnement est accessible et ainsi compréhensible et<br />
d’autre part, de considérer des familles d’instruments reliés les uns aux autres<br />
par des champs de problèmes et/ou des champs de schèmes. Ceci ne se<br />
restreint pas au domaine de la géométrie, qui fait l’objet unique de cet article.<br />
Examinons ces deux points dans le contexte de l’enseignement aujourd’hui.<br />
Nous avons noté que plus un instrument est porteur de nombreuses<br />
connaissances, plus son usage peut être commode et plus universel. Mais sa<br />
complexité peut alors devenir telle qu’il faille lui intégrer des mécanismes<br />
facilitant et régulant son usage. C’est ainsi que le fonctionnement de<br />
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l’instrument peut devenir en partie ou complètement caché. Nous en avons un<br />
exemple avec l’histoire et l’enseignement des instruments de calcul, car il est<br />
long le processus qui va du boulier à l’ordinateur (Chabert, Barbin et al. 1999).<br />
En présence d’un ordinateur, l’élève sait ce qui entre dans la machine et ce qui<br />
en sort, mais non ce qui s’y fait: il s’accomplit une opération à laquelle l’élève ne<br />
participe pas même s’il la commande.<br />
Ce qu’écrit Simondon de la situation du travailleur face à une machine peut<br />
être repris ici : “commander est encore rester extérieur à ce que l’on commande,<br />
lorsque le fait de commander consiste à déclencher selon un montage préétabli,<br />
fait pour ce déclenchement, prévu pour opérer ce déclenchement dans le<br />
schéma de construction de l’objet technique”. Pour lui, l’aliénation du<br />
travailleur, qui résulte de cette extériorité, réside dans la rupture qui se produit<br />
entre la genèse et l’existence de l’objet technique: “il faut que la genèse de<br />
l’objet technique fasse effectivement partie de son existence, et que la relation<br />
de l’homme à l’objet technique comporte cette attention à la genèse continue de<br />
l’objet technique” (Simondon 1969: 249-250). Cette attention à la genèse<br />
instrumentale est également nécessaire dans une approche instrumentale de<br />
l’enseignement, si nous voulons voir accomplir les effets que nous lui<br />
accordons. Elle invite à se tourner vers la genèse historique des instruments.<br />
Dans le même souci, la reprise du schéma de Trouche (fig.7) dans plusieurs<br />
écrits didactiques incite à relever que la genèse instrumentale ne peut pas se<br />
défaire du sujet connaissant, sous peine en effet d’aliénation. “Les objets<br />
techniques qui produisent le plus d’aliénation sont aussi ceux qui sont destinés<br />
à des utilisateurs ignorant” (Simondon 1969: 249-250).<br />
L’introduction de familles d’instruments plutôt que d’instruments<br />
hétéroclites et isolés est indispensable dans le cadre de l’enseignement de la<br />
géométrie, et plus largement des mathématiques d’aujourd’hui. En France,<br />
comme dans beaucoup de pays, l’enseignement de la géométrie est de plus en<br />
plus limité et éparpillé, dans le contexte d’un enseignement des mathématiques<br />
lui-même réduit et morcelé. Il ne s’agit plus tant de former les élèves et les<br />
étudiants, que de leur inculquer des savoirs et surtout de leur fournir des<br />
compétences. Il s’avère que plus ces enseignements sont amoindris de la sorte,<br />
plus ils perdent de leur légitimité sociale et de leur intérêt cognitif. L’approche<br />
instrumentale doit permettre de relier des connaissances et non pas favoriser<br />
encore un éparpillement de savoirs, qui placerait les élèves en face<br />
d’instruments dont le fonctionnement, non seulement n’est pas porteur de<br />
connaissance-en-action, mais leur échappe.<br />
RÉFÉRENCES<br />
Archimède (1960). Les œuvres complètes (Vol. II). Trad. P. Ver Eecke. Liège:<br />
Vaillant-Carmanne.<br />
Aristote (1991). Métaphysique. Trad. Tricot, J. Paris: Vrin.<br />
Barbin, É. (1994). L'invention des théorèmes et des instruments. In É. Hébert<br />
(Ed.), Instruments scientifiques à travers l'histoire (pp. 7-12) Paris: Ellipses.<br />
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Barbin, É. (2004). L’outil technique comme théorème en acte. In Ces instruments<br />
qui font la science (pp. 26-28). Paris: Sciences et avenir.<br />
Barbin, É. (2006). La révolution mathématique du xviie siècle. Paris: Ellipses.<br />
Barbin, É. (2014). Les constructions mathématiques avec des instruments et des<br />
gestes (Ed.). Paris: Ellipses.<br />
Barbin, É (2016). La Dioptre d’Héron d’Alexandrie: investigations pratiques et<br />
théoriques. In D. Bénard & G. Moussard (Ed.). Les mathématiques et le réel:<br />
expériences, instruments, investigations. Rennes : PUR.<br />
Brocard, H. (1875). Note sur un compas trisecteur proposé par M. Laisant.<br />
Bulletin de la SMF, 3, 47-48.<br />
Chabert, J.-L. & Barbin, É. et al. (1999). A history of Algorithms. From the<br />
Pebble to the Microchip. New-York: Springer.<br />
Euclide (1994). Les Éléments (Vol. 2). Trad. B. Vitrac. Paris: PUF.<br />
Fine, O. (1532). Protomathesis. Paris: Impensis Gerard Morrhij et Ioannis Petri.<br />
Rabardel, P. (1995). Les hommes et les technologies: approche cognitive des<br />
instruments contemporains. Paris: Armand Colin.<br />
Séris, J.-P. (1994). La technique. Paris: PUF.<br />
Simondon, G. (1969). Du mode d’existence des objets techniques. Paris: Aubier-<br />
Montaigne.<br />
Trouche, L. (2005). Des artefacts aux instruments, une approche pour guider et<br />
intégrer les usages des outils de calcul dans l’enseignement des<br />
mathématiques. Actes de l’université d’été de Saint-Flour (pp. 265-276).<br />
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY<br />
Évelyne Barbin is full professor of epistemology and history of sciences (University of<br />
Nantes). Her research concerns history of mathematics and relations between history<br />
and teaching. She works in the French IREMS where she organized thirty colloquia<br />
and summer universities and she edited many books. She had been chair of the HPM<br />
Group from 2008 to 2012.<br />
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UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
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PRIMARY SOURCES AND HISTORY-BASED PROBLEMS<br />
ABOUT ISOPERIMETRY: A USE OF MATHEMATICS HISTORY<br />
IN GRADE SIX 1<br />
Matthaios Anastasiadis<br />
Primary school teacher, MSc, University of Western Macedonia<br />
mat.anastasiadis@gmail.com<br />
Konstantinos Nikolantonakis<br />
Associate Professor, University of Western Macedonia<br />
knikolantonakis@uowm.gr<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
In this paper, we report on the use of one historical note and two primary sources, an<br />
extract from Pappus’ Collection and an extract from Polybius’ Histories, in the context of<br />
an instructional intervention focused on isoperimetric figures and area-perimeter<br />
relationships. The participants were 22 sixth graders, aged 11-12. The research findings<br />
we present here are based on classroom observations, on the worksheets used during<br />
the intervention and on personal interviews with the students. During the intervention,<br />
the students solved problems, which were based on the sources. Twenty-one of the 22<br />
students considered the problem which was based on Pappus’ text to be more<br />
interesting than the problems that they were usually asked to solve in mathematics. In<br />
addition, the students’ ratings of the texts indicate that the extract from Pappus was<br />
the text that they liked most. We also examine the various ways through which the<br />
particular use of mathematics history affected the development of the students’<br />
personal Geometrical Working Spaces.<br />
Keywords: History of mathematics, Primary sources, Isoperimetric figures, Area,<br />
Geometrical Working Space<br />
1. INTRODUCTION<br />
This paper presents some findings from a larger research study linking the<br />
use of historical sources in mathematics education with the Geometrical<br />
Working Spaces theoretical framework (Kuzniak 2006), in the context of an<br />
instructional intervention focused on isoperimetric figures and area-perimeter<br />
relationships. In the paper, we focus on how the sources were used and we<br />
discuss the students’ views both on their learning and on the use of the<br />
particular historical sources, and the various ways through which the particular<br />
use of mathematics history affected the development of the students’ personal<br />
Geometrical Working Spaces.<br />
1 A Greek version of this paper has been published in: Kourkoulos, M., & Tzanakis, C. (guest Eds.). (2014).<br />
History of Mathematics and Mathematics Education. Education Sciences. Special Issue 2014. Rethymno,<br />
Greece: Department of Primary Education, University of Crete.<br />
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1.1. History of mathematics and mathematics education<br />
Regarding the use of mathematics history, on the one hand, there are<br />
theoretical objections and practical difficulties. For example, it has been argued<br />
that students often dislike history and that the history of mathematics could<br />
confuse students (Jankvist 2009, Tzanakis et al. 2000). Practical difficulties<br />
include the lack of teaching time and material and the teachers’ lack of<br />
expertise. Moreover, the use of mathematics history could not be easily<br />
assessed, so it would not attract students’ attention.<br />
On the other hand, it has been argued that mathematics history can motivate<br />
students and contribute to the teaching of specific mathematical content<br />
(Jankvist 2009, Tzanakis et al. 2000). Moreover, learning about the difficulties,<br />
errors and misconceptions that arose in the history of mathematics could be<br />
beneficial to students in terms of emotions, beliefs and attitudes; on the other<br />
hand, this kind of knowledge helps teachers to anticipate students’ possible<br />
difficulties and to develop or adapt history-based problems and other<br />
instructional material that could help students overcome these difficulties. Also,<br />
mathematics history shows the role of individuals and the role of different<br />
cultures in the evolution of mathematics and indicates that mathematical<br />
concepts were developed as tools for organizing the world. Finally,<br />
mathematics history enables the connection between mathematics and other<br />
subjects.<br />
Concerning the relationship between students’ difficulties and the<br />
difficulties encountered in mathematics history, there are different approaches.<br />
Through the concept of epistemological obstacle, Brousseau (2002) emphasized<br />
the role of a piece of prior knowledge, which, depending on its structure, has<br />
particular advantages but also leads to particular errors. Contrarily, Furinghetti<br />
and Radford (2008) emphasized the role of culture and argued that school<br />
prepares the unpacking of a tradition established over centuries. Finally,<br />
according to the conceptual change framework, children’s initial theories can<br />
emerge through the children’s interaction with the physical environment and<br />
with the cultural tools (Vosniadou & Vamvakoussi 2006). Thus, similarities<br />
between children’s difficulties and the difficulties encountered in history could<br />
possibly be related to the use of similar cultural tools or to children’s perception<br />
of the environment; this seems to be particularly interesting in the case of<br />
elementary geometry, considered as the science of space (Kuzniak 2006).<br />
As regards the ways of using mathematics history, the most common way is<br />
the use of historical notes, i.e. texts that are written for teaching purposes and<br />
may include names, dates, biographies, anecdotes and stories (Jankvist 2009;<br />
Tzanakis et al. 2000). Worksheets, historical problems, and primary and<br />
secondary sources are also forms of using history. The various history uses can<br />
also be combined for designing teaching and learning sequences (packages) and<br />
projects, which may be short or more extensive and more or less relevant to the<br />
curriculum.<br />
The use of primary sources is both demanding and time-consuming, and it<br />
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is often difficult to assess the results (Jahnke et al. 2000). The teacher may need<br />
to translate or modify the text, but such adaptations should not deviate far from<br />
the original text. A primary source may be introduced directly (without prior<br />
preparation) or indirectly, e.g. after problem solving. In short, there is not only<br />
one teaching strategy for the use of primary sources; therefore, the most<br />
appropriate strategy should be chosen.<br />
1.2. Area-perimeter relationships in ancient Greek mathematics<br />
There is sufficient evidence to suggest that area-perimeter relationships have<br />
caused difficulties in the past. For example, Polybius from Megalopolis (2 nd c.<br />
BC), in the ninth book of his treatise Histories, argued that army generals should<br />
have knowledge of astronomy and geometry, and to support his claim, he<br />
wrote: “Most people infer the size of the aforementioned [cities and camps]<br />
only from the perimeter. (....) The reason of this is that we do not remember the<br />
geometry lessons we were taught in our childhood” (Hist. 9.26a.1-4, Büttner-<br />
Wobst ed.). 2 Furthermore, he gave two examples: the first concerns the<br />
comparison between Sparta and Megalopolis, while the second concerns a<br />
hypothetical town or camp which has a perimeter of 40 stadia but is twice as<br />
large as another with a perimeter of 100 stadia.<br />
According to Walbank (1967), ‘the size’ is the area of each city. Moreover,<br />
the first example is of particular historical interest, since the comparison seems<br />
not to be confirmed in the case of area, at least with the existing archaeological<br />
findings. On the contrary, the second example refers to an extreme case and is<br />
mostly of mathematical interest. In any case, Polybius’ reference to geometry is<br />
a characteristic example of the way that ancient writers used mathematics to<br />
present their accounts as superior in terms of accuracy and reliability (Cuomo<br />
2001).<br />
Polybius’ reference to ‘geometry lessons’ shows that area-perimeter<br />
relationships had already been an object of study for mathematicians. In the<br />
Elements, Euclid had already proved that parallelograms on the same base or on<br />
equal bases, and between the same parallels are equal to one another and then<br />
he proved the same for triangles (Ι.35-38). These theorems imply that the length<br />
of the contour of a parallelogram or triangle does not determine the extent of its<br />
surface; this is why, according to Proclus, these theorems caused astonishment<br />
to non-experts (Heath 1921).<br />
Isoperimetry was also the object of Zenodorus’ work (probably 2 nd c. BC).<br />
His treatise on isoperimetric figures has not survived; however, on the basis of<br />
what Theon wrote later, Zenodorus proved that of all regular polygons with<br />
equal perimeter, the largest is the one having the greatest number of angles,<br />
and that if a circle and a regular polygon have equal perimeter, then the circle is<br />
larger (Cooke 2005, Heath 1921). Furthermore, he showed that of all<br />
2 Book 9 survives in fragments, and there have been different views concerning the order of the fragments. In<br />
οther editions or translations, this passage is part of 9.21. In Büttner-Wobst’s edition it is a part of 9.26a, and<br />
Walbank (1967) considered this order to be more coherent.<br />
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isoperimetric polygons with the same number of angles, the largest is the<br />
equilateral and equiangular, but he partially based his proof on a lemma that<br />
had not been proved in a general way.<br />
Isoperimetry is also the topic of Book V of Pappus’ Mathematical Collection<br />
(4 th c. AD). The first part of the book concerns plane figures and begins with an<br />
introduction, which is characterized of literary merit (Cooke 2005, Heath 1921)<br />
and stimulates the interest of the reader; its topic is the hexagonal shape of the<br />
cells of honeycombs. Pappus’ explanation of the shape is teleological, as he<br />
claimed that bees choose this shape on purpose. At the end of the introduction,<br />
Pappus formulated a mathematical problem:<br />
Bees then know only what is useful to them. That is, that the hexagon is greater<br />
than the square and the triangle, and can hold more honey, for the same<br />
expenditure of material for the construction of each one. We, however, claiming<br />
to have a greater share of wisdom than bees, will investigate something greater.<br />
That is, that of all equilateral and equiangular plane figures having equal<br />
perimeter, the one which has the greatest number of angles is always greater.<br />
And the greatest of all is the circle, whenever it has perimeter equal to them.<br />
(Mathematical Collection V.3, Hultsch ed.)<br />
According to Cuomo (2000), Book V was probably situated in the context of<br />
rivalries for the appropriation of tradition, for the acquisition of reputation and<br />
for the gaining of new pupils. Bees were frequently used as an example by<br />
philosophers too; for Pappus, the difference between bees and humans is that<br />
bees have limited, useful and intuitive knowledge, whereas humans are both<br />
capable of and interested in proving. Thus, the introduction points out to the<br />
need for proving the isoperimetric theorems. The proof process, which follows,<br />
is situated in the context of the Euclidean tradition. Furthermore, although<br />
there is no reference to Zenodorus, it seems that Pappus followed Zenodorus’<br />
work, especially in the case of plane figures, but also added his own<br />
propositions and proofs (Heath 1921).<br />
Pappus’ introduction about bees is also related to the problem which was<br />
later known as the honeycomb conjecture. According to the conjecture, which<br />
has been proved more thoroughly by Hales (2001), “any partition of the plane<br />
into regions of equal area has perimeter at least that of the regular hexagonal<br />
honeycomb tiling” (p. 1).<br />
1.3. Theoretical framework for designing the intervention<br />
Work with isoperimetric figures, that is geometric figures with equal<br />
perimeters, involves the concepts of perimeter and area and their relation.<br />
Regarding these concepts, prior research (Douady & Perrin-Glorian 1989,<br />
Moreira-Baltar & Comiti 1994, Vighi 2010, Woodward & Byrd 1983, Zacharos<br />
2006) has shown that students often use formulas at the expense of other<br />
strategies, make errors when applying them and do not understand the result,<br />
and confuse area and perimeter; they also believe that a smaller/equal/greater<br />
perimeter implies a smaller/equal/greater area respectively, and vice versa,<br />
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and this misconception often reappears after instruction. Furthermore, the<br />
difficulties related to area-perimeter relationships are observed even in<br />
secondary school students and adults (Kellogg 2010, Woodward & Byrd 1983).<br />
Regarding the concept of area, it has been argued that students need to<br />
understand that area is an attribute (Van de Walle & Lovin 2006). The following<br />
strategies have been recommended: a) area measurement with the use of twodimensional<br />
units, b) comparison of areas of different figures, c) superposition<br />
of a surface onto another and reconfiguration of one of the surfaces, and d)<br />
examination of area-perimeter relationships (Douady & Perrin-Glorian 1989,<br />
Nunes, Light, & Mason 1993, Van de Walle & Lovin 2006, Zacharos 2006). It is<br />
also worth noting that in the USA the examination of area-perimeter<br />
relationships is recommended for Grade 3 or above (Common Core State<br />
Standards Initiative 2010, Georgia Department of Education 2014, North<br />
Carolina Department of Public Instruction 2012, Van de Walle & Lovin 2006).<br />
In this research study the concepts of area and perimeter were examined<br />
from the standpoint of geometry, so we used the Geometric Working Spaces<br />
theoretical framework (Kuzniak 2006, 2015). A Geometric Working Space<br />
(GWS) is a space organized in a way that makes it possible for the user of the<br />
space (mathematician or student) to solve a geometric problem. Therefore,<br />
problems are the reason of existence of GWSs. The framework distinguishes<br />
three levels: a) the reference GWS, which is determined by a particular<br />
community of mathematicians or, in education, by the curriculum, b) the<br />
appropriate GWS, which is designed by a teacher for a particular class, and c)<br />
the personal GWS, which is developed by the final user, in our case each<br />
student. In addition, there are three paradigms. Here, we are mainly interested<br />
in Geometry I (GI), wherein experimentation is dominant, and practical proofs,<br />
measurement, the use of numbers and approximate answers are allowed, and<br />
in Geometry II (GII), whose archetype is the classical Euclidean geometry.<br />
The GWS’s epistemological plane includes three components: a) a real space<br />
with its geometric objects, b) a set of artifacts, and c) a theoretical frame of<br />
reference with the definitions and the properties of the objects (Kuzniak 2015).<br />
A second and cognitive plane includes three kinds of processes: visualization,<br />
construction and proof. Visualization includes the reconfiguration of figures,<br />
which may be performed materially or with the use of reorganizing lines or<br />
only by looking (Duval 2005).<br />
Concerning students’ misconceptions, Brousseau (2002) has argued that<br />
overcoming an obstacle requires the involvement of students in solving selected<br />
problems, through which they will realize the ineffectiveness of a piece of<br />
knowledge or conception. He noted, however, that problems should be chosen<br />
in a way that students are motivated and, subsequently, act, discuss and think<br />
so as to solve them. Another strategy which can help students change their<br />
ideas is the use of refutation texts (Tippett 2010), i.e. texts which refer to a<br />
prevalent alternative idea, stressing that it is incorrect. For the use of these texts,<br />
a combination with discussions and other activities is recommended, because<br />
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changing ideas is difficult and no text alone is sufficient to achieve this with all<br />
students. Finally, it is recommended that teaching should close with a<br />
metacognitive phase, during which “the teacher asks the students to describe<br />
their old and their new knowledge and to realize its differences” (Kariotoglou,<br />
2006: 36).<br />
We referred above to the role of students’ motivation in solving problems<br />
and we noted that motivation is a usual goal when using the history of<br />
mathematics. Besides, from the viewpoint of motivational psychology, Pintrich<br />
and Schunk (2002) have recommended, among others, the use of original source<br />
material. Regarding the features of the texts that stimulate interest, Schraw,<br />
Bruning and Svoboda (1995) highlighted the role of vividness and of ease of<br />
comprehension. Moreover, prior research has found that students and teachers<br />
argued that when a text is read aloud by the teacher, it becomes more<br />
interesting, and comprehension becomes easier (Ariail & Albright 2006, Ivey &<br />
Broaddus 2001). Other factors that could stimulate interest are: novelty, group<br />
work, hands-on activities, some themes related to nature, meaningfulness and<br />
the balance between the degree of challenge and the level of knowledge and<br />
skill of a person (Bergin 1999, Mitchell 1993, Pintrich & Schunk 2002).<br />
2. METHOD<br />
As already mentioned, this paper presents some findings from a larger<br />
research study. In the paper, we focus on two questions:<br />
1. In what ways was the particular use of mathematics history related to the<br />
development of the students’ personal Geometrical Working Spaces?<br />
2. What were the students’ views both on the particular use of mathematics<br />
history and on their learning?<br />
The research was conducted in Thessaloniki, Greece, and the participants<br />
were 22 sixth graders, aged 11-12. The findings we present here are based on<br />
classroom observations, worksheets and personal interviews with the students.<br />
The instructional intervention was implemented by the first researcher in the<br />
regular classroom of the students. An exception was the class period allotted to<br />
the solution of the main mathematical problem, for which we decided not to<br />
have the groups of students work simultaneously in the regular classroom but<br />
to have each group work for one class period in another classroom of the<br />
school. This was decided in order to enable the observation of the students’<br />
work and of the difficulties they faced. Thus, the whole intervention consisted<br />
of six class periods in the regular classroom and one class period for each group<br />
in another classroom.<br />
The whole research project also included personal interviews with the<br />
students before and after the intervention. In this paper, we focus on the<br />
interviews conducted after the intervention and, in particular, on the questions<br />
asking the students to provide some further explanation concerning their views<br />
on the particular use of mathematics history.<br />
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2.1. Design of the appropriate GWS<br />
The intervention was implemented prior to the teaching of the geometry<br />
unit, because the textbook’s emphasis on formulas and the learning of area<br />
formulas for general triangles and trapezoids would affect the students’<br />
personal GWSs, favouring the use of formulas at the expense of other strategies.<br />
Concerning mathematics history, we selected two primary sources: the first<br />
was the introduction to the first part of Book V of Pappus’ Mathematical<br />
Collection (V.1-3) and the second was an extract from Polybius’ Histories<br />
(9.26a.1-6). In addition, we decided to use a historical note entitled Geometry<br />
and included in the sixth grade textbook (Kassoti, Kliapis, & Oikonomou 2006:<br />
136).<br />
Since primary school students do not know ancient Greek, the sources were<br />
presented in translation. During the translation, we used words and phrases as<br />
close as possible to the original texts, while in some cases we used shorter<br />
sentences, so that the translated texts were both suitable for the students and<br />
close to the original (Jahnke et al. 2000). Furthermore, on the basis of the<br />
objectives of the intervention, we did not include in the extract from Pappus the<br />
vocative address “most excellent Megethion” (Mathematical Collection V.1), the<br />
closing of the introduction including the reference to the circle (V.3), and the<br />
detailed verbal proof of the fact that only three regular figures can completely<br />
cover a surface without gaps or overlaps (V.2).<br />
The extract from Pappus, as a historical source, was not introduced directly,<br />
but after the use of the historical note. More specifically, work with the<br />
historical note included reading it, discussing briefly about the origin and<br />
development of geometry and providing additional information about Pappus’<br />
life and his historical period. As regards Pappus’ text, a different approach was<br />
selected: formulation of questions by the teacher, followed by a teacher readaloud<br />
of the text, and discussion based on the initial questions. Then, the<br />
teaching plan included providing the students with a copy of the extract and<br />
asking them to underline words and phrases related to mathematics. The goal<br />
was to provide or help the students activate the definitions and geometric<br />
properties needed for developing their GWSs, namely definitions of polygon,<br />
regular polygon, equilateral triangle, square and regular hexagon, and<br />
definitions of perimeter and area; also which regular figures completely cover a<br />
surface without gaps or overlaps, which figures are called isoperimetric and<br />
how demonstration is related to mathematics.<br />
Work with the text was followed by the formulation of a geometric problem<br />
asking the students to examine if Pappus was right in stating that a cell having<br />
the shape of a regular hexagon holds more honey than other figures suitable for<br />
tessellation. The students were asked to solve the problem in groups and with<br />
different methods:<br />
1. Direct area comparison: superposition of a surface onto another and<br />
reconfiguration of one of the surfaces.<br />
2. Indirect area comparison: tiling of equal surfaces (inverse proportion: the<br />
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shape which is used fewer times for the tiling of equal surfaces is<br />
greater).<br />
3. Area measurement with the use of a transparent grid (square-counting).<br />
4. Area calculation with the use of formulas.<br />
The objects of the real space were regular polygons with three, four and six<br />
angles, and irregular polygons (elongated rectangles), in a material form<br />
(cardboard), in order to facilitate the reconfiguration of the shapes. Since the<br />
length of the sides was not given, the students needed to measure the sides, so<br />
as to calculate the perimeter of each shape, and then they were asked to apply<br />
the proposed method of area comparison (GI). The tools selected to be available<br />
(where appropriate, depending on the method) were: triangle ruler, scissors,<br />
glue, adhesive tape, transparency film with a square grid printed on it, marker<br />
pen, pencil, rubber eraser and calculator. In addition, we prepared one<br />
worksheet for each group, aiming, firstly, to provide through a set of questions<br />
particular steps for solving the problem and, secondly, to help students present<br />
their findings in the classroom.<br />
The institutionalization of the new properties was followed by the use of the<br />
extract from Polybius. Work with the second source included a discussion<br />
about area-perimeter relationships, and two other activities. The first one asked<br />
what the shape and the dimensions of two cities could be, if the one had a<br />
perimeter of 40 stadia but twice the area of the other having a perimeter of 100<br />
stadia. The second activity was called ‘Neighborhoods of Thessaloniki’ and<br />
involved eight isoperimetric figures, which represented neighborhoods<br />
(Appendix, Fig. 1).<br />
More specifically, each pair of students was given two figures, which were<br />
printed on a sheet of paper, along with the length of each side in metres. The<br />
students were asked to calculate the perimeter of each figure and to deduce,<br />
without calculation, if an area was smaller than, equal to, or larger than the<br />
other and why.<br />
Regarding perimeter, the students needed only to add the given lengths and<br />
realize that the figures were isoperimetric. Regarding area, they had to develop<br />
the theoretical pole of their GWS (GII), applying the institutionalized<br />
conclusions which were based on the honeycomb problem. Then, each pair of<br />
students was asked to present their answer and check its correctness by<br />
performing measurements (GI) via a computer connected to a projector and<br />
with the use of a Geogebra applet designed for the activity. In the applet, a map<br />
of Thessaloniki was inserted as a background and the eight figures were on the<br />
same scale as the map. Finally, the students were asked to put all the figures on<br />
a board from the smallest to the largest in area, noting that eight different<br />
figures had equal perimeter but different area, that the largest in area was the<br />
regular figure having the greatest number of angles, and that the smallest was<br />
the most elongated figure.<br />
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3. RESULTS<br />
3.1. Implementation of the appropriate GWS and students’ difficulties<br />
Regarding the extract from Pappus, we noticed two interrelated behaviours.<br />
First, when students were asked to find in the text words and phrases related to<br />
mathematics, none of them mentioned the word ‘proof’. Secondly, after<br />
working with the text, several students seemed convinced that Pappus was<br />
right and they agreed a priori that the hexagon will be larger.<br />
In the honeycomb problem, all groups correctly arranged the figures in<br />
increasing order of area. The main difficulties they faced while solving the<br />
problem were the following:<br />
Superposition-reconfiguration: the relatively most difficult comparison<br />
was between the hexagon and the square (Appendix, Fig. 2). Overall,<br />
however, this method was the easiest.<br />
Tiling of equal surfaces: the students understood the rationale of the<br />
method when the teacher provided the hypothetical example of two<br />
identical rooms with different tiles. When counting the number of shapes<br />
used, we noticed more difficulties in the case of the hexagon, since there<br />
were parts that were smaller or greater than half the hexagon (Appendix,<br />
Fig. 3), and the students had to recompose these parts by looking (Duval<br />
2005).<br />
Square-counting: at first, the students did not remember that in previous<br />
grades, to find the area of a figure, they counted squares, in grids which<br />
were either pre-drawn on the pages of the textbooks or designed by the<br />
students. In addition, they had to find an operational way to use the<br />
transparent grid, which was new to them as a tool. The most difficult<br />
point was the counting of small squares in the case of the hexagon<br />
(Appendix, Fig. 4); an advanced solution was given later and involved<br />
the reconfiguration of the entire hexagon, in a way that two rectangles<br />
were formed.<br />
Calculation: certain shapes needed to be reconfigured so as to form<br />
shapes whose area could be calculated with the already taught formulas<br />
(Appendix, Fig. 5). There were difficulties regarding the choice of the<br />
appropriate formula, the reconfiguration of the hexagon, and the<br />
calculation which was required when a shape had been reconfigured not<br />
with the use of scissors, but via folding.<br />
Furthermore, some students from different groups showed area-perimeter<br />
confusion. Another obstacle for the students was the usual didactic contract,<br />
since in Greek upper elementary education hands-on activities with figures<br />
presented in a material form are, in practical terms, almost absent. Thus, some<br />
students felt the need to ask for permission to use the scissors and to fold or cut<br />
the shapes, although they had been told that they could work as they wanted,<br />
using whatever tool available they wanted.<br />
Concerning the extract from Polybius, in the discussion which followed, the<br />
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students concluded, “that a region can have greater perimeter but smaller area<br />
[as compared with another region], or smaller perimeter but greater area”<br />
(student Q) and that “if a region is greater, it’s not perimeter that matters, it is<br />
area that matters” (student Z). As regards the activity ‘Neighborhoods of<br />
Thessaloniki’, an indicative example is the response of the students who<br />
compared the rectangle with the square: “The square is greater, because they<br />
have equal perimeter and those [figures] that are regular are greater”. Likewise,<br />
in comparing the regular pentagon with the equilateral triangle, the following<br />
answer was given: “They are regular and isoperimetric the one to the other.<br />
Although they have the same perimeter, the pentagon has more angles than the<br />
triangle, thus we assumed that the pentagon is greater”. On the other hand,<br />
there was a student who calculated the perimeters incorrectly and another<br />
student who was initially willing to work within GI, by reconfiguring the<br />
figures and calculating with formulas, but this was difficult, since the figures<br />
were in fact scaled representations.<br />
3.2. Students’ self-references regarding their learning<br />
In the last worksheet used during the intervention there were several<br />
questions aiming to help the students reflect on their learning. These were not<br />
answered by all students, and there were also some non-specific answers. The<br />
rest of the answers referred:<br />
To area-perimeter relationships. For example, student Y wrote that an<br />
idea which she changed was that “those figures which have the same<br />
perimeter always have the same area too”, while her new idea was that<br />
“area and perimeter are not related”. Also, student D wrote that<br />
something which surprised him was that “small and large figures have<br />
the same perimeter”.<br />
To ideas or processes associated with experimentation. For example,<br />
student I wrote that an idea which she changed was that “to find<br />
perimeter I believed that I should do side ∙ side”, but “I discovered that<br />
we do side + side + side + side...”. Furthermore, student H wrote that<br />
something he learnt is “that I can find which figure has the biggest area<br />
without calculating it”, thus showing the dominance of calculation with<br />
formulas in the students’ past experiences. Likewise, student X reported<br />
that something which surprised him is “that there are so many different<br />
methods to measure which figure is bigger”.<br />
To bees and to the shape of the honeycomb cells, as something that<br />
caused surprise.<br />
To the students’ attitude towards geometry. In particular, student Z said<br />
that, previously, she did not love geometry, whereas after these lessons<br />
she liked it somewhat more, because she understood them. Similarly,<br />
student Y wrote that something that surprised her is that “I believed that<br />
geometry was difficult, confusing and incomprehensible, but after these<br />
lessons I found that it is easier”.<br />
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In addition, the students were asked to write something they found difficult.<br />
Two students mentioned the honeycomb problem, one student mentioned the<br />
method of tiling and two others mentioned the method of square-counting, four<br />
students wrote that they found it difficult to find the area of the hexagon or of<br />
the triangle, and one student referred to the fact that “There are figures with<br />
equal perimeter”. Finally, several students wrote that they did not find<br />
anything difficult or they did not write anything.<br />
3.3. Students’ assessment of the sources and of the problem<br />
In the same worksheet, the students were also asked how much they liked<br />
each of the texts used in the lessons. The students could rate each text on a 5-<br />
point scale ranging from 1 (the least) to 5 (the maximum). Regarding the<br />
historical note, the mean score was 3.45 (SD = .91, N = 22), whereas in the case<br />
of the extract from Pappus the mean score was 4.36 (SD = .66, N = 22). Finally,<br />
regarding the extract from Polybius, the mean score was 3.85 (SD = 1.31, N =<br />
20); we note that two students were asked to rate only the two first texts, since<br />
they had been absent from school when the extract from Polybius had been<br />
taught.<br />
To determine whether there is a statistically significant difference as to how<br />
much the students liked the three texts, we excluded the two students who did<br />
not rate the third text (N = 20), and we used the Friedman test, which showed<br />
that the difference was significant (χ 2 = 6.818, df = 2, p = .033 < .05). As a posthoc<br />
test, we used the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test with Bonferroni correction<br />
(Corder & Foreman 2014), which showed that the difference was statistically<br />
significant in the comparison between the extract from Pappus and the<br />
historical note (Z = -2.857, p = .004 < .017), but not between the extract from<br />
Pappus and the extract from Polybius (Z = -1.543, p = .123) nor between the<br />
extract from Polybius and the historical note (Z = -.997, p = .319). We note that<br />
both the Friedman and the Wilcoxon test are non-parametric, but they are more<br />
appropriate for ratings and for small sample sizes (N
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A comparison of the self-reported degree of the problem’s difficulty with the<br />
method used by the students in solving it, shows that none of those who<br />
performed superposition-reconfiguration considered the problem to be more<br />
difficult. In contrast, three quarters of those who used square-counting<br />
considered the problem to be more difficult. Furthermore, a recoding of the<br />
responses (1: more difficult; 0: same degree of difficulty; -1: easier), shows that,<br />
on average, the students who performed superposition-reconfiguration or tiled<br />
equal surfaces considered the problem to be easier (average degree of difficulty<br />
-.5 and -.3 respectively), as compared with the students who used squarecounting<br />
and calculation with formulas (.5 and 0 respectively). It is also worth<br />
noting that five students who were generally weak in mathematics considered<br />
the problem to be easier than usual.<br />
In the interviews conducted after the intervention, the students were asked<br />
to explain the judgments they had made. For example, student T said:<br />
Answer: The problems we usually solve in the textbook are more difficult.<br />
Question: What is it that makes them more difficult?<br />
Answer: Hmm... when I do not understand, this seems difficult.<br />
Also, student A considered the problem to be easier, because “it didn’t need<br />
many calculations and the like”, and student C agreed also because “we were<br />
more students and we collaborated”. On the contrary, student P, for example,<br />
thought that the problem was more difficult, because “it was more<br />
complicated”, while student W, who had tiled equal surfaces, regarded the<br />
problem as more difficult, because “it puzzled you with the shapes, if it fits, if it<br />
leaves a gap, if you must... if you had to put something else”.<br />
Regarding interest, 12 students referred explicitly and clearly to nature,<br />
bees, honeycombs or to ancient Greeks and, more generally, to what constitutes<br />
the context of the problem, for example:<br />
“We learned many things about geometry, many ways to find the area<br />
and the perimeter of a shape, but we also learned about reality, why bees<br />
use this shape”. (student I)<br />
“You were curious to see it; it is about nature and... it is a mystery what<br />
bees do, whereas the textbook's problems are, let’s say, simpler”.<br />
(student Q)<br />
“I liked it with the example we did, that is with bees and honeycombs<br />
and the text saying... It was like a story that you had to solve”. (student<br />
M)<br />
On the other hand, student B explicitly linked difficulty with interest: “It<br />
was more difficult; it was interesting to solve”. There was also one mention of<br />
the fact that mathematicians worked on this problem and one answer saying<br />
that this way the students learned “how geometry was discovered” (student<br />
W), three mentions of the fact that the students worked in groups and two<br />
mentions of the fact that the problem was unusual; student X, for example, gave<br />
this characteristic answer: “I hadn’t done a problem like this before and this is<br />
why I liked it”.<br />
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4. DISCUSSION<br />
In the present research, we used the history of mathematics to achieve<br />
various goals, which were related to each other and to the development of the<br />
students' GWSs as well. In particular, the historical sources were the source of<br />
geometric problems and problems are the reason of existence of GWSs<br />
(Kuzniak 2015). In addition, the historical sources and the historical note served<br />
as a means of motivation and motivation constitutes an important tool for the<br />
active involvement of students in solving problems (Brousseau 2002). Since the<br />
three texts were assessed positively, it could be argued that they all helped to<br />
motivate the students. Thus, the argument that many students may be affected<br />
negatively because they dislike history (Jankvist 2009, Tzanakis et al. 2000) was<br />
not supported here.<br />
Pappus’ text was also used as a means of activating preexisting definitions<br />
and properties of the theoretical frame of reference (e.g. definition of perimeter)<br />
and of enriching it with new definitions and properties (e.g. definition of<br />
regular figure); these properties were necessary for the development of the<br />
students’ personal GWSs and the solution of the honeycomb problem.<br />
Additionally, the students made a first acquaintance with a new property<br />
concerning area-perimeter relationships. This property, however, was regarded<br />
by some students not as a proposition to be confirmed, but as established<br />
knowledge. This behaviour could be attributed to the usual didactic contract,<br />
according to which textbooks and, by extension, texts used in school, contain<br />
indisputable truths; it is also likely to reflect a broader conception according to<br />
which mathematical knowledge is generally unchanging over time (Schommer-<br />
Aikins 2002), and, therefore, a mathematician cannot be mistaken.<br />
As already mentioned, the historical sources were the source of geometric<br />
problems. Subsequently, the honeycomb problem constituted a means of<br />
enriching the students’ personal GWSs with new tools (transparent grid) as<br />
well as with experimentation methods which present area as an attribute and<br />
which had been used in previous grades but had been forgotten.<br />
Furthermore, mathematical problems are a means to overcome students’<br />
misconceptions (Brousseau 2002), and Polybius’ text seems to have contributed<br />
to this goal. This text is not a refutation text written for teaching purposes, but a<br />
historical source, with all its complexity. However, the reference to<br />
misconceptions related to area-perimeter relationships and the information that<br />
such mistakes were also made by important persons in history both acted as<br />
stimuli to the students and contributed to a climate of comfort for the students<br />
to reflect and talk about themselves. This is also related to the students’<br />
personal GWSs and, in particular, to their theoretical frame of reference.<br />
Here, however, we should take into account that changing ideas is difficult<br />
and no text alone is sufficient to achieve this with all students (Tippett 2010).<br />
This is also true for area-perimeter relationships, in which even secondary<br />
school students and adults have difficulties (Kellogg 2010, Woodward & Byrd<br />
1983). Besides, it has been observed that misconceptions concerning area-<br />
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perimeter relationships often reappear after instruction (Douady & Perrin-<br />
Glorian 1989, Kellogg 2010, Vighi 2010).<br />
Apart from these, it is interesting that two students spontaneously referred<br />
to their attitude towards geometry, although this was not the main goal of the<br />
intervention.<br />
Regarding the assessment of the historical texts, the students on average<br />
answered that they liked all three texts; most of all they liked the extract from<br />
Pappus, then the extract from Polybius and finally the historical note. The<br />
difference was statistically significant in comparing the extract from Pappus<br />
with the historical note. These findings have multiple interpretations:<br />
The ranking of the three texts reflects the time allotted to each one.<br />
However, if the students did not like the way that teaching time was<br />
used, then more allotted time would have probably led to a greater<br />
dislike of a text.<br />
The students’ greater preference for both primary sources is in<br />
accordance with the recommendation made by Pintrich & Schunk (2002)<br />
that original source material should be used. At the same time, this<br />
preference could be attributed to the fact that both primary sources were<br />
accompanied by a mathematical problem, whereas the historical note<br />
was not.<br />
The extract from Pappus was read aloud by the teacher, and this<br />
probably facilitated comprehension and made the text more vivid,<br />
thereby increasing the students’ interest (Ariail & Albright 2006, Ivey &<br />
Broaddus 2001, Schraw et al. 1995).<br />
Most of all, it seems that the students’ greater preference for the extract<br />
from Pappus is related to the theme and, generally, to the features of the<br />
text: regularity in nature, and the society of bees are two themes that had<br />
attracted the interest of philosophers and mathematicians since antiquity<br />
and were widely known (Cuomo 2000). Thus, we could say that these<br />
themes could be listed among those themes that are related to nature and<br />
are reported to stimulate interest (Bergin 1999). Besides, as student Q<br />
said: “it is about nature and... it is a mystery what bees do”. Apart from<br />
this, Pappus’ text was written as a literary introduction to his book with<br />
the aim of stimulating interest. And finally, the chosen extract does not<br />
contain names, and dates or numbers, unlike the other two texts.<br />
Regarding the degree of difficulty of the honeycomb problem as compared<br />
with the usual problems, the students’ opinions were not homogeneous:<br />
somewhat more students (11) considered the problem to be easier, whereas<br />
eight of the 22 said that it was more difficult. The students’ opinions were<br />
influenced, first, by the method with which each student worked. Second, it<br />
seems that the students who were generally weak in mathematics considered<br />
the problem to be easier than usual, taking into account the lack of calculations,<br />
the material form of the shapes, the availability of tools appropriate for work<br />
within GI and the fact that the students worked in groups. Thus, they were able<br />
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to participate and contribute to the solution, and it is indicative that in the<br />
group which used calculations with formulas the most difficult reconfiguration<br />
of the hexagon was performed by a student who was generally weak in<br />
mathematics. Furthermore, the (indirect) subdivision of the problem through<br />
the questions included in the accompanying worksheet is also likely to have<br />
helped those who face difficulties in organizing the problem solving process.<br />
On the other hand, 21 out of the 22 students considered the problem to be<br />
more interesting than the usual problems. This finding, combined with the<br />
answers regarding the degree of difficulty, suggests a sufficient balance<br />
between the requirements of the problem and the level of knowledge and skill<br />
of each student. As shown previously, a factor that contributed to this balance<br />
was the hands-on nature of the activity. In addition, the arguments of the<br />
students show that group work, the unusual nature of the problem and, most of<br />
all, the context of the problem also stimulated interest. All these factors have<br />
been reported in the related literature (Bergin 1999, Mitchell 1993, Pintrich &<br />
Schunk 2002) and may have influenced the students’ views both directly and<br />
indirectly. For example, group work affected the students not only directly, but<br />
also indirectly by facilitating the solution of the problem, thus intervening in<br />
the relationship between challenge and skill. Finally, the context of the problem<br />
was determined by Pappus’ text, and it seems that the combination of the<br />
problem with the text linked knowledge with the questions that gave birth to it<br />
and gave meaning to the activity.<br />
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Bergin, D. A. (1999). Influences on classroom interest. Educational Psychologist,<br />
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Brousseau, G. (2002). Theory of didactical situations in Mathematics (N.<br />
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Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2010). Common Core State Standards<br />
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Cooke, R. (2005). The history of mathematics: A brief course (2nd ed.).<br />
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.<br />
Corder, G. W., & Foreman, D. I. (2014). Nonparametric statistics. A step by step<br />
approach (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.<br />
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BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES<br />
Matthaios Anastasiadis has graduated from the Department of History and<br />
Archaeology (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and the Department of Primary<br />
Education (University of Western Macedonia). He has also received a master’s degree<br />
in didactics of science and mathematics (University of Western Macedonia). He<br />
currently works as a primary school teacher.<br />
Konstantinos Nikolantonakis is Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at the<br />
Department of Primary Education of the University of Western Macedonia. He has<br />
graduated from the Department of Mathematics of the Aristotle University of<br />
Thessaloniki. He received a master and a Ph.D. in Epistemology and History of<br />
Mathematics from the University of Denis Diderot (Paris-7). His research concerns the<br />
didactical use of the History of Mathematics, the History of Ancient Greek<br />
Mathematics, and the didactics of Arithmetic & Geometry.<br />
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APPENDIX<br />
Figure 1: The isoperimetric figures used in the activity « Neighborhoods of<br />
Thessaloniki ».<br />
Figure 2: Superposition-reconfiguration; comparison between the hexagon and the<br />
square.<br />
Figure 3: Tiling with regular hexagons.<br />
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Figure 4: Square-counting in the case of<br />
the regular hexagon.<br />
Figure 5: Reconfiguration of the<br />
equilateral triangle into a rectangle (4th<br />
method).<br />
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UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research<br />
51<br />
THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLACE VALUE CONCEPTS AND THE<br />
NOTION OF CARRIED NUMBER AMONG SIXTH GRADE<br />
STUDENTS VIA THE STUDY OF THE CHINESE ABACUS<br />
Vasiliki Tsiapou<br />
Primary School Teacher, Phd Student,<br />
University of Western Macedonia<br />
vana@semiphoto.com<br />
Konstantinos Nikolantonakis<br />
Associate Professor,<br />
University of Western Macedonia<br />
knikolantonakis@uowm.gr<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
The paper presents part of a research study that intended to use the history of<br />
mathematics for the development of place value concepts and the notion of carried<br />
number with sixth grade Greek students. In the given pre-tests students faced<br />
difficulties in solving place value tasks, such as regrouping quantities and multi-digit<br />
subtractions. Also, they vaguely explained the carried number, a notion which is<br />
structurally associated with calculations. We held an instructive intervention via a<br />
historical calculating tool, the Chinese abacus. In the post-tests students improved<br />
their scores and they often put forward expressions influenced by the abacus<br />
investigation. To a smaller extent we attempted to highlight the historical dimension<br />
of the subject.<br />
Keywords: historical instrument, Chinese abacus, place value, carried number,<br />
Primary school students<br />
1. INTRODUCTION<br />
Studies have shown that many students don’t comprehend thoroughly the<br />
structure of our number system. They don’t know the values of the digits of a<br />
number and how these values interrelate. A great difficulty is in developing an<br />
understanding of multi-digit numbers. Students need to understand not only<br />
how numbers are partitioned according to the base-10 structure, but also how<br />
these values interrelate (Fuson 1990). Resnick (1983) used the term ‘multiple<br />
partitioning’ to describe the ability to partition numbers in non-standard<br />
ways, e.g., 34 can be decomposed into 2 Tens and 14 Units. This ability is<br />
essential for competence in calculations and many types of errors that have<br />
been observed in subtraction (Fuson 1990) are due to the students’ difficulty to<br />
acquire this competence. As a consequence, they cannot interpret the<br />
carried number; a concept structurally associated with calculations. That is why<br />
the development of the concept of the carried number which is associated with<br />
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exchanges between classes should deserve more attention during primary<br />
school years (Poisard 2005).<br />
In this paper we focus on the difficulties that the students of the present<br />
study faced in the above concepts (converting nonstandard representations of<br />
the numbers’ multiple partitioning in standard form and in interpreting the<br />
carried number) and the way that we tried to address these difficulties with<br />
the use of the history of mathematics. Initially, we present the reasons that<br />
historical instruments may positively contribute to mathematics education.<br />
Then we describe the didactical use of the historical instrument that we<br />
used in the intervention, the Chinese abacus. Afterwards we present an<br />
overview of the intervention: the objectives, the design with the use of history,<br />
and an example of a didactical session. Then, a brief quantitative and a<br />
more detailed qualitative analysis of the results follow.<br />
2. THE ROLE OF THE HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS IN THE<br />
CLASSROOM<br />
Researchers have long thought about whether mathematics education can<br />
be improved through incorporating ideas and elements from the history of<br />
mathematics. Tzanakis and Arcavi (2000) offered a list of arguments and<br />
Jankvist (2009) distinguished these arguments between using ‘history-as-agoal’<br />
(learning of the mathematical concepts) and using ‘history-as-a-tool’<br />
(learning mathematical concepts). Jankvist also classified the approaches in<br />
which history can be used. One of these is the modules approach’. Modules<br />
are instructional units suitable for the use of history as a cognitive tool, since<br />
extra time is required to study more in-depth mathematical concepts, and as<br />
a goal (Jankvist 2009). Among the possible ways that modules can be<br />
implemented using history as a ‘tool’ as well as a ‘goal’, is through the use of<br />
historical instruments since they can illustrate mathematical concepts οn an<br />
empirical basis. They are considered as non-standard media, unlike<br />
blackboards and books, which can also affect students cognitively and<br />
emotionally (Fauvel & van Maanen 2000). Students explore them as historical<br />
sources for arithmetic, algebra, or geometry and they may also enable<br />
students to acquire awareness of the cultural dimensions of mathematics<br />
(Bussi 2000).<br />
2.1 Chinese abacus: A historical calculating instrument<br />
The positional system up to the construction of algorithms for operation is<br />
embodied by abaci, such as the Chinese one (Bussi 2000). Martzlof (1996) cites<br />
that the first Chinese abacus’ representations are found in manuals of the 14th<br />
and 15th centuries. The use of the abacus, however, became widespread from<br />
the mid 16th century during the Ming dynasty. At 1592 a Chinese<br />
mathematician Cheng Dawei printed his famous work Suanfa Tongzong which<br />
deals mainly with the abacus calculations. Due to this work, the Chinese abacus<br />
was spread in Korea and Japan.<br />
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The Chinese abacus comprises vertical rods with same sized beads sliding<br />
on them. The beads are separated by a horizontal bar into a set of two beads<br />
(value 5) above and a set of five beads (value 1) below. The rate of the unit<br />
from right to left is in base ten. To represent a number e.g. 5.031.902 (figure 1)<br />
beads of the upper or/and the lower group are pushed towards the bar,<br />
otherwise zero is represented.<br />
Figure 1: Representation of numbers on the Chinese abacus<br />
Brian Rotman (cited in Bussi 2000) gives an epistemological analysis of<br />
abacus:<br />
“To move from abacus to paper is to shift from a gestural medium (in which<br />
physical movements are given ostensively and transiently in relation to an<br />
external apparatus) to a graphic medium (in which permanent signs, having<br />
their origin in these movements, are subject to a syntax given independently of<br />
any physical interpretation)’.<br />
Many characteristics of our number system are illustrated by the abacus<br />
(Spitzer 1942). Unlike Dienes’ blocks, the semi-abstract structure of the<br />
abacus becomes apparent as the same sized beads and their positiondependent<br />
value has direct reference to digit numbers. The function of zero is<br />
represented, as a place-holder. Furthermore, it may illustrate the idea of<br />
collection, since amounts become evident in terms of place value. Finally, the<br />
notion of carried number emerges. Poisard (2005) argued that we can write<br />
up to fifteen units in each column and make exchanges with the hand; this<br />
reinforces the understanding of the carried number in operations. From the<br />
definition of the carried number, Poisard (2005: 78) highlighted its relation to<br />
the functionality of the decimal system to allow quick calculations: “the carried<br />
number allows managing the change of the place value; it carries out a transfer<br />
of the numbers between the ranks”.<br />
Finally, the notion of carried number emerges. What is so functional of our<br />
base 10 numeration system is to allow the representation of big numbers. In<br />
each position the digits from zero to nine are written. As soon as ten is reached<br />
there is a transfer of numbers between ranks, e.g. 10tens = 1 hundred, 10<br />
hundreds = 1 thousand, etc. To do arithmetic operations we use this relation.<br />
From the definition of the carried number that Poisard (2005: 78) gives, its<br />
relation to the functionality of the decimal system to allow quick calculations is<br />
highlighted:<br />
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“The carried number allows managing the change of the place value; it carries<br />
out a transfer of the numbers between the ranks”.<br />
In Poisard’s study sixth grade students were asked ‘what is a carried<br />
number?’. Most answers did not have mathematical meaning. After the<br />
workshop with the Chinese abacus, the answers were more specific. According<br />
to Poisard (2005: 57-59), the fact that we can write up to fifteen in each rank on<br />
Chinese abacus and make exchanges with the hand, reinforces the conceptual<br />
understanding of the notion of carried number. The same question was given to<br />
teachers, but definitions that link the place-value system with the carriednumber,<br />
were cited by few teachers. That is why Poisard points out that the<br />
study of the carried number requires in-depth comprehension of the placevalue<br />
system and this problem should be confronted in teachers’ education as<br />
well.<br />
What Poisard stresses as crucial in the teaching/learning process is the use<br />
of the abacus as an instrument (the user learns mathematics) and not as a<br />
machine (the user just calculates). If the students do not ‘see’ the concepts that<br />
regulate the movements on abacus, they may learn to calculate quick and<br />
correctly but without understanding.<br />
Based on the studies about students’ difficulties in place value<br />
understanding and the possible positive contribution of the history of<br />
mathematics via the Chinese abacus, the present study sets various objectives:<br />
1. To study whether sixth grade students recognize the structure of our<br />
number system when handling numbers.<br />
2. To study how they verbally explain the carried number and how they<br />
use it in written calculations.<br />
3. To study to what extent an instructive intervention with the Chinese<br />
abacus would help students handle possible difficulties and<br />
misconceptions and acquire a better conceptual understanding.<br />
4. To highlight the historical context of the abacus and enrich teaching<br />
with a variety of approaches where students are actively involved.<br />
In the present study we adopted Poisard’s (2005) proposal for the didactical<br />
use of the Chinese abacus; we used all the beads in order to record up to 15<br />
units, unlike the standard technique where one of the upper beads (value five)<br />
is not used at all. This allowed us to add new elements in the present study,<br />
such as the use of regrouping activities as essential knowledge (Resnick 1983)<br />
before implementing the written algorithms of addition and subtraction.<br />
3. RESEARCH METHODS<br />
The research study took place in an elementary school in Thessaloniki.<br />
Our aim was to introduce the History of Mathematics as a cognitive tool and, to<br />
a lesser extent, as a goal (Jankvist 2009). The participants were 18 twelve-yearold<br />
students (9 girls and 9 boys). The criterion was that the students would be<br />
able to participate once a week during the hours when their school<br />
program was to work on a two-hour project. Four students had a very<br />
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weak cognitive background and eight students often relied on procedural<br />
rules due to partial conceptual understanding.<br />
For the first two objectives two questionnaires (pre-tests) were<br />
administered in November. Questionnaire A consisted of six closed-type<br />
questions and one that required a written explanation. After the intervention<br />
similar questions were administered as post-test. The questions were created<br />
with the following in mind: (a) the literature about students’ difficulties (b) the<br />
Greek mathematics curriculum so as to ascertain that they constitute<br />
important and prerequisite knowledge in the beginning of grade 6, and (c) the<br />
feasibility of teaching via the abacus. For integers the questions concerned:<br />
named place value, expanded form, regrouping, rounding, subtraction, and<br />
multiplication. For decimals: transforming from verbal to digit form, number<br />
pattern, addition, and subtraction. Two of the questions that are subjected in<br />
the present analysis concern exchanges between classes: sub question 3b,<br />
which concerned regrouping and comparing quantities, and sub question 7a,<br />
which dealt with subtraction with carried number. In order to study how<br />
students perceive the concept of carried number used in the subtraction tasks,<br />
we administered Questionnaire B. It consisted of Poisard’s (2005: 101) four<br />
open questions. The same questions were given as post-test (Appendix). Here<br />
we present students responses to the question: what is a carried number?<br />
3.1 The design of the intervention with the use of the History of<br />
Mathematics<br />
For the other two objectives we implemented a five-month instructive<br />
intervention. It was inspired by modules approach (Jankvist 2009) and used<br />
history as a cognitive tool. We designed a didactical sequence for the teaching<br />
of mathematical concepts that was allocated in sections (integers, decimals,<br />
and operations). For every session a teaching plan was elaborated including<br />
procedure, forms of work, media and material. The outcomes were recorded<br />
and several sessions were videotaped as feedback for the research. The<br />
introductory and closing activities aimed at using history mainly as a goal.<br />
Initially, the arguments mentioned below are aimed at exploring why<br />
history would support the learning and raise the cultural dimension of<br />
mathematics. They were based on Tzanakis & Arcavi’s (2000) arguments and<br />
were grouped under Jankvist’s (2009) categorization. We have included a third<br />
category placing pedagogical arguments in an attempt to emotionally motivate<br />
as well as develop critical thinking. Thus, students are expected to:<br />
A. History as tool<br />
1. develop their understanding by exploring mathematical concepts<br />
empirically,<br />
2. recognize the validity of non-formal approaches of the past.<br />
B. History as a goal<br />
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1. become aware that different people in different periods developed<br />
various forms of representations,<br />
2. perceive that mathematics were influenced by social and cultural factors.<br />
C. Pedagogical arguments:<br />
motivate emotionally, develop critical thinking and/or metacognitive<br />
abilities.<br />
Some examples of the interrelation between the activities chosen and the<br />
arguments for such a choice are presented below. (The arguments are in<br />
parentheses).<br />
Introductory and closing activities: Presentations about number systems of<br />
the antiquity: Roman, Babylonian, Greek, Mayan (B1, C); students create<br />
numbers and discuss the effectiveness of the systems (A2, B1, C).<br />
Presentation about the ancestor of the abacus, the counting rods (B1); form<br />
rod numerals and compare with the modern representation (A1, A2, C).<br />
Information about the abacus (B2); compare the two forms (abacus and<br />
rods): advantages/disadvantages, similarities/differences (B1). After the<br />
intervention students presented their work to an audience in the role of the<br />
teacher (C); they elaborate on information about the cultural context of<br />
the abacus that led to prevail over the counting rods (B2, C) for a<br />
multicultural event.<br />
Main part: Students investigated place value with handmade abaci, web<br />
applications (A1, A2, C; Appendix) and worksheets designed by the<br />
researchers (A2, C); they analyzed the abacus’ representations/procedures<br />
and corresponded with the formal one (A1, A2); contests between groups<br />
(A1, C).<br />
3.2 The implementation of the intervention<br />
The sequence of the instructive intervention was allocated in three sections;<br />
we investigated place value concepts in integers, then in decimals and finally<br />
we proceeded to calculations. For every didactical session we were elaborating<br />
a teaching plan which included the procedure, forms of work (individual, in<br />
pairs or in small groups), the media and material.<br />
Students worked with abaci that constructed themselves, web application<br />
(Appendix) and worksheets designed by the teacher/researcher. At the end of<br />
the school year students presented their work to other students.<br />
Section 1: Integers; Subsection1.3: Regrouping number quantities to<br />
standard numbers.<br />
Previous knowledge on the abacus: Students know how to read and form<br />
multi-digit numbers; identify the place value of the digits and analyze<br />
numbers in the expanded form; compose ten units of a class to the next<br />
upper class as one unit e.g.10 tens of a column are exchanged for 1 hundred<br />
unit of the next left column.<br />
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Objectives: to convert more complex number quantities (that in specific<br />
classes exceed the nine units) to standard numbers through composing.<br />
The concept of the carried number: The composing activities in later stages<br />
served as cognitive scaffolding for the conceptual understanding of the<br />
carried number in the operation of addition. In analogy, the decomposing<br />
activities of other didactical sessions were connected with the concept of the<br />
carried number in subtraction.<br />
Procedure:<br />
First stage: The teacher forms a quantity e.g. 8 Tens and 14 Units (fig. 2a) on<br />
the interactive blackboard’s simulation or on the classroom’s handmade<br />
abacus. She asks students to discover the number. They are encouraged to<br />
recall how ten units of higher value are composed on abacus. A student<br />
implements the process. The passage from 10 units to 1 ten is made by<br />
pushing away the two five beads in the units rod and pushing forward one<br />
unit bead in the tens rod (fig. 2b).<br />
Figures 2a and 2b: Regrouping quantities on abacus<br />
To avoid the abacus-machine usage the teacher asks for explanations in<br />
terms of place value. Thus, the student while doing the bead-movements<br />
says: “I transfer ten of the fourteen units to the units’ column and compose 1 more<br />
ten in the tenth’s column. So we have 9 tens and 4 units. The number is 94”.<br />
Second stage: Students volunteer and elaborate their own quantities on the<br />
interactive whiteboard (fig. 3). Afterwards other students try to match the<br />
abacus procedure with the symbolic one on the classic whiteboard.<br />
Figure 3: Students corresponding abacus and paper regrouping process<br />
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CARRIED NUMBER AMONG SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS VIA THE STUDY OF THE<br />
CHINESE ABACUS<br />
58<br />
Third stage: Students apply the new knowledge on worksheets in order to<br />
regroup quantities that they cannot be represented on abacus.<br />
The example is based on Poisard’s (2005) proposal for subtracting on an<br />
abacus with carried number. The method mainly taught to Greek schools<br />
and other European education systems is the ‘parallel additions’, which<br />
uses the relation a-b= (a+10 x ) - (b+10 x ). The other method, the ‘internal<br />
transfers’, is taught in second grade as an introductory method so it is<br />
rarely used over the years. It allows exchanges between classes and is the<br />
only method that can be implemented on abacus when using all beads.<br />
Previous knowledge on abacus: decompose quantities; perform<br />
subtractions without trading. Procedure: The teacher forms the minuend of<br />
the subtraction 933-51 on the abacus. The number 1 can be subtracted<br />
immediately by removing one unit bead (figure 4, step 1) but in the tens<br />
column the regrouping process must be put forward. A student removes a<br />
one-bead from the hundreds and replaces it with two five-beads in the tens<br />
(figure 4, step 2). Having a total 13 on the tens he/she removes one fivebead<br />
and gets the result (figure 4, step 3). The student is encouraged to<br />
explain in terms of place value: “I decompose 1 hundred to 10 tens and then<br />
subtract 5 tens”.<br />
Figure 4: Example of the subtraction method ‘internal transfers’ on abacus<br />
Observation from the teaching: A student solved the subtraction 4,005-8<br />
initially on the blackboard. She transferred a 1 thousands’ unit directly to<br />
the units’ position; she subtracted and found 3,007. We also observed this<br />
error (Fuson 1990) in some answers of the pre-test. When prompted to use<br />
the abacus, the student correctly implemented the decomposition process<br />
and explained it in terms of place value. Our discussion then revolved<br />
around the two results, so that the student reflected on her incorrect<br />
thought when she solved i t on the blackboard. One of the reasons that<br />
she did not make a mistake on the abacus – apart from the intervention’s<br />
influence – is possibly the visual-kinetic advantage of the tool; the<br />
space that occupies the intermediate columns may act as a deterrent for<br />
the eye to arbitrarily surpass them. Also, since we use the hand to remove<br />
one upper class unit bead, the fingers are merely guided to the next column<br />
in order to replace it with 10 equivalent lower units. The role of the teacher<br />
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was crucial at this point to link the semi-abstract with the abstract<br />
technique, and at the same time to emphasize the common underlined<br />
mathematical theory.<br />
4. DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS<br />
Questionnaire A:<br />
The total score of Questionnaire A was 100. The t-tests showed a<br />
statistically significant difference between the two measurements of students’<br />
scores (t= 5.243, df = 17, p
Vasiliki Tsiapou, Konstantinos Nikolantonakis<br />
THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLACE VALUE CONCEPTS AND THE NOTION OF<br />
CARRIED NUMBER AMONG SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS VIA THE STUDY OF THE<br />
CHINESE ABACUS<br />
60<br />
Insufficient reasoning: “Because 7hundreds 11tens 16units is bigger”.<br />
Post-test: A figurative explanation appears (figure 5). By circling and using<br />
arrows, students were depicting the abacus process of composing ten units to a<br />
higher class.<br />
Figure 5: Sub question 3b – Example of regrouping at the post-test<br />
Translation: “Seven hundred and fifty three is bigger”.<br />
A more detailed response: “I get 10 from 14 T and make 1 H. The H now are 7.<br />
Then we have 13 U. I take 10 U and do another 1 T. The number is 753 greater than<br />
643”.<br />
Sub question 7a<br />
Pre-test: Solve the subtraction 70,005-9 in vertical form.<br />
Post-test: Solve the subtraction 40,006-9 in vertical form.<br />
Table 2: Management of the carried number on the pre-test (sub question 7a)<br />
carried number not noted parallel addition Totals<br />
Answers 10 6 16<br />
Success 4 5 9<br />
Two students did not answer this question. From table 2 we observe that<br />
half students succeeded. The visible method was ‘parallel additions’, since the<br />
rest of the students did not note the carried number. The types of errors are<br />
categorized in table 3.<br />
Table 3: Types of errors on the pre-test (sub question 7a)<br />
Question: 70,005-7 carried number not noted use of carried number<br />
Types of errors N Examples N Examples<br />
Carried number 5 60,008<br />
70,010<br />
81,098<br />
Copying numbers 1 7,005-7<br />
Number facts 1 69,997<br />
The main type of errors (table 3) seemed to be the management of<br />
the carried number. For example, in the result ‘60,008’, though the carried<br />
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number is not noted, the error is the transfer of 1 thousand to the units’<br />
position.<br />
Sub question 7a, Post-test: Almost all students succeeded and the<br />
number of students who did not use the carried number decreased because of<br />
the use of the new method that requires the notation of the carried number<br />
(table 4).<br />
Table 4: Management of the carried number on the post-test (sub question 7a)<br />
Carried number Parallel Internal Totals<br />
not noted additions transfers<br />
answers 4 7 7 18<br />
success 3 6 7 16<br />
The method ‘internal transfers’ appears and along with ‘parallel additions’<br />
was applied successfully (table 4). The method of ‘parallel additions’ was<br />
applied mainly by students who had successfully applied it during the<br />
pre-test, while the method ‘internal transfers’ was given by those who had<br />
not been able to handle the carried number correctly.<br />
Figure 4: The method ‘internal transfers’ as implemented on the post-test<br />
Questionnaire B: ‘What is a carried number? ‘<br />
Table 5: The interpretation of the carried number (Pre-test)<br />
Explanations<br />
find/use/ something in calculations 9<br />
Example with addition 5<br />
I don't know/remember; I cannot describe it 4<br />
Explanations<br />
When the number exceeds 10 1<br />
Table 6: The interpretation of the carried number (Post-test)<br />
Explanations with the use of an<br />
example<br />
N Verbal explanations N<br />
N<br />
N<br />
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Composing<br />
e.g.10hundreds=1 thousand<br />
Decomposing e.g.1hundred=10<br />
tens<br />
6 Ten units of a position move to the<br />
next position as<br />
one unit<br />
1 Number we keep aside/use in<br />
operations for transfer<br />
Composing/decomposing 1 Borrowing from a number 1<br />
A format of tens, hundreds, etc., for<br />
transfer<br />
Convert a number of ten and over<br />
to another format<br />
3<br />
2<br />
2<br />
1<br />
The explanations with the use of an example differ between the two tests<br />
(table 5 & 6). At the pre-test students just performed an addition while in the<br />
post-test they put forward composing and decomposing examples. Verbal<br />
explanations at the pre-test seemed meaningless. Only in one answer we<br />
detected an attempt of mathematical explanation; “when the number exceeds<br />
10”. At the post-test we can still observe a difficulty to explain but most<br />
students used the idea of exchanging (e.g., “transfer”, “convert the format”).<br />
One is specific: “10 units move to the next class as 1 unit”; others mix the<br />
knowledge before and after the intervention: “a number we keep for transfer”.<br />
5. DISCUSSION<br />
The results of the pre-tests showed that most students did not have a<br />
profound understanding of the numbers’ structure; almost all could not<br />
recognize the numbers behind a non-standard partitioning (Fuson 1990;<br />
Resnick 1983) and half failed to solve a four-digit subtraction across zeros, a<br />
task that other studies have shown is difficult (Fuson 1990). In addition, they<br />
could not interpret the notion of carried number (Poisard 2005) considering it<br />
as an aid in operations but more of a vague nature. At the post-test, almost all<br />
displayed a better conceptual understanding. Using schematic representations<br />
and place value explanations influenced by the abacus activities, they<br />
successfully regrouped non-standard representations to standard numbers. As<br />
for the subtraction task, the students that had unsuccessfully managed the<br />
carried number in the pre-test, implemented successfully the abacus’<br />
method ‘internal transfers’, which requires the reverse process of decomposing<br />
numbers. In agreement with Poisard (2005) the method has the advantage of<br />
illustrating the properties of our number system when they have not been<br />
adequately understood. The regrouping activities on the abacus and their<br />
connection to the algorithms of addition and subtraction changed students’<br />
perspective about the concept of the carried number. They explained it as an<br />
exchange between classes, either verbally denoted or through an example.<br />
Despite the limitations of the study, such as the small sample and the lack<br />
of relevant experiential studies about the Chinese abacus, except Poisard’s<br />
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(2005), we believe that the reasons for using the history of mathematics were<br />
accomplished in a quite satisfactory way. By elaborating on place-value<br />
concepts via the abacus, students developed understanding on an empirical<br />
basis (literally with their hands). By analyzing processes with the historical<br />
tool, students appreciated that mathematics of the past also lead to results that<br />
have logical completeness. In general, Bartolini Bussi’s (2000) argument that<br />
in the tactile experience offered by the ancient instruments one may find the<br />
foundations of mathematical activity, was verified.<br />
During the intervention we recognized the crucial role of the teacher in the<br />
teaching/learning process. Students may learn to calculate correctly with the<br />
tool, but without conceptual understanding. Also, as the example from the<br />
didactical session showed, they may achieve understanding place-value<br />
concepts when calculating with the tool but they continue to misapply the<br />
written calculations because they do not connect the two processes. That is<br />
why teachers should encourage students to gain insight into the relation<br />
between the tool and the concept that it represents (Uttal, Scudder, &<br />
Deloache 1999), otherwise its semiotic function will not be transparent.<br />
As further research we suggest the study of the Chinese abacus with<br />
younger students for the teaching of simpler concepts (Zhou & Peverly 2005).<br />
REFERENCES<br />
Bartolini Bussi, M. (2000). Ancient instruments in the modern classroom. In<br />
J.Fauvel & J.V. Maanen (Eds.), History in mathematics education: The ICMI<br />
study (pp. 343-350). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic publishers.<br />
Fuson, K. C. (1990). Conceptual structures for multiunit numbers: Implications<br />
for learning and teaching multidigit addition, subtraction, and place value.<br />
Cognition and Instruction, 7(4), 343-403.<br />
Jankvist, U.T. (2009). A categorization of the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of using history<br />
in mathematics education. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 71(3), 235-<br />
261.<br />
Maanen, J.V. (2000). Non-standard media and other resources. In J. Fauvel. &<br />
J.V. Maanen (Eds.), History in mathematics education: The ICMI study (pp.<br />
329-362). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic publishers.<br />
Martzloff, J. C. (1996). A History of Chinese Mathematics. S.Wilson, translator.<br />
Germany: Springer.<br />
Poisard, C. (2005). Ateliers de fabrication et d’étude d’objets mathématiques, le<br />
cas des instruments à calculer (Doctoral dissertation, Université de<br />
Provence-Aix-Marseille I, France). Retrieved from http://tel.archivesouvertes.fr/docs/00/06/10/97/PDF/ThesePoisardC.pdf<br />
Resnick, L. B. (1983). A developmental theory of number understanding. In H.<br />
P. Ginsburg (Ed.), The development of mathematical thinking, (pp. 109-151).<br />
New York: Academic Press.<br />
Spitzer, H. (1942). The abacus in the teaching of arithmetic. The Elementary<br />
School Journal, 46(6), 448-451.<br />
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CARRIED NUMBER AMONG SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS VIA THE STUDY OF THE<br />
CHINESE ABACUS<br />
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Tzanakis, C., & Arcavi, A. (2000). Integrating history of mathematics in the<br />
classroom: an analytic survey. In J. Fauvel & J. van Maanen (Eds.), History<br />
in mathematics education: The ICMI study (pp. 201-240). Dordrecht: Kluwer<br />
Academic publishers.<br />
Utall, D.H., Scudder, K.V., & Deloache, J. S. (1997). Manipulatives as symbols: A<br />
new perspective on the use of concrete objects to teach mathematics. Journal<br />
of Applied Developmental Psychology, 18(1), 37-54.<br />
Zhou, Z., & Peverly, S. (2005). Teaching addition and subtraction to first<br />
graders: A Chinese perspective. Psychology in the Schools, 42(3), 266-273.<br />
BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES<br />
Vasiliki Tsiapou is a teacher at a public primary school in Thessaloniki. She has<br />
received a master in the Epistemology and History of Mathematics from the<br />
Department of Primary Education of the University of Western Macedonia, and she<br />
currently is a Ph.D. candidate at the same department. Her research is concerned with<br />
the integration of the History of Mathematics in class settings.<br />
Konstantinos Nikolantonakis is Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at the<br />
Department of Primary Education of the University of Western Macedonia. He has<br />
graduated from the Department of Mathematics of the Aristotle University of<br />
Thessaloniki. He received a master and a Ph.D. in the Epistemology and History of<br />
Mathematics from the University of Denis Diderot (Paris-7). His research concerns the<br />
didactical use of the History of Mathematics, the History of Ancient Greek<br />
Mathematics, and the didactics of Arithmetic & Geometry.<br />
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APPENDICES<br />
Questionnaire B<br />
1. What does it mean for you “I do mathematics”?<br />
2. Cite objects to make calculations.<br />
3. Do you know what an abacus is? If yes, explain.<br />
4. What is a carried number?<br />
Abaci used during the instructive intervention<br />
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UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research<br />
66<br />
ÜBERPRO – A SEMINAR CONSTRUCTED TO CONFRONT<br />
THE TRANSITION PROBLEM FROM SCHOOL TO<br />
UNIVERSITY MATHEMATICS, BASED ON<br />
EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL IDEAS OF<br />
MATHEMATICS 1<br />
Ingo Witzke<br />
University of Siegen<br />
witzke@mathematik.uni-siegen.de<br />
Horst Struve<br />
University of Cologne<br />
h.struve@uni-koeln.de<br />
Kathleen Clark<br />
Florida State University<br />
kclark@fsu.edu<br />
Gero Stoffels<br />
University of Siegen<br />
stoffels@mathematik.uni-siegen.de<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
In spring 2015 the authors taught an intensive seminar for undergraduate mathematics<br />
students, which addressed the transition problem from school to university by<br />
bringing to the fore concept changes in mathematical history and the learning<br />
biographies of the participants. This article describes how the concepts of empirical<br />
and formalistic belief systems can be used to give an explanation for both transitions –<br />
from school to university mathematics, and, for secondary mathematics teachers, back<br />
to school again. The usefulness of this approach is illustrated by outlining the historical<br />
sources and the participants’ activities with these sources on which the seminar is<br />
based, as well as some results of the qualitative data gathered during and after the<br />
seminar.<br />
Keywords: transition problem, genesis of geometry, secondary school mathematics,<br />
higher education, mathematical belief systems.<br />
1. INTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSITION PROBLEM<br />
The transition problem that secondary mathematics teachers experience<br />
when moving from school to university (as students), and then again when<br />
moving from their university training to teaching mathematics was articulated<br />
1 “ÜberPro” is an abbreviation of “Übergangsproblematik,” a German word for “transition problem”. With<br />
the term “university mathematics” we refer to mathematics courses designed for mathematics students<br />
and those pre-service secondary teachers majoring in mathematics (in Germany, these students are usually<br />
taught together).<br />
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PROBLEM FROM SCHOOL TO UNIVERSITY MATHEMATICS, BASED ON<br />
EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL IDEAS OF MATHEMATICS<br />
67<br />
by Felix Klein (1849-1925) as a “double discontinuity”:<br />
The young university student found himself, at the outset, confronted<br />
with problems, which did not suggest, in any particular way, the things<br />
with which he had been concerned at school. Naturally he forgot these<br />
things quickly and thoroughly. When, after finishing his course of study,<br />
he became a teacher, he suddenly found himself expected to teach the<br />
traditional elementary mathematics in the old pedantic way; and, since<br />
he was scarcely able, unaided, to discern any connection between this<br />
task and his university mathematics, he soon fell in with the time<br />
honored way of teaching, and his university studies remained only a<br />
more or less pleasant memory which had no influence upon his teaching.<br />
(Klein 1908: 1; first author’s translation)<br />
In the following we focus on the “first discontinuity”, referring to the<br />
transition from school to university and postulating an epistemological gap<br />
between school and university mathematics. We are encouraged by the more<br />
than 100-year-old problem, for which definitive solutions do not seem to appear<br />
on the horizon (Gueudet 2008). Unfortunately, dropout rates (especially in<br />
western countries) remain at a constantly high level. In Germany,<br />
approximately 50% of students studying mathematics or mathematics-related<br />
fields stop their efforts before finishing a bachelor’s degree (Heublein et al.<br />
2012). In the United States, attrition rates for mathematics majors are<br />
differentiated between two undergraduate degrees available – bachelor’s (fouryear<br />
degree) and associate’s (two-year degree). The National Center for<br />
Education Statistics (NCES) reported that for the years 2003 through 2009, 38%<br />
of mathematics majors entering university with the intent to earn a bachelor’s<br />
degree left the major (Chen 2013). Similarly for those students intending to earn<br />
an associate’s degree, some 78% left the major. This leads again to an (at least<br />
perceived) intensification of research in this field.<br />
Furthermore, recent investigations in the United States have focused on the<br />
critical role that success in calculus course taking plays in undergraduate<br />
students’ ambition for and persistence in mathematics. To date, many of the<br />
resulting publications from the Mathematical Association of America National<br />
Study of Calculus have highlighted the importance of student attributes on<br />
their success (e.g., Bressoud et al. 2013); however, identifying concrete ways in<br />
which students may be successful in negotiating the transition from secondary<br />
school mathematics student to first-year university mathematics student is<br />
absent from the literature.<br />
In 2011, the most important professional associations regarding mathematics<br />
(education) in Germany (DMV-Mathematics, GDM-Mathematics Education,<br />
and MNU-STEM Education) formed a task force regarding the problem of<br />
transition (cf. http://www.mathematik-schule-hochschule.de). Then, in<br />
February 2013, a scientific conference with the topic “Mathematik im Übergang<br />
Schule/Hochschule und im ersten Studienjahr” (“Mathematics at the Crossover<br />
School/University in the First Academic Year”) in Paderborn, Germany<br />
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ÜBERPRO – A SEMINAR CONSTRUCTED TO CONFRONT THE TRANSITION<br />
PROBLEM FROM SCHOOL TO UNIVERSITY MATHEMATICS, BASED ON<br />
EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL IDEAS OF MATHEMATICS<br />
68<br />
attracted almost 300 participants giving over 80 talks regarding the problematic<br />
transition process from school to university mathematics. The proceedings of<br />
this conference (Hoppenbrock et al. 2013) and its predecessor on special<br />
transition courses (Biehler et al. 2014) give an impressive overview on the<br />
necessity and variety of approaches regarding this matter. Interestingly a vast<br />
majority of the studies and best practice examples for “transition courses”<br />
locate the problem in the context of deficits (going back as far as junior high<br />
school) regarding the content knowledge of freshmen at universities.<br />
In the “pre-course and transition course community” it seems to be<br />
consensus by now that existing deficits in central fields of lowersecondary<br />
schools’ mathematics make it difficult for freshmen to acquire<br />
concepts of advanced elementary mathematics and to apply these.<br />
Fractional arithmetic, manipulation of terms or concepts of variables<br />
have an important role, e.g., regarding differential and integral calculus<br />
or non-trivial application contexts and constitute insuperable obstacles if<br />
not proficiently available. (Biehler et al. 2014: 2; first author’s translation)<br />
The question of how to provide first semester university students with<br />
obviously lacking content knowledge is certainly an important facet of the<br />
transition problem. However, as the results of a recent empirical study suggest,<br />
there are other, deeper problem dimensions that aid in further understanding<br />
the issue.<br />
2. MOTIVATION FOR DEVELOPING THE SEMINAR<br />
To investigate new perspectives on the transition problem, approximately<br />
250 pre-service secondary school teachers from the University of Siegen and the<br />
University of Cologne in 2013 were asked for retrospective views on their way<br />
from school to university mathematics. When the survey was disseminated, the<br />
students had been at the universities for about one year. Surprisingly, the<br />
systematic qualitative content analysis of the data (Huberman & Miles 1994,<br />
Mayring 2002) showed that from the students’ point of view it was not the<br />
deficits in content knowledge that dominated their description of their own<br />
way from school to university mathematics. Instead, students articulated a<br />
feeling of “differentness” between school and university mathematics that did<br />
not relate simply to a rise in content-specific requirements. To illustrate this<br />
point of “differentness” we selected two exemplar responses from the<br />
questionnaire responses to the question,<br />
What is the biggest difference or similarity between school and university<br />
mathematics? What prevails? Explain your answer.<br />
Student (male, 19 years): “The fundamental difference develops as<br />
mathematics in school is taught “anschaulich”[1], whereas at university<br />
there is a rigid modern-axiomatic structure characterizing mathematics.<br />
In general there are more differences than similarities, caused by<br />
differing aims” (first author’s translation)<br />
At this first student’s point we can only speculate on the term “aims”, but in<br />
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reference to other formulations in his survey responses it seems possible that he<br />
distinguished between general education (in German, “Allgemeinbildung”) as an<br />
aim for school and specialized scientific teacher-training at universities.<br />
The second example is impressive in the same sense:<br />
Student (female, 20 years):<br />
Figure 1. A student’s articulation of difference or similarity between school and<br />
university mathematics.<br />
university<br />
abstrac<br />
t<br />
many<br />
proofs<br />
understanding<br />
school<br />
computing<br />
very empiric<br />
(everyday<br />
life)<br />
few<br />
proofs<br />
In many cases the students clearly distinguished between school and<br />
university mathematics, which is most prominent in the second example. For<br />
this student, school mathematics and university mathematics are so different,<br />
that the only remaining similarity (in German, “Gemeinsamkeit”) is the word<br />
“mathematics”. This “differentness” encountered by the students is specified in<br />
further parts of the questionnaire with terms as vividness, references to everyday<br />
life, applicability to the real world, ways of argumentation, mathematical rigor,<br />
axiomatic design, etc. 2<br />
Using additional results of studies with a similar interest (e.g., Gruenwald et<br />
al. 2004, Hoyles et al., 2001) we arrived at the preliminary conclusion that preservice<br />
mathematics teachers clearly distinguish between school and university<br />
mathematics with regard to the nature of mathematics. In the terms of Hefendehl-<br />
Hebeker Ableitinger and Herrmann, the students encounter an “Abstraction<br />
shock” (Hefendehl-Hebeker et al. 2010), meaning that students have serious<br />
difficulties regarding a dramatically increased level of abstraction at the<br />
beginning of their undergraduate courses in mathematics. Schichel and<br />
Steinbauer (2009: 1; first author’s translation) describe the same phenomenon,<br />
when saying that,<br />
2 The cited study has not been published in total so far. However, partial results have been published in<br />
Witzke 2013a, 2013b.<br />
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Abstraction shock: The level of abstraction regarding the teaching of<br />
university mathematics is in marked contrast to the teaching in school,<br />
where mathematical content is in principal developed on the basis of<br />
[concrete] examples. Many students get already lost in the “definitiontheorem-proof-jungle”<br />
in the first weeks of their university career being<br />
faced with an uncommented abstract approach.<br />
To describe and face this problem, we established a framework for further<br />
research concerning the transition problem. In the next section, we reconstruct<br />
the nature of mathematics communicated explicitly and implicitly in high school<br />
and university textbooks, lecture notes, standards, etc., with a special focus on<br />
differences to identify in detail what constitutes the abstraction shock described<br />
in literature and by students. Thereby we follow the paradigm of<br />
constructivism in mathematics education, believing that students construct<br />
their own view on mathematics when working and interacting in classroom or<br />
lecture hall with the material, problems, and stimulations that course<br />
instructors (and students’ peers) provide (Anderson et al. 2000, Bauersfeld<br />
1992).<br />
3. BELIEFS ON MATHEMATICS: TODAY AND IN HISTORY<br />
3.1 Beliefs describing the notion of mathematical objects and activities<br />
The terms nature of mathematics and belief system regarding mathematics are<br />
closely linked to each other if we understand learning in a constructive way.<br />
Schoenfeld (1985) successfully showed that personal belief systems matter<br />
when learning and teaching mathematics:<br />
One’s beliefs about mathematics [...] determine how one chooses to<br />
approach a problem, which techniques will be used or avoided, how<br />
long and how hard one will work on it, and so on. The belief system<br />
establishes the context within which we operate […] (Schoenfeld 1985:<br />
45)<br />
From an educational point of view beliefs about mathematics are decisive<br />
for our mathematical behavior as the empirical studies of Schoenfeld have<br />
shown; the beliefs system was identified as the critical factor determining<br />
success in concrete problem solving contexts. Furthermore, prominent among<br />
research on beliefs are four categories of beliefs concerning mathematics, which<br />
were distinguished by Grigutsch, Raatz and Törner (1998) as aspects: the<br />
toolbox aspect, the system aspect, the process aspect and the utility aspect.<br />
Liljedahl, Rolka and Roesken (2007) specified this wide range of possible<br />
aspects of a mathematical worldview as follows:<br />
In the “toolbox aspect”, mathematics is seen as a set of rules, formulae,<br />
skills and procedures, while mathematical activity means calculating as<br />
well as using rules, procedures and formulae. In the “system aspect”,<br />
mathematics is characterized by logic, rigorous proofs, exact definitions<br />
and a precise mathematical language, and doing mathematics consists of<br />
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accurate proofs as well as of the use of a precise and rigorous language.<br />
In the “process aspect”, mathematics is considered as a constructive<br />
process where relations between different notions and sentences play an<br />
important role. Here the mathematical activity involves creative steps,<br />
such as generating rules and formulae, thereby inventing or re-inventing<br />
the mathematics. Besides these standard perspectives on mathematical<br />
beliefs, a further important component is the usefulness, or utility<br />
[aspect], of mathematics. (Liljedahl et al. 2007: 279)<br />
Very often these beliefs are located within certain fields of tension (in<br />
German, “Spannungsfelder”). There is, for example, the process aspect, which is<br />
always implicitly connected to its opposite pole the product aspect. Another<br />
pair of concepts in this sense is certainly an intuitive aspect on the one hand<br />
and a formal aspect on the other, having even a historical dimension: “There is<br />
a problem that goes through the history of calculus: the tension between the<br />
intuitive and the formal” (Moreno-Armella 2014: 621). These fields of tension<br />
may help to describe the problems the students encounter on their way to<br />
university mathematics. Especially helpful when looking at the results of the<br />
aforementioned survey, representing one important facet, seems to be the<br />
tension between what Schoenfeld called an empirical belief [2] system and a<br />
formalistic belief system [3] – a convincing analytical distinction following the<br />
works of Burscheid and Struve (2010).<br />
The empirical belief system [2] on the one hand describes a set of beliefs in<br />
which mathematics is understood as an experimental natural science, which<br />
includes deductive reasoning about empirical objects. Struve (1990) and<br />
Schoenfeld (1985) have reconstructed this belief system in school, investigating<br />
school textbooks and students’ behavior.<br />
Good examples for comparable belief systems, regarding the understanding<br />
of mathematics in an empirical way, can be found in the history of mathematics.<br />
The famous mathematician Moritz Pasch (1843-1930), who completed Euclid’s<br />
axiomatic system, explicitly understood geometry in this way:<br />
The geometrical concepts constitute a subgroup within those concepts<br />
describing the real world […] whereas we see geometry as nothing more<br />
than a part of the natural sciences. (Pasch 1882: 3)<br />
Thus, mathematics in this sense is understood as an empirical, natural<br />
science. This, of course, implies the importance of inductive elements as well as<br />
a notion of truth bonded to the correct explanation of physical reality. In<br />
Pasch’s examples, Euclidean geometry is understood as a science describing our<br />
physical space by starting with evident axioms. Geometry then follows a<br />
deductive buildup, but it is legitimized by the power to describe the physical<br />
space around us correctly. This understanding of mathematics as an empirical<br />
science (on an epistemological level) can be found throughout the history of<br />
mathematics, and prominent examples for this understanding are found in<br />
many scientists of the 17 th and 18 th centuries. For example, Leibniz conducted<br />
analysis on an empirical level; the objects of his calculus differentialis and calculus<br />
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integralis were curves given by construction on a piece of paper and not as<br />
today’s abstract functions (cf. Witzke 2009).<br />
The formalistic belief system, on the other hand, describes a set of beliefs in<br />
which mathematics is understood as a system of un-interpreted concepts and<br />
their connections in propositional functions (in German, “Aussageformen”),<br />
which can be established using axioms, (implicit) definitions, and proofs. Davis<br />
and Hersh (1981) and Schoenfeld (1985) have reconstructed this belief system as<br />
a typical one for professional mathematicians.<br />
Good examples for comparable belief systems, regarding the understanding<br />
of mathematics in a formalistic way, can be found in the history of mathematics.<br />
The famous mathematician David Hilbert (1862-1943), released geometry<br />
completely from any empirically bonded entities:<br />
Whereas Pasch was anxious to derive his fundamental notions from<br />
experience and to postulate no more than experience seems to grant.<br />
Hilbert started ‘Wir denken uns…’ we imagine three kinds of things…<br />
called points… called lines… called planes… we imagine points, lines,<br />
and planes in some relations… called lying on, between, parallel,<br />
congruent…” (–) “Wir denken uns…” – the bond with reality is cut.<br />
Geometry has become pure mathematics. The question of whether and<br />
how to apply it to reality is the same in geometry as it is in other<br />
branches of mathematics. Axioms are not evident truths. They are not<br />
truths at all in the usual sense. (Freudenthal 1961: 14; English translation<br />
in Streefland 1993)<br />
Mathematics in this sense can be understood as the formal science. This<br />
implies the importance of deductive elements as well as a notion of truth in the<br />
sense of logical consistency. This understanding of mathematics as a formal<br />
science (on an epistemological level) can be found throughout the history of<br />
mathematics after Hilbert. Prominent examples for this understanding are<br />
found in many mathematicians of 19 th , 20 th , and 21 st centuries. For example,<br />
Kolmogoroff formalized probability theory in this way; the concepts of his<br />
Grundbegriffe der Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung are sets and measures given by<br />
definition in his famous axioms. (cf. Kolmogorov 1973).<br />
So, what is the connection among these elements, mathematics students, and<br />
the transition problem? If we examine current textbooks for school<br />
mathematics, we see that students at school are likely to acquire an empirical<br />
belief system. And, if we examine current course textbooks for university<br />
mathematics, we see that students at university are, in contrast, faced with a<br />
formalistic belief system (cf. Burscheid & Struve 2009, Schoenfeld 1985,<br />
Schoenfeld 2011, Struve 1990, Tall 2013 3 ). On epistemological grounds both<br />
show parallels to specific historical understandings of mathematics. These<br />
3 In his foundational work, “How humans learn to think mathematically”, David Tall (2013) emphasized an<br />
equivalent to Struve’s and Schoenfeld’s empirical belief system when referring to a blend of “Embodiment<br />
and Symbolism” prevailing in school. He distinguished this, what he calls worlds of mathematics, from a<br />
world of “(Axiomatic) formalism” realized at university level and associated Hilbert – which is quite<br />
similar to Burscheid and Struve’s formalistic belief system.<br />
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epistemological parallels were fundamental for the design of our “transition<br />
problem” seminar for students. The main idea is that the recognition and<br />
appreciation of different natures of mathematics in history (i.e. those held by<br />
expert mathematicians) can help students to become aware of their own belief<br />
system and may guide them to make necessary changes.<br />
4. A DEEPER LOOK INTO SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY MATHEMATICS<br />
The most recent National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)<br />
standards (2000) and prominent school textbooks indicate that, for good<br />
reasons (cf. the EIS-principle by Bruner (1966), the basic experiences<br />
(“Grunderfahrungen”) of Winter (1996) or the three worlds of mathematics by<br />
Tall (2013)), mathematics is taught in the context of concrete (physical) objects<br />
at school. For example, the NCTM process standards, and in particular<br />
“connections” and “representations,” (which are comparable to similar<br />
mathematics standards in Germany), focus on empirical aspects of<br />
mathematics. At school and in their future career it is important that students<br />
“recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics” or “use<br />
representations to model and interpret physical, social, and mathematical<br />
things” (NCTM 2000: 67). The prominent place of illustrative material and<br />
visual representations in the mathematics classroom has important<br />
consequences for the students’ views about the nature of mathematics. As we<br />
previously mentioned, Schoenfeld (1985, 2011) and Struve (1990, 2010)<br />
proposed that students acquire an empiricist belief system of mathematics at<br />
school. This is likely to be caused by the fact that mathematics in modern<br />
classrooms does not describe abstract entities of a formalistic theory but a<br />
universe of discourse ontologically bounded to “real objects”. For example,<br />
Probability Theory is bounded to random experiments from everyday life,<br />
Fractional Arithmetic to “pizza models”, Geometry to straightedge and compass<br />
constructions, Analytical Geometry to vectors as arrows, Calculus to functions as<br />
curves (graphs), and so forth.<br />
However, at university things can look totally different. Authors of<br />
prominent textbooks (in Germany, as well as in the United States) for beginners<br />
at university level depict mathematics in quite a formalistic, rigorous way. For<br />
example, in the preface of Abbott’s popular book for undergraduate students,<br />
Understanding Analysis, it becomes very clear how mathematicians consider a<br />
major difference between school and university mathematics: “Having seen<br />
mainly graphical, numerical, or intuitive arguments, students need to learn<br />
what constitutes a rigorous proof and how to write one” (Abbott 2001: vi). This<br />
view is also transported by Heuser’s popular analysis textbook for first<br />
semester students (Heuser 2009: 12; first author’s translation):<br />
The beginner at first feels […] uncomfortable […] with what constitutes<br />
mathematics:<br />
- The brightness and rigidity in concept formation<br />
- The pedantic accurateness when working with definitions<br />
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- The rigor of proofs which are to be conducted […] only with the means<br />
of logic not with Anschauung. [1]<br />
- Finally the abstract nature of mathematical objects, which we cannot see,<br />
hear, taste or smell. […]<br />
This does not mean that there are no pictures or physical applications in<br />
Abbott’s book; it is common sense that modern mathematicians work with<br />
pictures, figural mental representations, and models. However, in contrast to<br />
many students, it is clear to them that these are illustrations or visualizations<br />
only, displaying certain logical aspects of mathematical objects (and their<br />
relations to others) but by no means representing the mathematical objects in<br />
total. This distinction is more explicit if we look at a textbook example. In<br />
school textbooks (in Germany) the reference objects for functions are mainly<br />
drawn curves. Functions may then virtually be identified with these empirically<br />
given curves (Witzke 2014). Tietze, Klika and Wolpers (2000: 72) discussed this<br />
context of an analysis like “elementary algebra combined with the sketching of<br />
graphs”. Consequently, school textbook authors work with the so-called<br />
concept of graphical derivatives (firmly anchored in the curricula) in the context<br />
of analysis (see Fig. 2). At university, curves are by no means the reference<br />
objects; here they are only one possible interpretation of the abstract notion of<br />
function. The graph of a function in formalistic [3] university mathematics is<br />
actually only a set of (ordered) pairs.<br />
If we contrast the empirical belief system many students acquire in<br />
classroom with the formalistic belief system students are faced with at<br />
university we have a model that explains why challenging the transition<br />
problem regarding belief systems is necessary for the professionalization of<br />
mathematicians and math teachers. For example, in this model the notion of<br />
proof differs substantially in school and university mathematics. Whereas at<br />
universities (especially in pure mathematics) only formal deductive reasoning<br />
is an acceptable method, non-rigorous proofs relying on “graphical, numerical<br />
and intuitive arguments” are an essential part of proofs in school mathematics<br />
where we explain phenomena of the “real world”. Using Sierpinska’s (1987,<br />
1992) terminology, students in this transition-phase have to overcome a variety<br />
of “epistemological obstacles” 4 , requiring a significant change in their<br />
understanding of what mathematics is about.<br />
4 Following the definition and common usage of the term “epistemological obstacle” in mathematics<br />
education, we mean content-based obstacles that are likely to occur in every learning biography, and<br />
whose overcoming will eventually lead to a decisive process of cognition. Note that these are referred to as<br />
being based in the nature of things in principle and not in the lack of individual cognitive development (cf.<br />
Schneider 2014: 214-217).<br />
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Figure 2. Graphical derivatives in a German school textbook (EdM 2010: 203).<br />
5. SEMINAR DESIGN, CONTENT, AND IMPLEMENTATION<br />
The findings of the initial questionnaire and the identification of the<br />
theoretical considerations, which were described in the preceding paragraphs,<br />
were essential for designing a seminar to address the transition problem. The<br />
overall aim of the seminar course was to make students aware and to lead them<br />
to an understanding of crucial changes regarding the nature of mathematics<br />
from school to university, by discussing transcripts, textbooks, standards,<br />
historical sources, etc. The different “natures” of mathematics in school and<br />
university can also, on an epistemological level, be found in the history of<br />
mathematics, as we previously stated. Thus, an understanding of how and why<br />
this change (from empirical-physical to formalistic-abstract) took place should be<br />
achieved by an historical-philosophical analysis (cf. Davies 2010). This, in fact,<br />
is the key notion of the seminar. Thereby we hoped that the students were able<br />
to relate their own learning biographies to the historical development of<br />
mathematics. This conceptual design of the seminar draws upon positive<br />
experience with explicit approaches regarding changes in the belief system of<br />
students from science education (esp. “Nature of Science” cf. Abd-El-Khalick &<br />
Lederman 2001).<br />
The undergraduate ÜberPro seminar that is the focus of what follows, was<br />
designed for students to cope with the transition problem. It was implemented<br />
for the first time in February 2015 and was an intensive experience that took<br />
place over three days (approximately 18 hours of instruction). Twenty (8 male;<br />
12 female) undergraduate mathematics students, who were also preparing to<br />
teach secondary mathematics, participated in the seminar. Table 1 presents the<br />
distribution of student age and semester at university of the seminar<br />
participants.<br />
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Table 1. Age and semester at university for ÜberPro seminar participants<br />
(February 2015).<br />
Participant<br />
Semester Participant<br />
Age (in<br />
Age (in Semester at<br />
number (gender:<br />
at number (gender:<br />
years)<br />
years) university<br />
M(ale)/F(emale))<br />
university M(ale)/F(emale))<br />
1 (F) 23 7 11 (F) 22 7<br />
2 (F) 19 3 12 (F) 22 7<br />
3 (M) 23 7 13 (F) 21 3<br />
4 (F) 23 7 14 (M) 26 13<br />
5 (F) 22 5 15 (M) 26 5<br />
6 (M) 20 3 16 (F) 20 3<br />
7 (F) 21 3 17 (M) 25 7<br />
8 (F) 25 10 18 (M) 22 7<br />
9 (M) 26 3 19 (F) 22 5<br />
10 (F) 20 3 20 (M) 24 8<br />
The three-day seminar was organized in four parts:<br />
1) Raise attention to the importance of beliefs about and philosophies of<br />
mathematics.<br />
2) Historical case study: Geometry from Euclid to Hilbert. (In particular,<br />
which questions led to the modern understanding of mathematics?)<br />
3) Exploration of Hilbert’s approach (Or, what characterizes modern<br />
formalistic mathematics?)<br />
4) Summary discussion and reflection.<br />
We employed several instructional techniques during the intensive seminar.<br />
During the 18 hours of instruction students engaged in small group work,<br />
which included engaging in active learning tasks and short discussions, and<br />
whole class discussions, which included individual students and small groups<br />
sharing their work. The self-activating sequences were enriched by short<br />
instructional lectures of the participating mathematics educators (i.e. the first,<br />
second, and fourth authors). Moreover, seminar participants worked with a<br />
variety of materials, including reading original historical sources, excerpts from<br />
research literature, and school textbooks; using hands-on materials to model<br />
concepts from projective and hyperbolic geometry; and investigating concepts<br />
using dynamic geometry software. We provide further context and description<br />
for a number of the seminar activities within the elaboration of the four parts of<br />
the seminar that follows.<br />
1) Raise attention to the importance of beliefs about and philosophies of<br />
mathematics.<br />
In the first part of the seminar we wanted to make students aware of the<br />
idea of different belief systems and natures of mathematics. Here we began<br />
with individual reflections and work with authentic material such as transcripts<br />
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from Schoenfeld’s (1985) research that clearly showed the meaning and<br />
relevance of the concept of an empirical belief system. Afterwards students<br />
compared different types of textbooks: university course textbooks, school<br />
textbooks, and historical textbooks.<br />
The three excerpts (Fig. 3) illustrate how we worked within this comparative<br />
activity. In the upper left-hand corner of Fig. 3 is a formal university textbook<br />
definition of differentiation. It is characterized by a high degree of<br />
formalization: the objects of interest are functions defined on real numbers or<br />
complex numbers. The excerpt exhibits a highly symbolic definition where the<br />
theoretical concept of limit is necessary. In contrast, we see just below an<br />
excerpt from a popular German school textbook. Here, the derivative function<br />
is defined on a purely empirical level; the upper curve is virtually identified<br />
with the term function. Characteristic points are determined by an act of<br />
empirical measuring and the slopes of the triangles are then plotted underneath<br />
and results in the second graphed curve (graphical derivation).<br />
Figure 3. Three excerpts of different textbooks for comparison. University course<br />
textbook “Königsberger 2001: 34” (top left), school textbook “Lambacher Schweizer<br />
2009: 55” (bottom left), historical text “Leibniz, Acta Eruditorum,” 1693 (right).<br />
Finally, if we look back to Leibniz (one of the fathers of analysis), with his<br />
calculus differentialis and intergalis, we find that he conducted mathematics in a<br />
rather empirical way as well (cf. Witzke 2009). His objects were curves given by<br />
construction on a piece of paper – properties like differentiability or continuity<br />
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were read out of the curve. Furthermore, there seem to be parallels on an<br />
epistemological level between school analysis and historical analysis. For<br />
example, Leibniz presented (published in 1693) the invention of the so-called<br />
“integrator” (right-hand side of Fig. 3), a machine that was designed to draw an<br />
anti-derivative curve by retracing a given curve. So here, as in the school<br />
textbook, the empirical objects form the basis of the theory; even more the<br />
processes regarding Leibniz’ integrator and the textbooks’ graphical derivation.<br />
During the seminar course, students shared their response to the question,<br />
“What is mathematics?” – which were then organized according to the scheme<br />
aspect, formalism aspect, process aspect, and utility aspect, similar to those<br />
introduced in the items by Grigutsch, Raatz and Törner (1998).<br />
2) Historical case study: Geometry from Euclid to Hilbert. (In particular,<br />
which questions lead to the modern formalistic understanding of<br />
mathematics?)<br />
An adequate description of the development of the nature of mathematics in<br />
the course of history requires more than one book. We referenced the following<br />
ones: Bonola (1955) for a detailed historical presentation; Garbe (2001),<br />
Greenberg (2004), and Trudeau (1995) for a lengthy historical and philosophical<br />
discussion; Ewald (1971), Hartshorne (2000), and Struve and Struve (2010) for a<br />
modern mathematical presentation. Additionally, Davis and Hersh (1981) and<br />
Davis, Hersh and Marchiotto (1995) presented aspects of the historical and<br />
philosophical discussion in a concise manner, and for students, in a relatively<br />
easy and accessible way.<br />
The overall aim of the historical case study was to make students aware of<br />
how the nature of mathematics changed over history. Regarding our theoretical<br />
framework, we endeavored to make explicit how geometry – which for<br />
hundreds of years seemed to be the prototype of empirical mathematics,<br />
describing physical space – developed into the prototype of a formalistic<br />
mathematics as formulated in Hilbert’s Foundations of Geometry in 1899 (cf. Fig.<br />
4.)<br />
Figure 4 The historical and philosophical development of mathematics along the<br />
development of geometry.<br />
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Consequently, we helped students (or, aimed to help them) on their way to<br />
develop an understanding for different natures of mathematics, in particular,<br />
modern ones taught at the university level.<br />
In the seminar course we began this component of instruction with Euclid’s<br />
Elements; they show what a deductively built piece of mathematics, describing<br />
physical space, looks like in a prototype manner. Here we prompted the<br />
students to display in a diagrammatic manner how Pythagoras’ theorem can be<br />
traced down to Euclid’s five postulates. (cf. Fig. 5, the numbers indicate the<br />
number of the proposition within Euclid’ Elements). This activity was selected<br />
based upon the 2013 survey results, which showed that a significant number of<br />
students were not familiar with a deductive structure after one year of<br />
university mathematics.<br />
Figure 5. The architecture of Pythagoras’ theorem.<br />
It was important for the overall goal of the seminar that the Elements gave<br />
reason to discuss status, meaning, and heritage of axiomatic systems. This<br />
enabled us to focus on the self-evident character of the axioms (or, postulates)<br />
describing physical space in a true manner – and to provide insights on the<br />
surrounding real space which were accepted without proof (cf. Garbe 2001: 77).<br />
Figure 6. Photo of “Autobahn” taken by the first author (left); Albrecht Dürer: “Man<br />
drawing a lute” (1525), (middle); photo of Albrecht Dürer Activity during seminar,<br />
taken by third author (right)<br />
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Projective geometry was the next example on our way (in the seminar) to a<br />
modern understanding of geometry. Starting with the question of whether<br />
other geometries, besides the Euclidean one, are conceivable, projective<br />
geometry seemed to be an ideal case (cf. Ostermann & Wanner 2012: 319-344).<br />
Related to the overall goal of the course, the notion that there exists more than<br />
one geometry fostered the idea that there is more than one (“true”)<br />
mathematics. And, this in turn serves to lead us away from the quest for one<br />
unique mathematics describing physical space (cf. Davis & Hersh 1985: 322-<br />
330).<br />
On the one hand, we wanted students to become familiar with the idea (via<br />
the Albrecht Dürer Activity, cf. Fig. 6) that projective geometry seems to be so<br />
intuitive and evident when looking at its origins in the vanishing point<br />
perspective (arts). On the other hand, projective geometry adds new objects to<br />
the Euclidean geometry (esp. the infinitely distant points on the horizon) and its<br />
place in the seminar introduced the students to the insight that all parallels may<br />
meet eventually. Additionally, with projective geometry the students<br />
encountered a further axiomatizable geometry, which also possessed particular<br />
properties that finally influenced Hilbert to ultimately design a formalistic<br />
geometry that was free of any physical references (cf. Blumenthal 1935: 402).<br />
Julius Plücker saw in the 19 th century as one of the first that theorems in<br />
projective geometry hold if the terms “straight line” and “point” are<br />
interchanged. This so-called principle of duality gave a clear hint that the<br />
nature of geometrical objects may be irrelevant and that it is the relations<br />
between these objects that matter. (cf. Fig. 7)<br />
Figure 7. Example for the principle of duality: Theorem of Pappus-Pascal: Six<br />
points (red) incident with two lines (blue) – the points (green) which are incident with<br />
opposite lines of the hexahedron are collinear (green line). Theorem of Brianchon: Six<br />
lines (red) incident with two points (blue) – the lines (green) which are incident with<br />
opposite points of the hexahedron are copunctal (green point)<br />
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The next case that students examined was a revolutionary step towards a<br />
formalistic formulation of geometry that comprised the development of the non-<br />
Euclidean geometries, and which was connected to the names Janos Bolyai<br />
(1802-1860), Nikolai Ivanovitch Lobatchevski (1792-1856), Carl Friedrich Gauß<br />
(1777-1855), or Bernhard Riemann (1826-1866) (cf. Garbe 2001, Greenberg 2004,<br />
Trudeau 1995 on their historical role regarding non-Euclidean Geometries).<br />
In fact, the non-Euclidean geometries developed from the “theoretical<br />
question” around Euclid’s fifth postulate, the so-called parallel postulate:<br />
Let the following be postulated: [...]<br />
That if a straight line falling on two straight lines makes the interior<br />
angles on the same side less than two right angles, the straight lines, if<br />
produced indefinitely, will meet on that side on which the angles are less<br />
than two right angles. (Heath et al. 1908)<br />
Compared to the other postulates like the first, “to draw a straight line from<br />
any point to any point”, the fifth postulate sounds more complicated and less<br />
evident. This postulate cannot be “verified” by drawings on a sheet of paper as<br />
parallelism is a property presupposing infinitely long lines. In the words of<br />
Davis, Hersh and Marchiotto (1995: 242), “it seems to transcend the direct<br />
physical experience”. In history this was seen as a blemish in Euclid’s theory<br />
and various attempts have been undertaken to overcome this flaw. On the one<br />
hand, different individuals tried to find equivalent formulations, which are<br />
more evident (e.g. Proclus (412-485), John Playfair (1748-1819)) 5 . On the other<br />
hand, several mathematicians tried to deduce the fifth postulate from the other<br />
postulates so that the disputable statement becomes a theorem (which does not<br />
need to be evident) and not a postulate (e.g. Girolamo Saccheri (1667-1733),<br />
Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728-1777)). (cf. Davis & Hersh 1985: 217-223,<br />
Greenberg 2004: 209-238, Struve & Struve 2010)<br />
In contrast in the 18 th and 19 th century, Bolyai, Lobatchevski, Gauß, and<br />
Riemann experimented with negations and replacements of the fifth postulate<br />
guided by the question of whether the parallel postulate was logically<br />
dependent of the others (cf. Greenberg 2004: 239-248). If this would have been<br />
true – Euclidean geometry should actually work without it – what it does, in a<br />
sense that no inconsistencies occur.<br />
5 To Proclus, who was amongst the first commentators of Euclid’s Elements in ancient Greece, already<br />
formulated doubts on the parallel postulate and formulated around 450 an equivalent formulation (cf.<br />
Wußing & Arnold 1978: 30). Playfair’s formulation (1795), “in a plane, given a line and a point not on it,<br />
at most one line parallel to the given line can be drawn through the point”, is quite popular today (cf.<br />
Prenowitz & Jordan 1989: 25, Gray 1989: 34).<br />
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Figure 8. Visualizations regarding different geometries. Elliptic, Euclidean and<br />
Hyperbolic Geometry. (naiadseye, 2014)<br />
But this logical act leads to conclusions that differ from those in Euclidean<br />
geometry. For example:<br />
- In hyperbolic geometry the sum of interior angles in a triangle sums to<br />
less than 180°, in elliptical geometry to more than 180° (cf. Fig. 8)<br />
- The ratio of circumference and diameter of a circle in hyperbolic<br />
geometry is bigger than π, in elliptical geometry smaller than π.<br />
- In hyperbolic as in elliptical geometry triangles which are just similar but<br />
not congruent do not exist.<br />
- In hyperbolic geometry there is more than one parallel line through a<br />
point P to a given line g and in elliptical geometry there are no parallel<br />
lines at all. (cf. Davis & Hersh 1985: 222, Garbe 2001: 59)<br />
Working with texts and sources regarding the process of discovery of the<br />
non-Euclidean geometries had an important impact on students’ belief system.<br />
The 2013 survey results indicated that the so-called “Euclidean Myth” (Davis &<br />
Hersh 1985) was widely prevalent: to many first-year university students<br />
mathematics is a monolithic block of eternal truth; a theorem, once proven,<br />
necessarily holds in every context. With the discovery of the non-Euclidean<br />
geometries, it became apparent in history that there was no such truth in an<br />
ontological sense. In contrast, there seems to be multiple such truths, depending<br />
on the context in which you work. We used a discussion of Gauß’s qualms to<br />
publish his results on non-Euclidean geometry, afraid of being accused of doing<br />
something suspect, or the (probably legendary) story (cf. Garbe 2001: 81-85) that<br />
he tried to measure on a large scale whether the world is Euclidean to help the<br />
students become amenable to the revolutionary character of his discoveries.<br />
Following Freudenthal’s (1991) idea of guided reinvention, recapitulating the<br />
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history of humankind seems to bear quite fruitful perspectives for the<br />
development of individual belief systems.<br />
Finally, from the discussion of the non-Euclidean geometries students<br />
investigated questions which led to Hilbert’s formalistic turn. If there was more<br />
than one consistent geometry, which one was the true one? This question is<br />
closely linked to the question, what is mathematics?<br />
3) Exploration of Hilbert’s approach. (Or, what characterizes modern<br />
formalistic mathematics?)<br />
Hilbert actually gave an answer to this problem – not only in a philosophical<br />
and programmatic way but also by formulating a geometry “exempla trahunt”<br />
(Freudenthal 1961: 24), a discipline that was seen for ages as the natural<br />
description of physical space, in a formalistic sense and characterized by an<br />
axiomatic structure. The established axioms are fully detached and independent<br />
from the empirical world, which leads to an absolute notion of truth:<br />
mathematical certainty in the sense of consistency. Thus, with Hilbert the bond<br />
of geometry to reality is cut. This came to life in the seminar when students<br />
read Hilbert’s Foundations of Geometry (1902, see Fig. 9) in detail.<br />
Figure 9. The famous first paragraph of Hilbert’s (1902) Foundations of Geometry.<br />
Hilbert did not give his concepts an explicit semantic meaning; he spoke<br />
independently from any empirical meaning of “distinct systems of things”.<br />
Consequently, intuitive relations like in between or congruent do not have an<br />
empirical meaning but are relations fulfilling certain formal properties only (cf.<br />
for example, Hilbert & Bernays 1968: §1, Greenberg 2004: 103-129).<br />
As we all know, the discussion of nature of mathematics did not come to an<br />
end with Hilbert. Thus, the course ended with discussions of texts taken from<br />
What is Mathematics, Really? (Hersh 1997). Hersh understood “mathematics as a<br />
human activity, a social phenomenon, part of human culture, historically<br />
evolved, and intelligible only in a social context” (xi), which created a balanced<br />
view.<br />
However, nobody will deny that formalism in Hilbert’s open-minded<br />
version had a lasting effect on the development of mathematics. As a<br />
consequence, today’s university mathematics has the freedom to be developed<br />
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without being ‘true’ in an absolute sense anymore (cf. Freudenthal 1961), but<br />
nevertheless including the possibility to interpret it physically again.<br />
In the meantime, while the creative power of pure reason is at work, the<br />
outer world again comes into play, forces upon us new questions from<br />
actual experience, opens up new branches of mathematics, and while we<br />
seek to conquer these new fields of knowledge for the realm of pure<br />
thought, we often find the answers to old unsolved problems and thus at<br />
the same time advance most successfully the old theories. And it seems<br />
to me that the numerous and surprising analogies and that apparently<br />
prearranged harmony which the mathematician so often perceives in the<br />
questions, methods and ideas of the various branches of his science, have<br />
their origin in this ever-recurring interplay between thought and<br />
experience. (Hilbert 1900: English translation in Reid 1996: 77)<br />
It is this openness and freedom of questions of absolute truth, which Hilbert<br />
replaced by the concept of logical consistency that made mathematics so<br />
successful in the 20 th century (cf. Freudenthal 1961: 24, Garbe 2001: 100-109,<br />
Tapp 2013: 142).<br />
This makes again quite clear that modern mathematics after Hilbert is on<br />
epistemological grounds, completely different than (historical) empirical<br />
mathematics and of course, mathematics taught in school. Whether the first is<br />
grounded on set axioms and the notion of mathematical certainty<br />
(inconsistency), the second and third are grounded in evident axioms – thus<br />
describing physical space including a notion of (empirical) truth, resting<br />
essentially on induction from experience.<br />
4) Summary discussion and reflection<br />
The final session of the seminar entailed a whole-group discussion in which<br />
we sought to connect insights gained from the historical perspectives with the<br />
individual participants’ mathematical biographies. We first reminded students<br />
about the preliminary discussions regarding different personal belief systems<br />
that occurred in the first session of the seminar. The intention was that the<br />
transparency on the historical problems that led to a modern abstract<br />
understanding of mathematics can therefore lead to an understanding of what<br />
happens if students live through this revolution on epistemological grounds as<br />
individuals, thus opening differentiated views on the transition problem.<br />
As an example, the first author – while leading the concluding discussion of<br />
the seminar course – prompted students with:<br />
You have described, that [it] is all abstract; there is no application. […] You<br />
have also said, that it is somehow not too bad, because it is also important...If<br />
you are watching the reality, that’s what I want to remind you, at the differences<br />
between high school-university, that you also described again … (fourth<br />
author’s translation)<br />
To this, one student shared:<br />
If first-year students go to university, then they have a completely different<br />
concept map in their mind and for example, [they] have the understanding that a<br />
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graph is always a function. But in fact that is not right. And if the lecturer talks<br />
about such definitions, [students] will say: “Huh? I have never ever seen<br />
something like this in my whole life,” and principally they know, they can<br />
connect it to their knowledge, but they need simply someone who explains to<br />
them ok, the function is not the graph. Also they need principally a dictionary<br />
for high school to university, where you can look up the concepts. (fourth<br />
author’s translation)<br />
In this student’s personal mathematical biography, then, there was a clear<br />
gap between the mathematics experienced in high school when compared to<br />
that at university. And, the gap was so pronounced that a sort of translation<br />
device – “a dictionary for high school to university” – was required to make<br />
sense of the different concepts.<br />
6. SUMMARY<br />
Although the primary intent of this article was to share the usefulness of the<br />
intensive seminar we conceptualized and implemented with one group of<br />
university mathematics students at a German university in spring 2015, another<br />
aim was to share initial reflections on the data we gathered to determine<br />
whether an intervention longer than a three-day seminar was both warranted<br />
and necessary.<br />
The group of students who participated in the seminar was heterogeneous<br />
with respect to age and semesters at university (see Table 1), which gave us<br />
multi-perspective views on the success of the seminar and a deeper insight of<br />
the transition problem. Numerous data sources will inform the construction of<br />
six case studies which will describe the ‘state of the transition’ that the<br />
participants experienced – and are still experiencing – with respect to the<br />
transition from school to university mathematics. 6 The data sources include preand<br />
post-surveys (measures of beliefs and perceptions of mathematics, content<br />
items, and demographic information), video and audio recording of the threeday<br />
seminar, essays submitted by all seminar participants, audio recording of<br />
interviews of six seminar participants, observation notes (third author), and<br />
various seminar artifacts (e.g. daily debrief notes completed with students,<br />
response cards to open, anonymous prompts).<br />
However, as with the preceding sample revelations, further evidence – in<br />
the words of the students – revealed that they could articulate the transition<br />
problem adequately and that they desire a solution as they contemplated the<br />
next “abstraction shock” they will encounter. For example, in the summary<br />
discussion, one young woman declared:<br />
Even the problem with [limits], that was also described... and now it<br />
appears for me, as if the Anschaulichkeit and the applications are the<br />
6 As we have stated throughout, we intended for this article to present the theoretical foundation for and a<br />
description of the ÜberPro seminar that we implemented in February 2015. We have purposefully<br />
reserved the presentation of signature cases of student participation in the seminar for subsequent<br />
publications.<br />
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reasons; I mean the application in school, [is] the reason, that we now<br />
have problems while the transition process to university. And then I<br />
don’t understand, why this is in all the books of didactics nowadays, that<br />
using applications is very good and that instead, it is the problem for the<br />
transition to university.<br />
Another student observed in the essay assigned at the conclusion of the<br />
seminar that:<br />
All in all, the transition problem in mathematics is quite rightly an oftendiscussed<br />
topic, which seems is hard to solve. For many students the<br />
transition from school to university is [difficult] because of the following<br />
aspects: the changes in teaching and learning, the change in the character<br />
and beliefs on mathematics ((naive-) empirical to deductivemathematical),<br />
the pressure to perform and the [subsequent] loss of<br />
motivation. That’s why they fall into a nearly never-ending ravine, from<br />
which they have to find a way out, for overcoming the transition<br />
successfully. If they fail at this, they break up their studies. For me the<br />
transition from school to university was and is also not very easy.<br />
Still another student shared in his/her essay response that:<br />
Everything we discussed in [the] seminar led me to believe that it is<br />
crucial to understand the transition problem with the help of<br />
mathematical history. I would have liked to have some more practical<br />
advances in how to use this situation later as a teacher. (I know that [was<br />
not] the aim of this class and the research is probably at the very<br />
beginning but at some times we could have spent the time in a better<br />
way.)<br />
Thus, it was clear to us that there is much more work that we can do in<br />
responding to the seminar course students’ needs. Indeed, mathematical history<br />
can provide support in negotiating the second gap that university mathematics<br />
students encounter when they transition to teaching mathematics. One such<br />
support is to provide concrete ways in which mathematics teachers can draw<br />
upon particular moments in the historical development of a collection of related<br />
mathematical ideas (as in the case of geometry in the ÜberPro seminar).<br />
However, another support includes the way in which history of mathematics<br />
contributes to a teacher’s mathematical knowledge for teaching, particularly<br />
contributions to horizon content knowledge (Clark 2012).<br />
6.1 Implications for next steps<br />
For school purposes – from a well-informed mathematics educator’s point of<br />
view – nothing speaks against doing mathematics in an empirical way. Indeed,<br />
history has shown that empirical mathematics was a decent way to develop<br />
mathematical knowledge and the experimental natural sciences generate<br />
knowledge comparably. Yet approaches to bring formalistic mathematics into<br />
school classrooms have failed miserably (cf. the New Math Initiative, Why<br />
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Ingo Witzke, Horst Struve, Kathleen Clark, Gero Stoffels<br />
ÜBERPRO – A SEMINAR CONSTRUCTED TO CONFRONT THE TRANSITION<br />
PROBLEM FROM SCHOOL TO UNIVERSITY MATHEMATICS, BASED ON<br />
EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL IDEAS OF MATHEMATICS<br />
87<br />
Johnny Can’t Add (Kline 1974)). Moreover, we cannot step away from teaching<br />
mathematics in a theoretical way at universities. In contrast, the intensive<br />
seminar course that we implemented sought to make tangible, understandable,<br />
and explicit to first-year university students that the transition from school<br />
mathematics to university mathematics is an epistemological obstacle.<br />
Hefendehl-Hebeker (2013: 80) found quite comparably:<br />
[…] a principle difference between school and university is that at<br />
university with the axiomatic method a new level of theory formation<br />
has to be reached, and thus it follows that the discontinuity cannot be<br />
avoided.<br />
So if the discontinuity cannot be avoided, what can teachers and students at<br />
university gain from a seminar course like the one described here? We found<br />
that significant potential lies in the following areas:<br />
1. The historical excursions do not only focus on the beliefs aspect but also<br />
demonstrate and involve critical mathematical activities, especially<br />
regarding deductive reasoning within the frameworks of consistent<br />
mathematical theories.<br />
2. Teachers and students should become aware of the extent of the<br />
transition problem, and that the problem’s solution is not as easy as<br />
repeating particular secondary school mathematics, as many approaches<br />
(and deficit models) seem to suggest. Instead, a revolutionary act of<br />
conceptual change is required and this work does not occur overnight<br />
and needs guidance. The historical questions that led to the modern<br />
understanding of mathematics are too sophisticated and waiting for<br />
students to develop these for themselves is a particular burden on top of<br />
all the other factors of beginning mathematical study at university. The<br />
approach of initiating these questions explicitly within the framework<br />
we described here may support a more adequate and prompt change of<br />
belief system, which in turn holds promise for addressed both forms of<br />
“abstraction shock” experienced by secondary mathematics teachers.<br />
3. The seminar course has the power to sensitize for critical communication<br />
problems. Teachers and students should acknowledge that when talking<br />
about mathematics, using the same terms might not imply talking about<br />
the same things. For example, students may come to university from<br />
school having learned calculus in an empirical context such that<br />
functions might be equivalent to curves. This might imply that<br />
properties like continuity or differentiability are empirical and can be<br />
read from the sketched graph of the function (comparable to 17 th century<br />
mathematicians). The university lecturer, on the other hand, probably<br />
has a general abstract notion of function implying a completely different<br />
notion of mathematical reasoning and truth. In particular, lecturers<br />
should repeatedly check if the knowledge of their students is still bound<br />
to (single) objects of reference. The same holds for the students<br />
eventually leaving university and starting as secondary school<br />
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PROBLEM FROM SCHOOL TO UNIVERSITY MATHEMATICS, BASED ON<br />
EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL IDEAS OF MATHEMATICS<br />
88<br />
NOTES<br />
mathematics teachers: they should be aware that what they consider<br />
from an abstract point of view their students may instead possess<br />
visualizations of abstract notions as the reference objects.<br />
1. Anschauung: The meaning of the prominent German term Anschauung<br />
has two different connotations. It can mean something close to ‘empirical<br />
perception’ or something like an ‘inner mental image’ (according to<br />
Immanuel Kant). Heuser (2009) referred to the aspect of empirical<br />
perception.<br />
2. Empirical: The authors use the word empirical in the sense as it is used in<br />
the concept of “empirical theories” in philosophy of science, which is<br />
close to natural scientific theories. That means that some concepts of a<br />
theory have real/physical/empirical reference objects and the<br />
propositions of the theory can be checked by experiments in reality<br />
(Hempel 1945, Stegmüller 1987).<br />
3. Formalistic: The authors use the word formalistic in the Hilbertian sense.<br />
That means a (mathematical) theory is formalistic if all primitive concepts<br />
of the theory are (logical) variables and the axioms of the theory are not<br />
sentences but sentential functions with the primitive concepts as<br />
variables arguments (cp. C. G. Hempel 1945). By virtue of a physical<br />
interpretation of the originally uninterpreted primitives empirical models<br />
of the formalistic theory are defined. This is the relation between a<br />
formalistic mathematics and empirical science.<br />
Figure Acknowledgements:<br />
Fig. 1. Data from a survey made by Ingo Witzke in 2013.<br />
Fig. 2. Graphical derivative. Graphic from Griesel, H. et al. (Hrsg.): Elemente<br />
der Mathematik (EDM), Einführungsphase – Braunschweig: Schroedel 2010:<br />
203.<br />
Fig. 3. Three excerpts of different textbooks for comparison. University<br />
course textbook “Königsberger 2001: 34” (top left), school textbook<br />
“Lambacher Schweizer 2009: 55” (bottom left), historical text “Leibniz, Acta<br />
Eruditorum”, 1693 (right).<br />
Fig. 4. Historical development as one basis of the seminar. Created by Ingo<br />
Witzke and Gero Stoffels.<br />
Fig. 5. The Architecture of Pythagoras theorem. Graphic by S. Schlicht<br />
(University of Cologne) 2014.<br />
Fig. 6. Photo of “Autobahn” taken by Ingo Witzke (top); Albrecht Dürer:<br />
“Man drawing a lute” (1525), (bottom left); photo of Albrecht Dürer Activity<br />
during seminar, taken by Kathleen Clark (bottom right).<br />
Fig. 7. Example for the principle of duality: Theorem of Pappus-Pascal: Six<br />
points (red) incident with two lines (blue) – the points (green) which are<br />
incident with opposite lines of the hexahedron are collinear (green line).<br />
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EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL IDEAS OF MATHEMATICS<br />
89<br />
Theorem of Brianchon: Six lines (red) incident with two points (blue) – the<br />
lines (green) which are incident with opposite points of the hexahedron are<br />
copunctal (green point). Graphic created by Horst Struve and Ingo Witzke.<br />
Fig. 8. Angle sums in different geometries: Internet source retrieved<br />
November 1, 2015 from the World Wide Web:<br />
https://naiadseye.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/euclidean-udnerstande1414490051530.png?w=470&h=289<br />
(Stand, 2015).<br />
Fig 9. First paragraph of Hilbert’s Foundations of Geometry (Hilbert 1902).<br />
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Ingo Witzke, Horst Struve, Kathleen Clark, Gero Stoffels<br />
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PROBLEM FROM SCHOOL TO UNIVERSITY MATHEMATICS, BASED ON<br />
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PROBLEM FROM SCHOOL TO UNIVERSITY MATHEMATICS, BASED ON<br />
EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL IDEAS OF MATHEMATICS<br />
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BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES<br />
Ingo Witzke is full professor at the University of Siegen. He is responsible for<br />
undergraduate and graduate mathematics education courses for pre-service teacher<br />
students in the mathematics department. He majored in mathematics and history for<br />
secondary level teaching and earned a doctorate in science education from the<br />
University of Cologne in 2009. His interest and area of publication is benefit-oriented<br />
fundamental research in the field of mathematics education. He focuses on beliefs and<br />
nature(s) of mathematics, including epistemological, historical and cognitive aspects.<br />
Horst Struve is a full professor at the University of Cologne. He completed his PhD in<br />
1978 at the University of Kiel in the foundations of geometry, and his habilitation in<br />
geometry education 1989 at the University of Cologne. His main research interests are<br />
the reconstruction of the development of mathematical theories in both the history of<br />
mathematics and in the classroom. Since there are important similarities between<br />
pupils’ conception of mathematics in school and of mathematicians in history,<br />
mathematics education can learn much from history.<br />
Kathleen Clark is an associate professor at Florida State University. She earned her<br />
doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction (University of Maryland – College Park) in<br />
2006. Kathleen Clark’s research interests are centered on investigating the role of<br />
history of mathematics in teaching and learning. She has published numerous journal<br />
articles, proceedings papers, and book chapters.<br />
Gero Stoffels is doctoral student at the University of Siegen and is supervised by Prof.<br />
Dr. Ingo Witzke. He majored in mathematics and physics for teaching at the University<br />
of Cologne. His doctoral dissertation project deals with the transition from school to<br />
university mathematics with a special focus on probability theory. He is also interested<br />
in comparing individual and historical development processes on an epistemological<br />
level.<br />
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UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research<br />
94<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA<br />
FORMATION DES ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU<br />
SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE L’HISTOIRE DES<br />
MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS<br />
DE LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
David Guillemette<br />
Faculté d’éducation, Université d’Ottawa<br />
david.guillemette@uottawa.ca<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
This paper tries to highlight some difficulties that have been encountered during the<br />
implementation of reading activities of historical texts in the preservice teachers<br />
training context. During a history of mathematics course offert at the Université du<br />
Québec à Montréal, seven reading activities have been constructed and implemented<br />
in class. Looking to articulate both synchronic and diachronic reading, numerous<br />
efforts have been deployed in order to do not uproot the text and his author from their<br />
socio-historical and mathematical context. We try here to describe the teaching<br />
difficulties that we have encountered in this context and to identify the possible<br />
sources and solutions to these problems. Furthermore, we question these concepts of<br />
synchronic and diachronic reading in this context. Examples of interactions between<br />
students, as well as the trainer, engaged in the reading of historical texts are provided<br />
and presented by the mean of sketches<br />
Keywords: History of Mathematics, Reading of Historical Texts, Diachronic and<br />
Synchronic Reading, Mathematics Preservice Teachers Training, Empirical Research<br />
1. L’HISTOIRE, LA PETITE HISTOIRE…<br />
L’histoire des mathématiques dans l’enseignement-apprentissage des<br />
mathématiques est un sujet qui a fait l’objet d’abondantes études, et ce, depuis<br />
de nombreuses années. C’est à partir des années soixante-dix que ce champ<br />
d’intérêt a connu une hausse importante de popularité. Un nombre important<br />
d’articles, publications, livres, recueils, conférences et groupes de recherche<br />
touchant plus ou moins directement l’histoire et l’enseignement des<br />
mathématiques sont issus de cette période effervescente.<br />
Jusqu’à récemment, il semblait que tous, enseignants et chercheurs,<br />
s’entendaient pour dire que l’histoire est bénéfique et se veut d’emblée un outil<br />
motivationnel et cognitif efficace dans l’apprentissage des mathématiques<br />
(Charbonneau 2006). En effet, un mouvement d’enthousiasme mêlé d’une<br />
grande inventivité anime le milieu depuis la création de ces entités de<br />
recherche. Cependant, depuis maintenant une dizaine d’années, la recherche<br />
autour de l’utilisation de l’histoire des mathématiques se restructure. De<br />
nouveaux questionnements font suite à la parution de l’étude ICMI sur le<br />
sujet (Fauvel & van Maanen 2000). Véritable bilan de santé du domaine de<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
95<br />
recherche, le livre rassemble les réflexions, interrogations et inquiétudes des<br />
chercheurs du moment. On peut retenir très globalement que ces derniers<br />
prennent aujourd’hui du recul face à leurs travaux et tentent de construire de<br />
nouveaux outils d’investigations plus raffinés pouvant à la fois alimenter la<br />
production d’outils pratiques pour le terrain, de mieux en comprendre leurs<br />
utilisations par les acteurs des milieux éducatifs et, surtout, de raffiner les<br />
discours sur les enjeux didactiques et pédagogiques de l’utilisation de l’histoire<br />
en classe de mathématiques.<br />
Aujourd’hui, le champ de recherche semble essoufflé quant à la production<br />
et au design d’activités d’apprentissage, de situations problèmes ou de<br />
séquences d’enseignement. Les activités des chercheurs se déplacent vers la<br />
recherche en termes de fondements didactiques et pédagogiques à partir<br />
desquels il serait possible de mieux penser le rôle de l’histoire (Guillemette<br />
2011). Le développement de cadres théoriques et conceptuels permettant de<br />
fournir les appareillages nécessaires à la production d’investigations plus fines<br />
est encore maintenant attendu fermement (Kjeldsen 2012).<br />
2. SUR LE RÔLE ET LES MODALITÉS D’ÉTUDE DE L’HISTOIRE EN<br />
CLASSE DE MATHÉMATIQUES : LE POINT DE VUE DE FRIED<br />
Ainsi, un besoin important se fait sentir dans la communauté afin de<br />
construire des outils critiques permettant de porter un regard aiguisé sur la<br />
recherche et les pratiques actuelles. En particulier, on cherche à classer, à<br />
catégoriser et à évaluer les études du domaine. On tente d’éclaircir les discours<br />
en répertoriant les objectifs poursuivis par les chercheurs, les moyens employés<br />
et les concepts utilisés. Aussi, plusieurs tentatives de catégorisation concernant<br />
le ‘comment’ et le ‘pourquoi’ de l’utilisation de l’histoire sont parues suite à<br />
l’étude ICMI (p. ex. Fried 2001, 2007, 2008, Furinghetti 2004, Gulikers & Blom<br />
2001, Jankvist 2009, Tang 2007, Tzanakis & Thomaidis 2007). La discussion sur<br />
le rôle et les modalités d’étude de l’histoire en classe de mathématiques est<br />
encore très vive et les questions les plus larges restent, et ce pour le mieux,<br />
encore ouvertes.<br />
Un important point de vue est celui de Fried (2001, 2007, 2008) qui réaffirme<br />
à sa manière les vertus ‘humanisantes’ de l’histoire des mathématiques. Dans la<br />
mouvance actuelle, il prône fermement pour une perspective historique dans<br />
l’enseignement des mathématiques une perspective dirigée vers le<br />
développement global de l’individu, prétextant qu’une visée pragmatique,<br />
utilitaire et ponctuelle mène inexorablement à une histoire des mathématiques<br />
mutilée et réifiée, ainsi qu’à une démarche éducative stérile et séparée de<br />
fondements pédagogiques profonds (cf. Whig history, Fried 2007).<br />
Son discours recèle une dimension particulière, celle de la connaissance de<br />
soi (self-knowledge). Il souligne que le mouvement de va-et-vient entre la<br />
compréhension actuelle des objets mathématiques et les formes de<br />
compréhensions provenant d’autres époques amène l’apprenant à une<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
96<br />
connaissance plus approfondie de lui-même: “a movement towards self-knowledge,<br />
a knowledge of ourselves as a kind of creature who does mathematics, a kind of<br />
mathematical being” (Fried 2007 : p. 218).<br />
Fried propose que cette connaissance de soi, c’est-à-dire de son ‘être<br />
mathématique’, soit l’objectif premier que doivent se donner les enseignants de<br />
mathématiques. C’est un contact important avec l’histoire qui doit faire émerger<br />
en l’apprenant une certaine conscience de ses propres conceptions, de ses<br />
manières de faire et de son individualité en mathématiques. Ainsi seulement, il<br />
aura la possibilité de faire grandir cette individualité par la confrontation<br />
constructive avec celles des autres. Fried n’hésite pas à souligner l’arrière-plan<br />
de sa pensée autour de ces considérations en mentionnant que: “education, in<br />
general, is directed towards the whole human being, and, accordingly, mathematics<br />
education, as opposed to, say, professional mathematical training, ought to contribute to<br />
students’ growing into a whole human beings” (Fried 2007: p. 219).<br />
Dans plusieurs études théoriques importantes, Fried (2001, 2007, 2008)<br />
discute en profondeur de ces éléments. D’abord, il met en relief la difficulté de<br />
traiter convenablement de l’histoire en classe de mathématiques. Très souvent<br />
l’histoire prend la forme d’anecdotes et de capsules historiques qu’il voit d’un<br />
très mauvais œil. Il souligne le risque évident d’une dénaturation de l’histoire,<br />
particulièrement d’une histoire contaminée par une vision moderne des<br />
mathématiques qui écrase l’historicité des concepts et aseptise la lecture<br />
historique. Comme les risques d’anachronisme et de lectures faussement<br />
progressives de l’histoire sont élevés, il souhaite que celle-ci soit prise au<br />
sérieux et que son étude soit prudente et attentive. Dans cette perspective, Fried<br />
propose les approches d’ ‘accommodation radical’ (radical accommodation) et de<br />
‘séparation radical’ (radical separation) (Fried 2001: 405). Il postule que l’étude<br />
des mathématiques d’une époque donnée doit se faire en symbiose avec le<br />
contenu visé du cours ou se séparer carrément du contenu mathématique<br />
moderne enseigné. Bref, pour Fried, il ne doit pas y avoir de demi-mesure.<br />
Qu’en est-il alors de la pertinence de l’histoire? L’histoire des<br />
mathématiques devrait-elle rester à sa place et ne pas interférer dans le cours de<br />
mathématiques? Avec de telles ‘accommodations’ et une telle ‘prise au sérieux<br />
de l’histoire’, est-il maintenant illusoire de penser introduire l’histoire avec un<br />
temps de classe limité? Surtout, quelles sont les lignes directrices que les<br />
enseignants des divers contextes éducatifs devraient suivre afin d’atteindre ces<br />
objectifs ambitieux?<br />
Fried répond (2007, 2008) en concentrant sa réflexion sur le rôle de<br />
l’enseignant, de ses choix pédagogiques et de son attitude face à la discipline.<br />
Ainsi, il plaide pour l’utilisation de sources primaires, et notamment pour une<br />
rencontre directe avec les mathématiques de l’histoire par la lecture de textes<br />
historiques. À ce sujet, il souligne que la lecture d’un document historique nous<br />
permet d’aller directement à la rencontre avec l’histoire et avec les formes<br />
d’activités mathématiques qui y sont apparues.<br />
Or, une telle lecture de texte doit être faite avec beaucoup de vigilance, et<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
97<br />
Fried propose un certain cadre conceptuel afin de mieux penser ces activités<br />
d’enseignement-apprentissage très particulières, ainsi que leurs articulations<br />
avec les objectifs pédagogiques développés précédemment.<br />
Avant tout, il souligne que la lecture d’un tel texte est différente pour le<br />
mathématicien et pour l’historien. L’objectif de l’historien est de se plonger<br />
dans l’époque du mathématicien, de percevoir les idiosyncrasies de ce dernier<br />
et de situer l’ouvrage dans le continuum du développement des<br />
mathématiques. Quant au mathématicien, il tente de son côté de décoder les<br />
symboles désuets, de les restituer au langage moderne et de saisir l’aspect<br />
essentiellement mathématique des propos de l’auteur. Il qualifie de diachronique<br />
la lecture de l’historien et de synchronique la lecture du mathématicien, termes<br />
qu’il emprunte à de Saussure. Fried (2008) affirme que connaitre véritablement<br />
un concept mathématique signifie le connaitre à la fois synchroniquement,<br />
c’est-à-dire en considérant sa situation à l’intérieur du système de concepts<br />
mathématiques actuel, et diachroniquement, c’est-à-dire en considérant son<br />
historicité, son évolution dans le temps et l’espace.<br />
Afin d’éclairer ces termes synchronique et diachronique, retournons<br />
rapidement à la théorie linguistique saussurienne. De Saussure mentionne à<br />
propos de la langue que:<br />
Si on prenait la langue dans le temps, sans la masse parlante […] on ne<br />
constaterait peut-être aucune altération; le temps n’agirait pas sur elle.<br />
Inversement, si on considérait la masse parlante sans le temps, on ne<br />
verrait pas l’effet des forces sociales agissant sur la langue (De Saussure<br />
1967/2005: 113).<br />
On distingue ici deux perspectives: une perspective anhistorique où l’on<br />
observe comme une photo les signes (couple signifiant/signifié) effectifs dans la<br />
masse parlante et une perspective historique où les signes sont en perpétuel<br />
changement.<br />
En d’autres termes, quand l’histoire entre dans le tableau, le tableau change<br />
complètement. Dès lors, il apparait que “le fleuve de la langue coule sans<br />
interruption” (De Saussure: 193). C’est ici que de Saussure introduit les termes<br />
synchronique et diachronique pour distinguer respectivement ces perspectives<br />
anhistoriques et historiques.<br />
Pour Fried, la lecture synchronique des objets mathématiques est trop<br />
souvent renforcée par les enseignants et les mathématiciens dans le contexte de<br />
l’utilisation de l’histoire dans l’enseignement-apprentissage des<br />
mathématiques. Au contraire, le rôle de l’enseignant devrait être précisément<br />
de faire constamment basculer l’apprenant entre ces deux visions. C’est ce<br />
travail de va-et-vient continuel qui doit faire émerger chez l’apprenant une<br />
certaine conscience de ses propres conceptions des mathématiques et de son<br />
individualité face à la discipline.<br />
Se centrant sur les possibilités d’émancipation pour l’apprenant lors de ces<br />
expériences de lectures fondatrices, Fried insiste sur la prise de conscience et le<br />
mouvement de croissance de l’individu plutôt que sur la réflexion<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
98<br />
épistémologique de ce dernier. Ce n’est qu’en chemin que la réflexion<br />
épistémologique de l’apprenant et l’émancipation recherchée apparaissent<br />
consubstantielles. Ici, l’histoire des mathématiques est pensée comme une<br />
source possible d’importantes expériences personnelles impliquant un certain<br />
rapport de soi à soi par l’intermédiaire de l’histoire et des artefacts historicoculturels<br />
qu’on y trouve, expérience fondamentale qui supporterait le<br />
mouvement de croitre qui est celui de l’apprenant.<br />
3. UN EXEMPLE D’OPÉRATIONNALISATION DANS LA RECHERCHE DE<br />
TERRAIN<br />
Malgré la richesse et la profondeur de ces considérations théoriques sur<br />
l’apport de l’histoire dans l’enseignement-apprentissage des mathématiques,<br />
celles-ci n’ont que très rarement été confrontées à la recherche de terrains<br />
(Guillemette 2011). Notre objectif sera d’interroger les considérations théoriques<br />
de Fried notamment sur les modalités de lectures synchroniques et<br />
diachroniques de textes historiques en classe de mathématiques à partir de<br />
données issues d’une précédente étude empirique (Guillemette 2015).<br />
Sommairement, l’étude en question avait pour objectif de décrire le<br />
dépaysement épistémologique (Barbin 1997, 2006, Jahnke et al. 2000) des<br />
étudiants en formation à l’enseignement des mathématiques au secondaire.<br />
Barbin explique qu’introduire l’histoire des mathématiques bouscule notre<br />
perspective coutumière des mathématiques et souligne que “l’histoire des<br />
mathématiques, et c’est peut-être son principal attrait, a la vertu de nous<br />
permettre de nous étonner de ce qui va de soi” (1997 : 21). Dans cette<br />
perspective, le dépaysement épistémologique serait un choc culturel aux<br />
dimensions affectives et cognitives qui mènerait à des compréhensions<br />
différentes des mathématiques et de ses objets de savoir. Afin d’obtenir une<br />
description de ce phénomène, sept activités de lectures de textes historiques ont<br />
été construites et mises en œuvres dans une classe d’étudiants inscrits à une<br />
formation à l’enseignement des mathématiques au secondaire:<br />
- A’hmosè: Papyrus de Rhind, problème 24<br />
- Euclide: Les Éléments proposition 14, Livre 2<br />
- Archimède: La quadrature de la parabole<br />
- Al-Khwarizmi: Abrégé du calcul par la restauration et la comparaison, types 4 et 5<br />
- Nicolas Chuquet: Tripartys en sciences des nombres, problème 166<br />
- Gilles Personne de Roberval: Observations sur la composition des mouvements et<br />
sur le moyen de trouver les touchantes des lignes courbes, Problème 1<br />
- Pierre de Fermat: Méthode pour la recherche du minimum et du maximum,<br />
problème 1 à 5.<br />
Lors de ces activités de lectures, nous nous efforcions, à titre de<br />
formateur/chercheur, de faire continuellement basculer les étudiants entre une<br />
lecture synchronique et une lecture diachronique des propos de l’auteur.<br />
La sélection des participants de l’étude a été faite parmi les futurs<br />
enseignants du secondaire inscrits au cours MAT6221 Histoire des mathématiques<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
99<br />
à l’Université du Québec à Montréal. Six étudiants ont été recrutés sur une base<br />
volontaire. Cherchant à décrire l’expérience vécue des participants afin<br />
d’interroger et de mieux penser le concept de dépaysement épistémologique<br />
dans un tel cadre, une approche phénoménologique a alors été déployée. Des<br />
captations vidéo des activités de classe, des entretiens individuels et un<br />
entretien de groupe ont été réalisés et ont fourni les données de l’étude.<br />
Nous ne nous attarderons ici que sur les données issues des captations vidéo<br />
des activités de classe. Lors de ces dernières, deux caméras ont été installées à<br />
des points raisonnablement éloignés dans la classe et pointaient sur des ilots<br />
constitués de deux ou trois pupitres. Les six participants ont été invités à<br />
chaque séance à se séparer en deux équipes, chacune prenant place sur un ilot.<br />
Pour l’analyse de ces captations vidéo, un visionnement attentif séance par<br />
séance et équipe par équipe a été fait. Le but était alors de capter les moments<br />
d’objectivation (Radford 2011, 2013) nous apparaissant lors des activités de<br />
lecture, c’est-à-dire les moments de rencontre avec quelque chose qui<br />
s’(ob)jecte, qui se donne à voir à travers les activités de lecture. Quelque chose<br />
qui s’affirme en tant qu’altérité et qui se présente aux apprenants petit à petit.<br />
Une attention particulière a donc été donnée aux gestes, postures, attitudes et<br />
réactions diverses des participants, ainsi qu’aux échanges et réflexions<br />
émergentes en relation aux textes. Ce concept d’objectivation est issu de la<br />
théorie de l’objectivation. D’inspiration Vygotskienne, cette théorie<br />
socioculturelle contemporaine de l’enseignement-apprentissage plaide pour<br />
une conception non mentaliste de la pensée. S’opposant au courant rationaliste<br />
et idéaliste, elle propose la conception d’une pensée à la fois sensible et<br />
historique. D’une part, elle est sensible, car elle s’enracine dans le corps, les sens<br />
et l’affectivité, lesquels sont invoqués dans la saisie des objets de la réalité.<br />
D’autre part, elle est historique puisqu’elle se trouve, de manière inhérente,<br />
jetée dans une réalité sociohistorique. C’est pourquoi elle est attentive à<br />
l’influence des artefacts chez l’être humain et à l’interaction sociale.<br />
En parallèle à ce visionnement, un texte descriptif a été produit pour<br />
chacune des équipes de chaque activité de lecture. Des captures d’écran y ont<br />
été incluses, elles mettent en évidence, sous forme de saynètes, ces moments de<br />
rencontre. Il est à noter que ces captures d’écrans ont été modifiées à l’aide du<br />
logiciel SketchPen afin de donner un aspect ‘roquis de crayons’ aux images<br />
retenues. Ces modifications permettaient de garder l’anonymat des participants<br />
tout en laissant visibles leurs postures, gestes et réactions.<br />
4. PROPOSITION D’UNE ACTIVITÉ DE LECTURE<br />
Nous nous contenterons ici de revenir sur une seule de ces activités de<br />
lecture en nous concentrant sur les interactions entre les membres d’une équipe<br />
en particulier. Lors de cette activité, les trois participants; Aliocha, Martha et<br />
Ninotchka s’adonnent à la lecture de l’Abrégé du calcul par la restauration et la<br />
comparaison d’al-Khwarizmi, une traduction d’Ahmed Djebbar (2005).<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
100<br />
Un seul extrait a été traité par les participants. Dans ce dernier, al-<br />
Khwārizmī propose un procédé pour la résolution du 4 e modèle d’équation<br />
quadratique: ax 2 + bx = c.<br />
Il donne en exemple générique l’équation à résoudre x 2 + 10x = 39. Voici son<br />
explication:<br />
Quant à la justification de “un bien et dix racines égalent trente-neuf dirhams”,<br />
sa figure est une surface carrée de côtés inconnus, et c’est le bien que tu veux<br />
connaitre et dont tu veux connaitre la racine. C’est la surface (AB), et chacun de<br />
ses côtés est la racine. Chacun de ses côtés, si tu le multiplies par un nombre<br />
parmi les nombres, quels que soient les nombres, sera des nombres de racines,<br />
chaque racine étant comme la racine de cette surface. Comme on a dit qu’avec le<br />
bien il y a dix de ses racines, nous prenons le quart de dix – et c’est deux et un<br />
demi – et nous transformons chacun de ses quarts [en segment] avec l’un des<br />
côtés de la surface. Il y aura ainsi, avec la première surface, qui est la surface<br />
(AB), quatre surfaces égales, la longueur de chacune d’elles étant comme la<br />
racine de la surface (AB) et sa largeur deux et un demi, et ce sont les surfaces<br />
(H), (T), (K), (J). Il [en] résulte une surface à côtés égaux, inconnue aussi, et<br />
déficiente dans ses quatre coins, chaque coin étant déficient de deux et demi par<br />
deux et demi. Alors, ce dont on a besoin comme ajout afin que la surface soit<br />
carrée, sera deux et demi par lui-même, quatre fois; et la valeur de tout cela est<br />
vingt-cinq. Or, nous avons appris que la première surface, qui est la surface du<br />
bien, et les quatre surfaces qui sont autour de lui et qui sont dix racines, sont<br />
[égales à] trente-neuf en nombre. Si on leur ajoute les vingt-cinq qui sont les<br />
quatre carrés qui sont dans les coins de la surface (AB), la quadrature de la<br />
surface la plus grande, et qui est (DE), sera alors achevée. Or nous savons que<br />
tout cela est soixante-quatre, et que l’un de ses côtés est sa racine, et c’est huit.<br />
Si on retranche de huit l’équivalent de deux fois le quart de dix – et c’est cinq –,<br />
aux extrémités du côté de la surface la plus grande qui est la surface (DE), il<br />
reste son côté trois, et c’est la racine de ce bien.<br />
5. DESCRIPTION ET ANALYSE<br />
Après une étude sommaire du contexte historique et mathématique du<br />
texte, ainsi qu’une présentation de l’auteur au début de l’activité, les<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
101<br />
participants ont été invités à débuter la lecture. Voici la description commentée<br />
de cette séance de lecture:<br />
Martha a retourné son pupitre pour faire face à Aliocha et Ninotchka. Ils débutent<br />
individuellement et en silence la lecture pendant près de cinq minutes. Martha surligne<br />
quelques passages du premier extrait.<br />
Figure 1: Lecture d’al-Khwārizmī: équipe Martha - Aliocha - Ninotchka.<br />
Martha demande au formateur si la ‘comparaison’ invoquée dans le texte correspond<br />
à la comparaison telle qu’elle est comprise aujourd’hui. Le formateur explique que le<br />
mot ‘comparaison’ est issu de la traduction du texte original d’al-Khwārizmī et qu’il ne<br />
s’agit pas de la même chose. Ils reprennent ensuite tous leur lecture.<br />
Nous remarquons ici un premier appel au formateur à propos du<br />
vocabulaire. Martha se demande si le mot comparaison renvoie au sens tel que<br />
nous l’entendons aujourd’hui. Elle en doute et le formateur lui rappelle qu’elle<br />
lit une traduction du texte original, et que, par conséquent, le sens doit fort<br />
probablement être différent.<br />
Ninotchka et Martha organisent leur espace de travail, détachent les feuilles du<br />
document, tandis qu’Aliocha est plongé dans sa lecture. Le travail se poursuit<br />
individuellement pour encore plusieurs minutes.<br />
Martha questionne Ninotchka sur ce que représente la figure dessinée par l’auteur.<br />
Elles reprennent ensemble la signification des différents éléments de la figure et<br />
retournent rapidement à leur lecture. Chacun se concentre sur le premier extrait.<br />
Martha demande à ses coéquipiers pourquoi al-Khwārizmī prend le quart de la<br />
valeur du terme en x. Elle souligne que cette question a aussi été soulevée par l’autre<br />
équipe.<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
102<br />
Figure 2: Lecture d’al-Khwārizmī: équipe Martha - Aliocha - Ninotchka.<br />
Aliocha lui explique que, puisque la figure initiale de l’auteur est un carré, il lui faut<br />
ensuite ajouter quatre rectangles autour, lesquels sont associés au terme en x. Ce<br />
dernier doit donc être divisé en quatre. Aliocha pointe les quatre rectangles sur la figure<br />
dessinée par Martha.<br />
Nous pouvons remarquer déjà après quelques minutes une traduction de<br />
l’auteur en langage moderne. Les participants discutent d’un “terme en x” sans<br />
avoir à se justifier ni à s’expliquer. Or, l’usage de lettres dans l’énonciation d’un<br />
raisonnement algébrique ne se trouve nulle part chez al-Khwārizmī.<br />
Figure 3: Lecture d’al-Khwārizmī: équipe Martha - Aliocha - Ninotchka.<br />
Martha souligne la perspicacité d’Aliocha. Elle écrit ce raisonnement sur sa feuille<br />
de travail. Martha demande ensuite: “La longueur 10, comment on la connait?”.<br />
Aliocha exprime son incompréhension. Elle ajoute: “Dans mon schéma, comment je sais<br />
combien ça mesure 10/4, je me donne une unité de référence?”. Les deux autres<br />
acquiescent. Aliocha souligne que l’auteur parle du ‘dirham’, une monnaie qui peut ici<br />
être considérée comme l’unité.<br />
À nouveau, les participants tentent de traduire dans leurs mots le<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
103<br />
vocabulaire de l’auteur. Une association est effectuée entre le ‘dirham’ et l’<br />
‘unite’.<br />
Martha souligne que la démarche de l’auteur ressemble à la méthode algébrique de la<br />
complétion de carré. Ils reprennent individuellement leur lecture. Aliocha résonne<br />
dorénavant sur la figure, tandis que Ninotchka et Martha relisent l’extrait mot à mot<br />
tout en augmentant leur dessin de nouveaux éléments. Martha surligne à nouveau des<br />
passages de l’extrait, tandis qu’Aliocha tente de résoudre algébriquement le problème.<br />
Nous pouvons observer les participants se référer à une stratégie de<br />
résolution algébrique à l’aide de représentations géométriques (tuiles<br />
algébriques). Il s’agit d’un outil didactique acquis au cours de leur formation à<br />
l’enseignement des mathématiques. Aliocha débute quant à lui une démarche<br />
algébrique moderne à partir de l’énoncé du problème.<br />
Aliocha se lève et demande de l’aide au formateur. Ce dernier propose à Aliocha de<br />
réfléchir à une solution qui serait normalement proposée aujourd’hui. Aliocha rétorque<br />
qu’il faudrait appliquer la formule quadratique. Ninotchka propose la complétion de<br />
carré comme stratégie de résolution et montre ses démarches à Aliocha.<br />
Figure 4: Lecture d’al-Khwārizmī: équipe Martha - Aliocha - Ninotchka.<br />
Le formateur vient en aide à l’équipe en leur proposant d’élaborer d’abord<br />
une solution avec leurs outils actuels avant d’entreprendre l’interprétation du<br />
texte. L’objectif serait de possiblement faire le parallèle avec la démarche d’al-<br />
Khwārizmī, afin de mieux comprendre cette dernière.<br />
Martha se rapproche alors et le groupe tente ensuite de concilier la démarche de<br />
Ninotchka avec celle de l’auteur, il est question d’abord du traitement du terme en x.<br />
Figure 5: Lecture d’al-Khwārizmī: équipe Martha - Aliocha - Ninotchka.<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
104<br />
Le groupe ne réussit pas à concilier les deux démarches. Le formateur quitte alors le<br />
groupe et laisse les participants à leurs réflexions. Ils reprennent chacun leur travail<br />
individuellement.<br />
Ninotchka se souvient alors qu’à la complétion de carré est associée habituellement<br />
une figure géométrique. Elle montre son dessin au groupe et demande l’avis d’Aliocha<br />
sur son approche.<br />
Figure 6: Lecture d’al-Khwārizmī: équipe Martha - Aliocha - Ninotchka.<br />
Elle souligne que dans ce cas-ci, il faut diviser par deux et non par quatre comme le<br />
fait al-Khwārizmī. Martha explique qu’al-Khwārizmī ajoute quatre rectangles autour de<br />
son carré plutôt que deux comme il est habituellement fait lors de la complétion de carré.<br />
Elle pointe alors chacun des côtés du carré.<br />
Retournant à la méthode de la complétion de carré, qui apparait plus près<br />
de celle d’al-Khwārizmī, les participants tentent à nouveau de concilier leurs<br />
manières de faire avec celles de l’auteur. Un repère particulier est mis en<br />
évidence, celui de la représentation et du découpage en rectangle des quantités<br />
en question.<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
105<br />
Figure 7: Lecture d’al-Khwārizmī: équipe Martha - Aliocha - Ninotchka.<br />
Aliocha explique donc que si l’on veut suivre la méthode de l’auteur, il faut alors<br />
diviser le terme en x par quatre. Martha poursuit en expliquant que les rectangles<br />
couvriront au total la même surface, mais seront simplement disposés différemment.<br />
Aliocha est d’accord et ajoute que la démarche algébrique associée sera alors différente.<br />
Ils se lancent à nouveau dans l’exploration algébrique de la démarche de l’auteur.<br />
Ninotchka partage ses résultats avec Aliocha, Martha avance seule.<br />
Avançant dans la réconciliation entre la méthode de complétion de carré et<br />
celle d’al-Khwārizmī, les participants se proposent en parallèle de fournir une<br />
démarche algébrique moderne.<br />
Martha tente de généraliser le cas traité par l’auteur à l’aide d’une expression<br />
algébrique. Elle explique comment elle a obtenu son expression à Aliocha. Ce dernier<br />
généralise davantage l’expression de Martha et l’accompagne dans le peaufinement de<br />
sa démarche. Après quelques avancées, Aliocha conclut cependant que le travail de<br />
généralisation de Martha ne les avance pas dans la compréhension et la validation de la<br />
démarche de l’auteur.<br />
Figure 8: Lecture d’al-Khwārizmī: équipe Martha - Aliocha - Ninotchka.<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
106<br />
Aliocha continue alors la démarche sur sa feuille et annonce qu’il croit s’approcher<br />
de la formule quadratique, formule qu’il appelle ‘grosse Bertha’.<br />
Figure 9: Lecture d’al-Khwārizmī: équipe Martha - Aliocha - Ninotchka.<br />
Le groupe accompagne alors Aliocha dans cette recherche. Aliocha conclut qu’il a<br />
réussi à concilier la démarche de l’auteur avec la formule quadratique, à l’exception du<br />
signe d’un des termes de son équation. Il se lève et demande alors de l’aide au formateur<br />
pour expliquer cette différence et compléter sa démarche. Avec le groupe, le formateur<br />
reprend alors plus en détail le raisonnement associé à l’application de la formule<br />
quadratique.<br />
Figure 10: Lecture d’al-Khwārizmī: équipe Martha - Aliocha - Ninotchka.<br />
C’est alors que Ninotchka comprend subitement que le signe est inversé dans<br />
l’application de la formule quadratique à partir du cas général, ce qui explique le<br />
problème soulevé précédemment par Aliocha. Le groupe se remet ensuite au travail<br />
individuellement.<br />
Aliocha explique alors que la manipulation des irrationnels éloigne le texte des<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
107<br />
mathématiques de la Grèce antique. Avec Martha, Aliocha conclut que l’utilisation de la<br />
géométrie rapproche la démarche à celles des mathématiciens de la période hellénistique.<br />
Aliocha souligne aussi qu’al-Khwārizmī procède d’un exemple particulier pour discuter<br />
d’un résultat général.<br />
Au moment de conclure, Aliocha propose quelques réflexions à propos de la<br />
démarche de l’auteur et tente de faire des liens entre son propos et le contexte<br />
mathématique de l’époque. Notons que ces réflexions ne surviennent qu’à la<br />
toute fin de l’activité de lecture.<br />
Martha explique alors que, durant un stage en enseignement secondaire, elle devait<br />
enseigner les propriétés des logarithmes. Son superviseur lui avait suggéré de partir<br />
d’un cas particulier pour aboutir au cas général, alors qu’elle avait prévu l’inverse dans<br />
ses planifications. Aliocha souligne que, malgré les liens établis avec les mathématiques<br />
de la Grèce antique, les Grecs ne proposaient pas cette démarche pédagogique<br />
d’accompagnement du lecteur et que celle-ci est importante pour les élèves.<br />
La séance de lecture est suspendue par le formateur.<br />
Notons ici d’intéressantes réflexions sur l’histoire et l’enseignementapprentissage<br />
des mathématiques en termes de pratiques enseignantes.<br />
Globalement, les autres activités de lecture se sont déroulées selon le même<br />
canevas. En s’inspirant des considérations théoriques et épistémologiques de<br />
Fried décrite plus haut, les activités de lecture de textes ont été menées en<br />
articulant constamment deux pôles : un pôle que l’on pourrait qualifier de<br />
‘traductif’ qui visait essentiellement à extirper et à travailler les mathématiques<br />
que convoquaient les textes et un second plus ‘interpretative’ qui visait à mieux<br />
comprendre l’auteur en lui réservant un accueil qui ne le déracinait pas de son<br />
contexte sociohistorique et culturel. Les deux pôles concernant la lecture des<br />
textes ont été explicités avec les étudiants du groupe.<br />
Bien entendu, cet accueil nécessitait de la part de l’apprenant de nombreuses<br />
connaissances et une vision riche de l’époque dont était tiré le texte. D’ailleurs,<br />
cette nécessité d’un fort ancrage dans l’époque étudiée est affirmée couramment<br />
dans la littérature (Jankvist 2009). Dans le contexte de l’étude, cet ancrage a été<br />
assuré par la première partie du cours qui fournissait les repères historiques et<br />
culturels importants et tentait de fournir une certaine ‘saveur’ de l’époque en<br />
question.<br />
Le choix de présenter une description de cette activité parmi les sept autres<br />
qui ont été menées est motivé par le fait qu’elle représente bien et de manière<br />
globale, l’attitude des étudiants face aux textes, ainsi que nos difficultés, à titre<br />
de chercheur/formateur, à soutenir une lecture diachronique de la part des<br />
étudiants. Elle montre la manière dont les étudiants, malgré les consignes et les<br />
efforts du formateur, interrogent spontanément les textes et en initient<br />
l’exploration.<br />
6. Quelques remarques sur la lecture synchronique et diachronique de textes<br />
historiques<br />
Comme mentionné précédemment, Fried souligne la tendance trop forte des<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
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108<br />
enseignants de mathématiques à livrer une lecture synchronique de la<br />
discipline. Est ainsi mis en avant, le point de vue des enseignants et formateurs,<br />
lesquels vacillent et basculent entre une perspective purement synchronique et<br />
une autre, plus fragile, précaire, et potentiellement dangereuse, qui serait<br />
diachronique. S’appuyant sur de Saussure qui affirmait que comprendre la<br />
langue est comprendre à la fois, et d’une seul tenant, son versant synchronique<br />
et diachronique, Fried mentionne que:<br />
[If] the application of Saussure’s ideas to the teaching of mathematics is truly<br />
valid, we must conclude that teaching ‘mathematics’ also demands presenting<br />
both its diachronic and synchronic aspects; far from having to choose between<br />
‘mathematics’ and ‘history of mathematics’ the teacher must give attention to<br />
both (2008 : 195-196).<br />
Généralement, il suggère alors que les enseignants n’ont pas nécessairement<br />
à faire le choix entre un enseignement ‘classique’ des mathématiques et un<br />
enseignement ‘axé sur l’histoire’ qui risque de les éloigner de leurs objectifs<br />
curriculaires. De ses analyses saussuriennes, il conclut:<br />
We realize that history can play a part in the classroom without the material and<br />
focus of our mathematics teaching becoming radically altered. What is altered is<br />
a kind of background sense of the mathematical subjects we are teaching; the<br />
human origin of mathematical ideas, which the serious study of history brings<br />
out supremely […] Thus, a humanistic mathematics education will not deprive<br />
students of the knowledge of the ‘state of the art’ but will make them realize that<br />
the art is, indeed, in a certain, though not necessarily permanent, state (2008:<br />
195-196).<br />
Il souhaite donc voir se déployer une perspective ‘humaniste’ des<br />
mathématiques par l’intermédiaire d’une histoire prise au sérieux et d’un<br />
rapport profondément historique à la discipline. C’est pourquoi les enseignants<br />
doivent éviter selon lui de donner une lecture synchronique des mathématiques<br />
qui serait une lecture appauvrie de la discipline et de ces objets d’étude.<br />
Or, nous souhaiterions ici avancer que les étudiants ont eux aussi une<br />
tendance forte à déployer une lecture synchronique. En effet, d’après nos<br />
expériences sommairement rapportées ici, ceux-ci semblent avoir naturellement<br />
propension à traduire et rapporter les propos de l’auteur en langage moderne.<br />
Il est aisé de reconnaitre que les participants ont une forte inclination à mettre<br />
eux-mêmes en avant une lecture synchronique de texte historique proposé, et<br />
ce, malgré les efforts du formateur. L’auteur est difficilement considéré dans<br />
son contexte. Le style ou les particularités de l’auteur sont difficilement<br />
remarqués et ne sont que très peu discutés lors des activités de lectures. Les<br />
auteurs se voient alors dépossédés de leur singularité, ils se trouvent très<br />
souvent traduits, résumés et réifiés. En sommes, nous remarquons une certaine<br />
‘violence’ de la synchronisation envers l’auteur.<br />
Ainsi, la rencontre avec l’auteur perçu dans son contexte sociohistorique et<br />
mathématique ne se fait pas d’emblée, et ce, malgré les attentions et les efforts<br />
du formateur. En évitant toute généralisation et en nous rapportant à nos<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
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109<br />
expériences, nous souhaiterions humblement avancer qu’une lecture<br />
diachronique demande un effort considérable pour les étudiants. Ceux-ci nous<br />
apparaissent fortement marqués par la culture académique des mathématiques<br />
et, dans notre contexte de formation à l’enseignement, animés par un souci<br />
pragmatique de développement d’outils d’enseignement. Les difficultés ne<br />
nous semblent donc pas exclusivement provenir de l’enseignant ou du<br />
formateur qui orienterait les apprenants dans une démarche stérile de<br />
traduction. Bien entendu, celui-ci ne peut qu’accompagner les apprenants dans<br />
leur quête de sens, laquelle ne saurait se faire sans l’apport de leurs<br />
connaissances et expériences scolaires, académiques, mathématiques ou autres.<br />
Dans cette perspective, nous ressentons une résistance des étudiants à déployer<br />
une lecture diachronique. Résistances qui appellent à une enquête plus<br />
approfondie notamment en ce qui concerne les développements théoriques sur<br />
le sujet et les conceptualisations qui nous permettent de penser les pratiques<br />
dans ce contexte.<br />
À ce titre, nous voudrions voir s’ouvrir davantage à la dynamique de classe<br />
les conceptualisations théoriques associées à ces expériences d’enseignementapprentissage.<br />
Pour mieux penser les difficultés liées à l’enseignementapprentissage<br />
dans le contexte de l’utilisation de l’histoire, nous souhaiterions<br />
voir se développer des manières de faire, autant dans la recherche que dans les<br />
milieux de pratiques, orientées davantage vers l’ouverture à l’expérience que<br />
celle-ci peut possiblement renfermer.<br />
En ces termes, un développement conceptuel pourrait être envisagé, et ce,<br />
afin de penser cette expérience fondatrice, non pas en termes sociolinguistiques<br />
formels, mais en termes de relations sensibles et éthiques face à la diversité des<br />
formes que peut prendre l’activité mathématique. Le regard tourné vers la<br />
dimension expérientielle du phénomène, il serait alors possible de mieux<br />
comprendre le vécu des étudiants et la manière dont ce vécu prend sens à<br />
l’intérieur de l’enseignement-apprentissage des mathématiques ou encore de<br />
leur devenir enseignant, et, ainsi, ultimement, mieux accompagner les<br />
apprenants dans la (re)découverte de la discipline.<br />
REFERENCES<br />
Barbin, E. (1997). Histoire et enseignement des mathématiques: Pourquoi?<br />
Comment? Bulletin de l’Association mathématique du Québec, 37(1), 20–25.<br />
Barbin, E. (2006). Apport de l’histoire des mathématiques et de l’histoire des<br />
sciences dans l'enseignement. Tréma, 26(1), 20–28.<br />
Charbonneau, L. (2006). Histoire des mathématiques et les nouveaux<br />
programmes au Québec : un défi de taille. In N. Bednarz & C. Mary (Eds.),<br />
Actes du colloque de l’Espace mathématique francophone 2006 (pp. 11–21).<br />
Sherbrooke: Éditions du CRP et Faculté d’éducation, Université de<br />
Sherbrooke.<br />
Djebbar, A. (2005). L’algèbre arabe: la genèse d’un art, Paris : Vuibert.<br />
<strong>MENON</strong>: Journal Of Educational Research [ISSN: 1792-8494]<br />
http://www.edu.uowm.gr/site/menon<br />
2 nd THEMATIC ISSUE<br />
05/2016
David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
110<br />
Fauvel, J. & van Maanen, J. (Eds.). (2000). History in mathematics education: the<br />
ICMI study. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.<br />
Fried, M. N. (2001). Can mathematics education and history of mathematics<br />
coexist? Science & Education, 10(4), 391–408.<br />
Fried, M. N. (2007). Didactics and history of mathematics: Knowledge and Self-<br />
Knowledge. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 66(2), 203–223.<br />
Fried, M. N. (2008). History of mathematics in mathematics education: a<br />
saussurean perspective. The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast, 5(2), 185–<br />
198.<br />
Furinghetti, F. (2004). History and mathematics education: a look around the<br />
world with particular reference to Italy. Mediterranean Journal for Research<br />
in Mathematics Education, 3(1-2), 125–146.<br />
Guillemette, D. (2011). L’histoire dans l’enseignement des mathématiques: sur<br />
la méthodologie de recherche. Petit x, 86(1), 5–26.<br />
Guillemette, D. (2015). L’histoire des mathématiques et la formation des<br />
enseignants du secondaire: sur l’expérience du dépaysement<br />
épistémologique des étudiants. Thèse de doctorat inédite, Université du<br />
Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Canada. [Disponible en ligne:<br />
http://www.archipel.uqam.ca/7164/1/D-2838.pdf].<br />
Gulikers, I. & Blom, K. (2001). A historical angle: survey of recent literature on<br />
the use and value of history in geometrical education. Educational Studies in<br />
Mathematics, 47(2), 223–258.<br />
Kjeldsen, T. H. (2012). Uses of history for the learning of and about<br />
mathematics: towards a theoretical framework for integrating history of<br />
mathematics in mathematics education. In S. Choi & S. Wang (Eds.),<br />
Proceedings of HPM 2012 (pp. 1–21). Daejeon, Corée du Sud: Korean Society<br />
of Mathematical Education et Korean Society for History of Mathematics.<br />
Jahnke, H. N., Arcavi, A., Barbin, E., Bekken, O., Furinghetti, F., El Idrissi, A. &<br />
Weeks, C. (2000). The use of original sources in the mathematics classroom.<br />
In J. Fauvel & J. van Maanen (Eds.), History in mathematics education: the<br />
ICMI study (pp. 291–328). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.<br />
Jankvist, U. T. (2009). A categorization of the “whys” and “hows” of using<br />
history in mathematics education. Educational Studies in Mathematics,<br />
71(3), 235–261.<br />
Radford, L. (2011). Vers une théorie socioculturelle de l’enseignementapprentissage:<br />
la théorie de l'Objectivation. Éléments, 1, 1–27.<br />
Radford, L. (2013). Three key concepts of the theory of objectification:<br />
knowledge, knowing, and learning. Journal of Research in Mathematics<br />
Education, 2(1), 7–44.<br />
Saussure, F. de. (2005). Cours de linguistique générale. Paris: Payot & Rivages.<br />
(Œuvre originale publiée en 1967)<br />
Tang, K.-C. (2007). History of mathematics for the young educated minds: a<br />
Hong Kong reflection. In F. Furinghetti, S. Kaijser & C. Tzanakis (Eds.),<br />
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David Guillemette<br />
QUELQUES DIFFICULTÉS RENCONTRÉES DANS LA FORMATION DES<br />
ENSEIGNANTS DE MATHÉMATIQUES DU SECONDAIRE À L’AIDE DE<br />
L’HISTOIRE DES MATHÉMATIQUES: UNE RÉFLEXION SUR LES MODALITÉS DE<br />
LECTURES DE TEXTES HISTORIQUES<br />
111<br />
Proceedings of HPM 2004 & ESU 4 (revised edition) (pp. 630–638). Uppsala:<br />
Université d’Uppsala.<br />
Tzanakis, C. & Thomaidis, Y. (2007). The notion of historical “parallelism”<br />
revisited: historical evolution and students’ conception of the order relation<br />
on the number line. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 66(2), 165–183.<br />
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY<br />
David Guillemette. Après avoir complété un doctorat en éducation à l’Université du<br />
Québec à Montréal, il a joint la Faculté d’éducation de l’Université d’Ottawa à titre de<br />
professeur adjoint. Ses recherches portent sur le potentiel de l’histoire des<br />
mathématiques dans l’éducation mathématique, notamment dans la formation initiale<br />
et continue des enseignants.<br />
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UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research 112<br />
DISCUSSING MATHEMATICAL MODELING CONCERNING<br />
PASCAL'S WAGER<br />
Michael Kourkoulos<br />
University of Crete, Department of Primary Education<br />
mkourk@edc.uoc.gr<br />
Constantinos Tzanakis<br />
University of Crete, Department of Primary Education<br />
tzanakis@edc.uoc.gr<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
We present and analyze teaching work on Pascal's wager realized with Greek students,<br />
prospective elementary school teachers, in the context of a probability and statistics<br />
course. In this paper we focus on classroom discussion concerning mathematical<br />
modeling activities, connecting elements of probability theory and decision theory<br />
with elements of philosophical discussions. On the one hand, this link enriched<br />
students' scientific culture, and on the other hand, it allowed for deepening the<br />
classroom discussion on Pascal's wager.<br />
Keywords: Pascal's wager, prospective elementary school teachers, mathematical<br />
modeling, probability theory, decision theory<br />
1. INTRODUCTION<br />
Discussions on philosophical and religious issues have deep and rich<br />
historical links with science; this is particularly true about probabilities and<br />
statistics (e.g. see Chandler & Harrison 2012, Hacking 1975, Hald 2003, Porter<br />
1986). However, these rich links have been rarely explored in the conventional<br />
teaching of these disciplines, and even less (or not at all) at an introductory<br />
level.<br />
We argue that: (a) With adequate teaching design and implementation, it is<br />
possible to explore such links even with novice students in statistics and<br />
probability, (b) Exploring such links can be fruitful, both for the development of<br />
students' scientific culture and for the deepening of the discussion with them on<br />
the examined philosophical and/or religious issues (see also Kourkoulos &<br />
Tzanakis 2015).<br />
To support (a) and (b) above, we present an example of teaching work<br />
concerning Pascal's wager that was realized during an introductory seminar on<br />
probability and statistics with Greek students, prospective elementary school<br />
teachers 1 .<br />
1 An initial version of this work was presented in the Science and Religion International Conference (see<br />
Kourkoulos & Tzanakis, in press).<br />
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In the discussion on Pascal's wager, which has been active for more than<br />
three and a half centuries, important elements of scientific culture are involved<br />
such as elements of probability theory and decision theory (e.g. see Bras 2009,<br />
Hacking 1972, Hájek 2012, Jordan 1994, 2006). However, many of the arguments<br />
involved in the discussion on Pascal's wager, although fundamental, can be<br />
followed without the need of a sophisticate scientific background; this is related<br />
to the fact that the wager was established in the very first period of the<br />
historical development of probability theory, and to Pascal’s ingenious way to<br />
establish and present his argumentation. This makes these arguments adequate<br />
to be accessed by students like ours; however, because of their fundamental<br />
character, they have the potential to increase students' interest significantly.<br />
2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND FOCUS<br />
Our teaching work was realized during an introductory seminar on<br />
probability and statistics (with classroom meetings for 3 hours per week) with<br />
27 4th-year students (25 female and 2 male) in our Department of Education.<br />
Students had a high-school level background in probability and statistics, so<br />
the first four weeks were devoted to revising and completing this knowledge<br />
(see below). Next, the teacher gave a first presentation on Pascal's wager and<br />
asked students to express their thoughts and comments on this issue; the<br />
discussion that followed in this way, lasted for four weeks, and constitutes the<br />
first part of classroom discussion.<br />
For the second part, the teacher asked students to read an overview of<br />
literature on the discussion on Pascal's wager and other relevant reading<br />
sources, and to present elements of their personal study in the classroom. The<br />
elements presented by the students substantially enriched the classroom<br />
discussion; their discussion lasted for three weeks and constitutes the second<br />
part of the classroom discussion 2 .<br />
The focus of this paper is to present and analyze some main aspects of the<br />
classroom discussion on Pascal’s wager. In particular, the paper aims to present<br />
and analyze realized connections between mathematical modeling activities<br />
and elements of philosophical reasoning that fruitfully supported both the<br />
development of students’ concepts of probability theory and of decision theory,<br />
and the evolution of the discussion on Pascal’s wager.<br />
3. TEACHING ON PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS<br />
As already mentioned, our students had a high-school level background in<br />
probability and statistics. During their tertiary studies they had not taken any<br />
course on probability and/or statistics; however, they had some exposure to<br />
readings of statistical results in the context of courses on Pedagogy and<br />
Psychology.<br />
2<br />
During these three weeks, four meetings of three hours were realized, instead of three.<br />
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Students' knowledge in probability and (descriptive) statistics was revised<br />
and completed during the first four weeks. We talked about data organization<br />
and their (graphically and numerically tabulated) representation, measures of<br />
central tendency (mode, median, mean) and variation (range, interquartile<br />
range and standard deviation), the shape of a distribution and skewness. We<br />
also talked about the probability multiplication and addition laws, the binomial<br />
distribution and examples of its applications (e.g. chance games, wagering<br />
situations, simple insurance models) and the Low of Large Numbers and the<br />
normal distribution accompanied by adequate examples 3 . Moreover we<br />
discussed the concepts of expected value and expected utility, and their<br />
differences 4 . Using adequate examples the teacher explained that the criterion<br />
of maximum expected utility is more appropriate than the one of maximum<br />
expected value for making decisions in wagering situations 5 .<br />
4. FIRST PART OF THE CLASSROOM DISCUSSION<br />
4.1 Introduction and initial debate on Pascal’s wager<br />
During the 5 th week, the teacher discussed with students on elements of<br />
Pascal’s life and work (e.g. see Adamson1995, Hacking 1975 ch7-9, Hald 2003<br />
ch5, Mesnard 1951).<br />
Then he gave a first presentation of Pascal's wager 6 . In this context he also<br />
mentioned the so-called "many Gods objection" about Pascal's wager.<br />
4.1.1 Many Gods objection<br />
Regarding the "many Gods objection", students agreed that the wager may<br />
be meaningless for a person who doubts God's existence but considers that, if<br />
He exists, conflicting hypotheses about Him are probable (e.g. he considers that<br />
God may be the Holy Trinity, or the 12 Olympian Gods, or Goddess Kali).<br />
Students commented that in this case it may be impossible for the person to<br />
find a coherent behavior that satisfies all Gods that he considers as probably<br />
existing.<br />
However, students considered that if a person (a) doubts God's existence,<br />
but (b) still considers that, if He exists, He is an omnipotent, omniscient and<br />
3 In this context Pascal's triangle was also discussed; additionally the teacher mentioned the pioneering<br />
role of Pascal in the formation of probability theory (e.g. see Edwards 2002, Hald 2003 ch5). Furthermore,<br />
the teacher discussed with students the historical distinction of classical, subjective and frequentist<br />
probability (e.g. see Hacking 1975, Hald 2003, Stigler 1986).<br />
4 Usually the concept of expected utility and its differences from the concept of expected value are not<br />
discussed in introductory level probability courses. However having planned to discuss Pascal's wager<br />
with students, it was a substantial element of preparation to discuss this subject with students.<br />
5 In this context the teacher also discussed with students at an initial level the Saint Petersburg paradox.<br />
(The Saint Petersburg paradox was initially established and treated, in the first half of the 18 th century, by<br />
Nicolas and Daniel Bernoulli and Gabriel Cramer; e.g. Bernoulli 1954, Dutka 1988, Martin 2014.)<br />
6 During this presentation the teacher also presented the text of Pascal Wager (in the English translation by<br />
W. F. Trotter, in Pascal 1910, 83-87); moreover he mentioned Pascal's Pensées and the history of its edition<br />
(e.g. see Brunschvicg 1909; Descotes and Proust 2011; Lafuma 1954).<br />
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omnibenevolent God, then such a person may consider the wager meaningful.<br />
During the discussion some students remarked that persons believing (a)<br />
and (b) above are more likely to be found in societies with a strong religious<br />
tradition, like the Greek society, because in such a society, alternative<br />
hypotheses about existing Gods are not supported by the tradition.<br />
4.1.2 God cannot be fooled<br />
A second objection expressed by four students was the following: If<br />
someone bets his way of living on the hypothesis of God's existence, as Pascal<br />
proposes, and lives a virtuous life but still has doubts about God's existence,<br />
then God, as omniscient, will know that he is not a genuine believer and thus<br />
this person's efforts will be in vain.<br />
The teacher explained that Pascal doesn't propose the wager to fool God.<br />
Pascal believed, he said, that man's heart has the natural tendency to believe in<br />
God and the natural ability to perceive that He exists, however because of<br />
passions and sins man's heart is blinded and this leaves room for doubts about<br />
God's existence. If one accepts the wager and lives a virtuous life, his heart will<br />
be purified from passions and sins and thus his heart will perceive God's<br />
existence and his doubts will vanish.<br />
Three students commented that if God exists, then the wagering person is<br />
not alone in the wager; God is also there and, by appreciating this person’s<br />
efforts, He may help him by providing whatever feelings or evidence are<br />
necessary for that person to genuinely believe in His existence. Four students<br />
argued that if God wanted to help in this way for believing in His existence, it<br />
would be easy for Him to provide all people with the necessary evidence, and<br />
thus atheists or doubting persons would not exist, but this is not the case. One<br />
of the previous students answered that God helps to believe in Him those who<br />
want to believe, because He respects men's will; a person who wagers his way<br />
of living as proposed by Pascal, clearly makes a very strong effort to dissipate<br />
his doubts in the direction of believing in God's existence, and thus it is highly<br />
likely that he will attract God's help. Five other students as well made<br />
comments that endorsed this remark 7 .<br />
4.1.3 Loving and caring unbelievers<br />
A third objection expressed by eight students concerned the idea that<br />
unbelievers will lose eternal salvation. Students said that an unbeliever who is a<br />
loving and caring person and dedicates his life to help his fellow humans, will<br />
not lose eternal salvation, in their opinion, because God been loving and just<br />
will not ignore the goodness of his heart and his efforts. Three other students<br />
remarked that the church teaches that being a good person is not enough for<br />
7<br />
Moreover, three of them commented that this remark also implies that the wager may be less demanding<br />
than what the argument of pure heart implies. They thought that perhaps because of God's generosity, He<br />
will help the wagering person to believe once He will consider that he makes a strong effort to live a<br />
virtuous life and not wait until his heart is fully purified.<br />
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eternal salvation; a correct faith is also necessary. However, the first ones<br />
persisted in their opinion. Moreover four of them argued that the idea that<br />
unbelievers will lose eternal salvation regardless of their goodness is an idea<br />
unfair to God, because it presents Him as harsh and intolerant.<br />
4.1.4 Selfish motivation<br />
A fourth objection expressed by six students was that if a person that doubts<br />
God's existence accepts Pascal's wager only on the basis of Pascal's argument,<br />
namely because he doesn't want to lose eternal salvation, then he accepts the<br />
wager only because of a self-interested motivation, and it is doubtful that God<br />
will reward efforts because of such motivation. A student remarked that in the<br />
New Testament eternal hell and eternal salvation are often mentioned as a<br />
motive for people to try to be right and avoid sinning; so church does not reject<br />
such a motive as a starting motivation for a person to try to ameliorate himself.<br />
Three students elaborated on this last point saying that, although such a<br />
motivation indeed is not satisfactory, a person that accepts Pascal's wager even<br />
on this basis and tries to live a virtuous life, he will perhaps achieve to be<br />
gradually liberated from sins and passions; because of this and God's help he<br />
may gradually obtain less selfish motives. Thus even with this unsatisfactory<br />
initial motivation the wager may have a positive outcome.<br />
Comment<br />
In many of the aforementioned students’ remarks and considerations, the<br />
influence of the Orthodox tradition was obvious, as well as their acquaintance<br />
with this tradition.<br />
It is also worth noting that some students’ considerations reflected an<br />
elaborated thinking in the context of this tradition.<br />
4.2 Modeling of Pascal's Wager<br />
After the aforementioned initial debate on Pascal’s wager, the teacher<br />
turned the discussion on its modelling. The following table was presented to<br />
the students as a summary of the situation faced by the doubting person in the<br />
wager.<br />
Table1<br />
God exists (G.E.) God doesn't exist (N.G.E.)<br />
Subjective probability for<br />
G.E. (p 1)<br />
Subjective probability for<br />
N.G.E. (p 2)<br />
Wager that God exists Present Life1, Salvation Present Life2<br />
Not wager that God<br />
exists<br />
Present Life3, Misery<br />
Present Life4<br />
The mathematical modeling demands clarification and a precise statement<br />
of initial premises. This demand leads to a re-examination of the initial<br />
premises established by philosophical considerations. Often the demanded<br />
clarification and precision leads to reconsidering or re-conceptualizing initial<br />
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premises.<br />
In what follows we present examples of how the demand of mathematical<br />
modeling for clarification and precision influenced the consideration of initial<br />
premises of Pascal’s wager.<br />
4.2.1 On the partition of hypotheses about God (columns’ partition)<br />
The teacher remarked that Pascal proposed the wager to a hypothetical<br />
person doubting God's existence but considering that if He exists then He is the<br />
God as taught by the Christian church, that is, the Holy Trinity. This remark<br />
further provoked the discussion on the many Gods objection. Two students<br />
said that for a person doubting God's existence and considering that if He<br />
exists, then He is Allah, the wager may also be meaningful; and that this holds<br />
also for someone who considers that if He exists He is an omnipotent,<br />
omniscient and omnibenevolent God, without specifying His name and<br />
religion. Five other students made similar comments agreeing with their<br />
colleagues. Three students remarked that although the wager may be<br />
meaningful for such a person, his efforts may be in vain because he wagers in a<br />
wrong faith. Four students argued that, following the church, believing in the<br />
Holy Trinity is a condition for salvation only for those who have been properly<br />
taught the Gospel; thus, for example, for a doubting person that lives in an<br />
Islamic society and has not been taught the Gospel this objection doesn't hold.<br />
Three students argued that in all these cases, if the wagering person achieves to<br />
live a virtuous life and obtain pure heart, then if the pure heart argument holds,<br />
he will perceive that He exists, and with His help he will end up with whatever<br />
faith He considers adequate for his salvation; so in all these cases the wager<br />
may have a positive outcome.<br />
4.2.2 On the partition of possible courses of action (rows’ partition)<br />
The teacher recalled that Pascal argues that wagering about God's existence<br />
is not optional for a doubting person; so he doesn't distinguish between those<br />
who don't wager that God exists and those who wager that God doesn't exist.<br />
Six students argued that it would be better if the line "Not wager that God<br />
exists" was split into two lines; "Not wager that God exists and live a virtuous<br />
life" and "Not wager that God exists and not live a virtuous life". Four students<br />
considered that it would be better to split the other line into two too; "Wager<br />
that God exists and achieve to live a virtuous life" and "Wager that God exists<br />
but do not achieve to live a virtuous life".<br />
4.2.3 Reconsideration of the wager about God’s existence<br />
These remarks led three students to comment that the wager should be<br />
adapted to the beliefs of the different categories of persons that doubt God's<br />
existence. Two students went further to propose that the wager should be<br />
personalized in order to be adapted to the beliefs of each person who doubts<br />
God's existence. Many other students (11) made comments endorsing these<br />
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considerations. Thus, the idea emerged in the classroom that the wager about<br />
God’s existence should be regarded as personal and be adapted to each<br />
doubting person’s considerations and beliefs.<br />
This was an important idea that emerged during the first part of the<br />
mathematical modeling work on the wager; that is the clarification of the initial<br />
premises of the modeling.<br />
This new consideration of the wager about God’s existence was later<br />
developed further. In the context of this reconsideration of the wager, Pascal’s<br />
wagering proposal was considered as a special case that initiated the discussion<br />
and as a point of reference for establishing alternative versions of the wager<br />
adapted to each doubting person’s beliefs.<br />
4.2.4 Other initial premises for modeling Pascal's wager<br />
The teacher told the students that it would be interesting to examine such<br />
variants of Pascal's Wager, but after the examination of the initial version,<br />
which was done later. Subsequently, the teacher commented that in the wager's<br />
text Pascal attributes explicitly positive infinite utility to Salvation ("an infinity<br />
of an infinitely happy life", see Pascal 1910: 85), while he is not explicit about<br />
the negative utility of Misery. However, he said, Pascal was a devoted Catholic<br />
and his hypothetical doubting person considers that if God exists, He is as<br />
taught by the Church. Therefore, he said, we may examine first the most severe<br />
version of the wager where Misery has infinite negative utility (eternal<br />
damnation, eternal hell); this version accentuates the dilemma faced by the<br />
doubting person. The teacher also remarked that, according to Pascal, all<br />
Present Lives (1, 2, 3 and 4) have finite utility value, because they all have finite<br />
time and finite pleasures and displeasures.<br />
He also mentioned that p1, p2 are the probabilities that the doubting person<br />
attributes to the hypotheses that God exists or not; thus they pertain to<br />
subjective probabilities 8 . However, he added, at this early time neither the<br />
relevant concepts of probability theory, nor the corresponding terminology had<br />
been formulated; thus Pascal explains his idea through examples of relevant<br />
betting situations. Pascal’s examples were also discussed with the students.<br />
4.2.5 Argument from dominance<br />
Subsequently, the teacher remarked that Pascal argues that for the present<br />
life, wagering in favor of God's existence and living a virtuous life is better and<br />
in fact more pleasant than wagering that God doesn't exist and not live a<br />
virtuous life. Thus, according to this, the utility value of Present Life2 is greater<br />
than the utility value of Present Life4 and the same holds for Present Life1,<br />
compared to Present Life3 (U(PL2)>U(PL4) and U(PL1)>U(PL3)). If a doubting<br />
person agrees with this, then for him it is advantageous to wager that God<br />
exists in both eventualities (God exists or not).<br />
8 He also recalled that p 1, p 2 are not 0 or 1 and p 1 + p 2=1.<br />
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The teacher also remarked that this argument of Pascal is often called an<br />
argument from dominance; in the sense that one choice (here, wagering in favor of<br />
God’s existence) is advantageous (dominates) in all possible eventualities (here,<br />
God exists, or not); e.g. see Hacking 1972.<br />
Students agreed that if a doubting person agrees with this consideration, in<br />
addition to all previous hypotheses about his beliefs, then it is reasonable that<br />
he will consider advantageous for him to wager that God exists. However, they<br />
remarked that there are too many hypotheses on the beliefs and considerations<br />
of the hypothetical doubting person, and this makes important the question of<br />
whether there are such real persons. Some of them also said that many<br />
doubting persons may consider such a virtuous life as the one proposed by<br />
Pascal, harsh and unpleasant; so, they concluded, perhaps this last hypothesis<br />
holds only for very few.<br />
4.2.6 Argument from dominating expectation<br />
Then the teacher remarked that for those who do not agree with the last<br />
hypothesis (that U(PL2)>U(PL4) and U(PL1)>U(PL3)) Pascal proposes another<br />
argument:<br />
The expected utility of wagering that God exists is<br />
E<br />
1<br />
p1<br />
U<br />
PL1<br />
p2<br />
U<br />
PL2<br />
(since 0
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The students initially thought that this argument should be logically<br />
convincing for Pascal's targeted audience (persons who doubt God's existence<br />
but believe that if He exists then the teaching of the Church about Him is<br />
correct). Subsequently, they remarked that all those who consider Church's<br />
teaching to be true agree with Pascal's consideration that there is a danger of<br />
losing eternal salvation and suffering eternal hell. However, they remarked, a<br />
considerable number of these persons, despite of this belief, make very little<br />
effort to live a virtuous life. So since the argument based on this danger does<br />
not convince many persons who believe that the danger is true, then the<br />
argument may also not convince doubting persons to whom Pascal is<br />
addressed.<br />
Students continued discussing about why the argument, despite the fact that<br />
it seems rationally powerful, does not convince many persons who believe that<br />
the danger to lose eternal salvation is a true danger. Students proposed<br />
different explanations; one of these that attracted the attention and interest of<br />
many students is the following 10 : People find it very unpleasant and painful to<br />
think of the eventuality that they will lose eternal salvation and will suffer<br />
eternal hell; thus they avoid thinking about it and most of the time, or even all<br />
the time, they live their lives without thinking about this eventuality.<br />
Three students remarked that this is not specific to the danger of suffering<br />
eternal hell and losing eternal salvation; it is part of a more general behavior of<br />
people that concerns avoiding thoughts about extremely negative (either certain<br />
or probable) future events. For example, they mentioned that most people<br />
avoid and think rarely about their own death or the death of their (living)<br />
parents, which are certain future events, because such thoughts are very painful<br />
and hard. Six students gave other examples endorsing this consideration, such<br />
as avoiding thinking about future illnesses, accidents, professional catastrophes<br />
etc. However, four students commented that although existent indeed, such a<br />
behavior may become irrational when someone avoids thinking about<br />
eventualities such as professional catastrophes or some kind of illness or even<br />
suffering eternal hell, because these are cases for which, if he thinks, he can take<br />
action to minimize the risk of negative outcomes. Nevertheless, remarked one<br />
student, if someone thinks about suffering eternal hell not superficially, but<br />
intensively, and uses his imagination in order to catch even a small part of what<br />
he may suffer there, then such thoughts quickly become totally unbearable. Five<br />
other students commented that if someone frequently or - even worse -<br />
continuously thinks about things such as losing eternal salvation and suffering<br />
eternal hell, his future death, and so on, he may easily make his present life<br />
really miserable by his own thoughts alone. Two of them also commented that<br />
the aforementioned avoidance behaviors are in fact important self-protection<br />
behaviors. Four other students made comments arguing in favor of this<br />
10<br />
Other explanatory elements proposed by students (such as that there are Christians who don't believe<br />
in eternal hell, or that there are people, like drug addicts, who have no more strength to be liberated from<br />
their passions) engendered limited discussion in the classroom at that time.<br />
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consideration. 11<br />
Students agreed that these avoidance and self-protection behaviors may<br />
very well be a strong explanatory factor of why Pascal's argument based on the<br />
danger of losing eternal salvation and suffering eternal hell is less convincing<br />
than he thought; and that this explanatory factor also concerns the relevant<br />
version of the argument for those who believe that the teaching of the Church is<br />
true 12 . They also agreed that for persons who avoid considering the danger of<br />
losing eternal salvation, mathematical modeling which attributes infinite utility<br />
value to salvation and damnation, like the one already mentioned, is<br />
inadequate for representing their questions and dilemma about God and His<br />
existence.<br />
4.3 Comment<br />
In the first part of classroom discussion, the students acquired some<br />
familiarity with Pascal's wager and its mathematical modeling and discussed<br />
basic objections about the wager at an initial level. During the modeling of<br />
Pascal's wager they had the opportunity to encounter and work with infinite<br />
expected utilities. Moreover they encountered, discussed and applied the<br />
principle of maximum expected utility.<br />
Furthermore they realized some significant advances concerning the<br />
conceptualization of Pascal's wager.<br />
They considered that the wager about God’s existence should be regarded<br />
as personal and thus be adapted to each doubting person’s considerations and<br />
beliefs. In this context Pascal’s wagering proposal was considered as a special<br />
case that initiated discussion, and as a point of reference for shaping alternative<br />
versions of the wager.<br />
Students examining Pascal's argument which is based on the danger of<br />
losing eternal salvation and suffering eternal hell, considered, on pragmatic<br />
grounds, that it has not the convincing power that Pascal thought it had. This,<br />
in turn, led them to question the adequacy of Pascal's utility function about<br />
eternal salvation and eternal hell.<br />
5. SECOND PART OF CLASSROOM DISCUSSION<br />
Preparing for the second part of classroom discussion, in the 7 th week of the<br />
course, the teacher proposed that students read an overview on the debate on<br />
Pascal's wager (Hájek 2012) and some other relevant writings (in particular<br />
Hacking 1975, Jordan 1994, Lycan & Schlesinger 1989). He encouraged them to<br />
11 Moreover, three students remarked that considerations of the kind "I live my life now, I repent later"<br />
may facilitate the avoidance wished because of self-protection mechanisms. Four students argued that<br />
frequently suffering the thought of the threat of eternal hell may produce in certain people worst attitudes<br />
than avoidance; such as rejecting altogether Church and its teaching.<br />
12 It is interesting to note that these students' considerations are in line with well known pastoral<br />
considerations and concerns about the convincing power and the role of arguments based on the danger to<br />
loose eternal salvation and suffer eternal hell (e.g. see Bishop Kallistos Ware 1998, p.6).<br />
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feel free, after this initial reading, to continue focusing on authors or lines of<br />
thought that they would find interesting and attractive in relation to their own<br />
ideas and thoughts. The students actively worked on this task as they found the<br />
subject attractive. So, from the 9th to the 11 th week of the course 13 they orally<br />
presented in the classroom elements of their study and their own comments<br />
that substantially enriched the discussion there. Below we describe some<br />
characteristic aspects of this second part of classroom discussion:<br />
Students encountered in their readings and presented in the classroom, a<br />
spectrum of hypotheses about God significantly larger than the one that they<br />
considered in the first part of classroom discussion. For some of these<br />
hypotheses they thought that they are only intellectual constructs elaborated for<br />
the sake of argument, or that it is improbable (or very rare) to be hypotheses<br />
having some significant weight in the considerations of real doubting persons;<br />
for example, because they totally lacked the support of tradition 14 . However<br />
they found others interesting, in particular those hypotheses that suggest that<br />
there is no eternal hell such as the hypothesis that all will be finally saved, or<br />
the hypothesis that after death the righteous are saved and the wicked pass to<br />
nothingness, not to eternal hell. For this last hypothesis they even formulated a<br />
corresponding version of the wager 15 and its mathematical modelling. For this<br />
version students considered the utility value of salvation to be and the<br />
utility value of hell to be 0.<br />
Students also discussed Penelhum's (1971: 211-219) objection that the<br />
consideration of Pascal's wager that honest unbelievers will lose eternal<br />
salvation is an immoral consideration. This enriched and deepened the<br />
previous relevant discussion in the classroom (see section 4.1). Moreover, in<br />
relation to this discussion, the teacher along with the students examined the<br />
mathematical modeling of a version of the wager with the additional<br />
assumption that virtuous doubting persons who don’t wager in favor of God’s<br />
existence do not lose eternal salvation.<br />
5.1 Duff's objection<br />
Moreover, two students presented Anthony Duff’s (1986) objection on<br />
Pascal's wager that a doubting person who does not wager in favor of God’s<br />
existence still has some chance to convert before the end of his days. During the<br />
discussion on this objection, four students argued that a person who in the<br />
present wagers in favor of God's existence and tries hard to live a virtuous life,<br />
still is not certain about eternal salvation because he may fall even at the end of<br />
his life, and conversely, it is not certain for a person who wagers against God's<br />
13 The two weeks of Easter holiday were between the 8 th and the 9 th week of the course.<br />
14 For example, the hypothesis of Martin (1983) that God rewards the unbelievers and punishes the<br />
believers, or the hypothesis of infinitely many possible Gods. It is worth noting that students’ arguments<br />
for restricting the spectrum of hypotheses to be considered find support in some of Lycan and Schlesinger<br />
considerations (see Lycan & Schlesinger 1989, Schlesinger 1994)<br />
15 This version concerns a person that doubts God's existence and believes that if He exists, then this<br />
hypothesis is true.<br />
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existence and lives a non-virtuous life that he will suffer eternal hell because he<br />
may repent even at the end of his life 16 . Seven other students made comments<br />
that endorsed these considerations. Moreover three of them suggested that the<br />
modeling of the wager should allow for some probability of suffering eternal<br />
hell for persons who at present wager in favor of God's existence, and some<br />
probability of obtaining salvation for those who at present wager against God's<br />
existence.<br />
A relevant version of the wager was modeled with teacher’s help 17 . In this<br />
version, both the expected utilities of wagering in favor of God's existence and<br />
against God's existence were undetermined; so the application of the criterion<br />
of maximum expected utility was inconclusive. These results initially puzzled<br />
students. After further examination six of them considered that since the<br />
criterion of maximum expected utility was inconclusive then the doubting person<br />
should consider that the odds of eternal salvation are greater in the case of<br />
wagering in favor of God's existence and the converse holds for the odds of<br />
suffering eternal hell; and that this consideration points in the direction of<br />
wagering in favor of God's existence 18 . It is worth noting that with these<br />
comments students proposed to use a decision-making criterion of maximum<br />
probability similar to that proposed by Schlesinger (1994) 19 .<br />
Four other students, based on grounds of intuitive rationality, thought that<br />
the difference of the Expected utility of wagering in favor of God’s existence<br />
minus this one of wagering against God’s existence is ; and that this also<br />
points to the direction of wagering in favor of God's existence. However, three<br />
other students objected that concluding that one undetermined value is better<br />
or greater than another undetermined value is meaningless, and thus the<br />
conclusion should be that this modelling leads to no definite conclusion. The<br />
discussion on this issue permitted students to understand that although there<br />
are criteria according to which this modeling leads to conclusion, they are<br />
controversial.<br />
After this discussion, the teacher discussed with students relevant<br />
paradoxes involving utilities and expected utilities of infinite value 20 .<br />
<br />
16 These students’ remarks echoed the well known Church’s teaching that no-living person can be sure<br />
about his salvation after death.<br />
17 In this version, the utility values of eternal salvation and of suffering eternal hell were considered, once<br />
again, to be and respectively. The conditional probabilities of eternal salvation and of suffering<br />
eternal hell, if God exists and the doubting person’s wagers in favor of God's existence, were named p s, p h ;<br />
both p s, p h were considered to be different than 0 and p s+ p h was considered to be equal to 1. The respective<br />
conditional probabilities if God exists and the doubting person’s wagers against God's existence were<br />
named p s', p h'; both p s', p h' were considered to be different than 0 and p s'+ p h' was considered to be equal to<br />
1. It was also considered that p s> p s' and consequently p h< p h'.<br />
18 In their argumentation, they considered that utilities and expected utilities of earthly lives could be<br />
disregarded in this modelling because of being too small, compared to the infinite utilities and expected<br />
utilities of salvation and hell.<br />
19 Which, however, is not uncontroversial (e.g. see Bartha 2007, Sorensen 1994).<br />
20 Some of them concerned the wager, while others did not; the teacher also suggested further relevant<br />
reading (e.g see Bartha 2007, Jordan 2006 ch4, Sorensen 1994).<br />
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5.2 Finiteness of human perception and understanding<br />
Concerning the utility value of hell and salvation, three students presented a<br />
relevant consideration that they had read about; that, although salvation and<br />
hell may be infinite, humans may not be able to appreciate this infiniteness<br />
adequately because their perception and understanding are finite in several<br />
respects (Hájek 2012). Many (12) students endorsed this consideration and<br />
argued that living humans are able to perceive eternal salvation and suffering<br />
eternal hell only at an abstract level and not at the level of feelings and<br />
sensations. Four of them stretched that what Pascal proposes for salvation (an<br />
infinity of infinitely happy life) can not be perceived because man has neither the<br />
experience of happiness of infinite intensity nor the ability for this feeling; and<br />
that the same holds for feelings of suffering of infinite intensity.<br />
However, seven students remarked that a mathematical modeling of the<br />
wager which attributes finite utility values to salvation and damnation is not<br />
satisfactory with regard to men's ability to perceive infinite utilities for<br />
salvation and damnation, even though at an abstract level only. Three of them<br />
also argued that for persons who believe that if God exists then the teaching of<br />
the Church is true such a modeling does not represent their beliefs and<br />
considerations. Five students commented that since men cannot perceive such<br />
infinite utilities at the level of feelings and sensations but can do so at an<br />
abstract level, then, both modelling with finite such values and modelling with<br />
infinite ones will be unsatisfactory with respect to one or to the other.<br />
Four students argued that, although the aforementioned considerations<br />
about the finiteness of human perception and understanding are reasonable,<br />
previous modeling involving infinite utility for eternal salvation and hell<br />
should not be considered as invalid because of these considerations, since<br />
humans can still conceive such utilities, even though at an abstract level only.<br />
They thought that such modeling should be available to people that consider it<br />
adequate for themselves; for instance, persons who consider that argumentation<br />
of this kind is very important to them 21 .<br />
Following these considerations, students, with the teacher’s help,<br />
formulated a relevant version of the wager and its mathematical modelling. In<br />
this version they considered the utility values of salvation and of suffering hell<br />
to be finite. Students observed that in this version of the wager the application<br />
of the criterion of maximum expected utility is possible to suggest not to wager in<br />
favor of the hypothesis of God's existence, and that this depends on the<br />
considered utility and probability values. They thought this to be another<br />
important difference from previously examined versions of the wager. Eight<br />
students considered that in this version of the wager the utility values are closer<br />
to the reality of limitations of human understanding. Six of them argued that<br />
because of this the possible outcomes of the criterion include the alternative<br />
result (not wager in favor of God's existence) which is also a real behavior<br />
21 Pascal, remarked two of them, should be one such person.<br />
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observed among doubting persons.<br />
6. FINAL COMMENTS<br />
The classroom discussion and students’ related individual work realized<br />
during this course allowed them to gain some significant insights into Pascal’s<br />
thought about the wager concerning God’s existence, as well as on the relevant<br />
debate among philosophers and decision theorists 22 .<br />
Moreover they realized some significant conceptual advances concerning<br />
this subject.<br />
- They reconsidered Pascal's wager in a dynamic way. More precisely they<br />
considered that wagering about God's existence should be considered as<br />
personal and be adapted to each doubting person’s considerations and<br />
beliefs. In this context, the initial version of the wager was regarded as a<br />
special case that initiated the subject and as a reference point for shaping<br />
alternative versions of the wager.<br />
- Students considered, on pragmatic grounds, that Pascal's argument<br />
based on the danger of loss of eternal salvation has less convincing<br />
power than what Pascal had thought. This also led them to question the<br />
adequacy of infinite utility values attributed to salvation and damnation<br />
in the context of the corresponding mathematical modeling.<br />
- In connection with the aforementioned, students worked on the<br />
modeling of different versions of the wager. This permitted them to<br />
work with the concepts of infinite utility and infinite expected utility<br />
(concepts which they had very little familiarity with until then) as well as<br />
face some interesting problems of decision theory in situations that such<br />
utilities are involved.<br />
6.1 Students’ familiarity with Orthodox tradition and the discussion on<br />
Pascal’s wager<br />
All along the classroom discussion, in students’ comments and<br />
considerations, their familiarity with Orthodox tradition and the important<br />
influences they have received from this tradition, were frequently observed.<br />
Students’ relation to the Orthodox tradition both restricted and deepened<br />
important aspects of the discussion on Pascal’s wager. This is particularly true<br />
with reference to (i) the many Gods objection on Pascal’s wager, and (ii)<br />
students’ comments on doubting persons’ considerations concerning God’s<br />
existence.<br />
Their relation to the Orthodox tradition was a factor that works in the<br />
direction of restricting the spectrum of hypotheses about God that they<br />
considered interesting to examine as hypotheses of persons doubting God’s<br />
existence. A number of such hypotheses, which were put forward by<br />
22 However, given the extent and the importance of this debate, the work done in this course has to be<br />
considered only as a first-initiation work on Pascal’s wager.<br />
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philosophers and decision theorists, were considered by the students as<br />
uninteresting to be examined, because they lacked the backup of tradition and<br />
were thought of as improbable (or very rare) to be hypotheses that have some<br />
significant weight in the considerations of real doubting persons. On the other<br />
hand, their relation to this tradition was a factor that enriched and deepened<br />
their thoughts on the hypotheses that they examined. Moreover, students’<br />
relation to the Orthodox tradition enriched the insightfulness of their thinking<br />
concerning doubting persons’ considerations about God’s existence.<br />
6.2 Mathematical modeling in the discussion on Pascal’s wager<br />
In the class work on Pascal’s wager, elements of probability and decision<br />
theory were systematically involved. Besides (subjective) probabilities, utilities<br />
and expected utilities, often of infinite value, were involved as well as criteria of<br />
decision-making.<br />
These elements were structured in modelling activities of versions of<br />
Pascal’s wager and led to interesting problems of decision theory. The<br />
mathematical elaboration on infinite values already presented some difficulty<br />
for students; but more importantly, often the results of mathematical<br />
elaboration were questionable or even in contrast with respect to intuitive<br />
rationality. Such tensions enhanced or led to questioning the initial premises of<br />
the modeling, for example, questioning the adequacy of the attribution of<br />
infinite values to involved utilities and expected utilities. However, replacing<br />
these infinite values with finite ones presented other fundamental inadequacies.<br />
Thus, in these modeling activities students encountered and worked with the<br />
concepts of utilities and expected utilities of infinite value and faced some<br />
related questions which are deeply routed in probability theory and decision<br />
theory, along with a network of relevant problems.<br />
In these modelling activities, students observed that correct mathematical<br />
elaboration does not always lead to safe and/or uncontestable results; as it is,<br />
for example, the case in Euclidean Geometry, where the initial premises<br />
(axioms) are not questioned 23 . On the other hand, the clarity of mathematical<br />
elaborations that led to question initial premises of the modelling permitted to<br />
identify flaws of these premises that it was very difficult or impossible, to<br />
identify as long as these premises were discussed at the literal level.<br />
Thus, these modelling activities offer students the occasion to appreciate<br />
that mathematics may have an important role in the discussion of philosophical<br />
issues, to understand some basic aspects of modelling work and even to<br />
question stereotypes and enrich their concept image for mathematics.<br />
REFERENCES<br />
23 Although they had heard about the existence of non-Euclidean Geometries, students had never worked<br />
with Geometry which was incompatible with the Euclidean one. Moreover, students had very little, if any,<br />
experience of mathematical modelling work that may lead to unsafe or contestable results for reasons<br />
other than the well known “you haven’t done your work correctly”.<br />
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Religious Studies, 19, 57-64.<br />
Martin, R. (2014). The St. Petersburg Paradox. In E. N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford<br />
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved November 15, 2014 from the World<br />
Wide Web: http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2014/entries/paradoxstpetersburg/<br />
Mesnard, J. (1951). Pascal: l'homme et l'œuvre. Paris: Editions Boivin.<br />
Pascal, B. (1910). Thoughts. In Ch. E. Eliot (ed), Blaise Pascal: Thoughts, tr. By<br />
W.F. Trotter, Letters, tr. by M.L. Booth, Minor Works, tr. by O.W. Wight: with<br />
introds. notes and illus. (pp7-322). New York: P.F. Collier & Son Co.<br />
(Translation. Translated by W.F. Trotter. Originally published as "Pensées" in L.<br />
Brunschvicg (ed.) (1897), Blaise Pascal: Opuscules et Pensées. Paris: Librairie<br />
Hachette.) 24<br />
Penelhum, T. (1971). Religion and Rationality: an introduction to the<br />
philosophy of religion. NY: Random House.<br />
Porter, T.M. (1986). The Rise of Statistical Thinking 1820–1900. Princeton:<br />
Princeton University Press.<br />
Schlesinger, G. (1994). A Central Theistic Argument. In Jordan (1994). Gambling<br />
on God: Essays on Pascal's Wager. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman &<br />
Littlefield pub (pp83–99).<br />
Sorensen, R. (1994). Infinite Decision Theory. In Jordan (1994). Gambling on<br />
God: Essays on Pascal's Wager. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield<br />
pub (pp139–159).<br />
Stigler, S.M. (1986). The history of statistics: the measurement of uncertainty<br />
before 1900. Harvard: Harvard University Press.<br />
BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES<br />
Michael Kourkoulos is Assistant Professor of the Didactics of Mathematics at the<br />
Department of Primary Education of the University of Crete. He has graduated from<br />
the Department of Mathematics of the University of Athens. He received a master and<br />
a Ph.D. in the Didactics of Mathematics from the University of Louis Pasteur<br />
24<br />
This translation was reissued by Dover Publications in 2003, under the title Pensées. The reissue includes an<br />
introduction by T. S. Eliot, written in 1958.<br />
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Michael Kourkoulos, Constantinos Tzanakis<br />
DISCUSSING MATHEMATICAL MODELING CONCERNING PASCAL'S WAGER 129<br />
(Strasbourg). His research concerns alternative forms of Mathematics’ teaching, as well<br />
as, the didactical use of the History of Mathematics. In particular, his research concerns<br />
the didactics of Arithmetic & Algebra, Geometry, and Statistics & Probability.<br />
Constantinos Tzanakis is professor at the Department of Primary Education of the<br />
University of Crete, teaching mathematics and physics. He holds a first degree in<br />
mathematics, an MSc degree in Astronomy and a PhD in Theoretical Physics. His<br />
research interests and activities are in theoretical physics and the didactics of<br />
mathematics and physics and has published 84 papers, co-edited 9 collective volumes<br />
and 5 volumes of conference proceedings and journals’ special issues. He has been<br />
chair of the International Study Group on the Relations between the History and Pedagogy of<br />
Mathematics, affiliated to the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction<br />
(2004-08).<br />
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UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research 130<br />
THE HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS DURING AN INQUIRY-<br />
BASED TEACHING APPROACH<br />
Areti Panaoura<br />
Frederick University, Department of Primary Education<br />
pre.pm@frederick.ac.cy<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
The use of the history of Mathematics in teaching has long been considered as a useful<br />
tool in order to enable students to construct conceptually the mathematical concepts.<br />
At the same time the inquiry-based teaching approach is proposed to be used in order<br />
to improve students’ learning by using their natural tendency to curiosity. The use of<br />
the history of mathematical concepts during an inquiry-based teaching approach is<br />
expected to multiply the positive effects on students’ learning. The present study<br />
examines in-service teachers’ beliefs and knowledge about the use of the history of<br />
mathematics in the framework of the inquiry-based teaching approach at the<br />
educational system of Cyprus, and the difficulties teachers face in adopting and<br />
implementing this specific innovation in primary education. At the first phase of the<br />
study a questionnaire was used in order to investigate teachers’ knowledge and beliefs<br />
about the use of the history of mathematics in education and mainly in relation to the<br />
inquiry-based teaching approach. At the second phase of the study two case studies<br />
were examined, where teachers introduced a mathematical concept by using the<br />
history of mathematics in order to identify the practices they used and the difficulties<br />
they faced. The results indicated that the teachers’ knowledge about the use of the<br />
history and mainly the experimental nature of mathematics is significantly related with<br />
their positive beliefs about the inquiry-based teaching approach. Teachers’ worries<br />
were mainly concentrated on their difficulties to manage the time and the content of<br />
the subject and to face efficiently and flexibly their students’ mistakes and difficulties.<br />
Keywords: history of mathematics, inquiry-based activities, teachers’ knowledge,<br />
beliefs and practices<br />
1. INTRODUCTION<br />
The idea of using the history of mathematics in education is not new<br />
(Goktepe & Ozdemir 2013). Over the past three decades researchers from<br />
various countries have discussed the possibility of introducing new concepts<br />
within relevant historical context (Yee & Chapman 2010), at different<br />
educational levels. Some researches describe the affective impact from using the<br />
history of mathematics in education (e.g. Furinghetti 2007, Marshall 2000) and<br />
others discuss the necessity to include the history of mathematics in pre-service<br />
teachers’ university programs (e.g. Fleener et al. 2002) in order to train teachers<br />
to use it with their students. There are several reasons to incorporate the use of<br />
the history of mathematics in education, and the major one is the impact of such<br />
a practice on the development of the mathematical disposition of students<br />
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(Clark 2006). Using authentic problems from the history of mathematics<br />
provides material for students to actively engage in classroom discourse<br />
(Gulikers & Blom 2001), and to realize the role of the construction of the science<br />
of mathematics.<br />
At the same time inquiry-based learning is not a recent movement in<br />
mathematics education, and it has been recommended as an appropriate basis<br />
for student learning in mathematics for the last decades. Numerous studies and<br />
reports of committees continue to call for inquiry-based teaching and learning<br />
approaches in mathematics (e.g. Marshall & Horton 2011) in order to encourage<br />
students to think critically and creatively. Teachers need to know how to<br />
approach their teaching in a way that is reflective, responsive and flexible<br />
(Marin 2014).<br />
Having in mind that the use of the history and the inquiry-based teaching<br />
approach are among the major objectives in mathematics education, we have<br />
decided to examine the use of the history of mathematics in a framework of the<br />
inquiry-based teaching approach at the early stages of primary education and<br />
mainly to investigate teachers’ difficulties in applying in their instruction the<br />
proposed innovation. Burton (2003) defines history of mathematics as a vast<br />
area of study which includes investigating sources of discoveries in mathematics,<br />
highlighting that it includes investigations of the achievements of significant<br />
mathematicians and their ideas. At the Curriculum of Mathematics which was<br />
constructed in 2011 for primary education in Cyprus the use of history of<br />
mathematics is suggested and the usual use of inquiry-based teaching approach<br />
is proposed as the main teaching approach. The two central concepts for the<br />
inquiry-based teaching approach are the use of investigations and explorations.<br />
Radford, Furingetti and Katz (2007) acknowledge that questions related to<br />
the pedagogical role of the history of mathematics remain open to investigation.<br />
Teachers have various beliefs such as about themselves as teachers, the nature<br />
of the discipline of mathematics, the factors that affect the learning and the<br />
teaching of mathematics. The present study concentrates on teachers’<br />
knowledge about teaching mathematics by using the inquiry-based teaching<br />
model in the framework of the history of mathematics and mainly their<br />
respective practices in authentic teaching situations. We concentrate our<br />
attention on the experimental epistemological dimension of mathematics<br />
(Ernest 1991) which is directly related with the inquiry-based teaching and<br />
learning approach. It is important to examine how teachers use their knowledge<br />
and their beliefs in order to design instructional activities fostering<br />
mathematical inquiry by using the history of mathematics. The specific research<br />
questions were:<br />
1. How are teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about using the history of<br />
mathematics related with their knowledge and beliefs about the use of<br />
inquiry-based teaching approach?<br />
2. What are the teachers’ practices on using the history of mathematics during<br />
an inquiry-based teaching approach?<br />
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2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK<br />
2.1 The history of Mathematics in mathematics education<br />
Teachers have long been encouraged through curriculum and the scientific<br />
community in mathematics to incorporate aspects from the history of<br />
mathematics into their teaching (Lopez-Real 2004). Jankvist (2009) suggests the<br />
use of the history of mathematics by highlighting the increased motivation and<br />
the realization that mathematics is a human creation. Introducing the history of<br />
mathematics in school curricula enhances learners’ motivation, promotes<br />
favoured attitudes, and draws attention to possible obstacles faced in the<br />
generation and evolution of mathematical concepts. As a pedagogical tool it can<br />
serve as a guide to the difficulties students may encounter as they learn a<br />
particular mathematical topic (Haverhal & Rsocoe 2010). Schubring and<br />
colleagues (2000) also posit that programs based on the history of mathematics<br />
could increase self-confidence in working with mathematical tasks and develop<br />
learners’ ability to apply mathematical methods. A journey through the history<br />
of mathematics could also enable learners to construct mathematical meanings<br />
and support new conceptions about mathematics by changing learners’ existing<br />
beliefs and attitudes (Dubey & Singh 2013). In addition, the historical<br />
dimension encourages learners to think of mathematics as an evolving body of<br />
knowledge, rather than as a well-defined entity composed of irrefutable and<br />
eternal truths (Barbin, Bagni, Grugnetli, & Kronfellner 2000).<br />
Jahnke (2000) suggested three general ideas which might be suited for<br />
describing the special effects of studying a source on the teaching of<br />
mathematics: (a) the notion of replacement according to which mathematics is<br />
seen as an intellectual activity rather than a set of techniques, (b) the notion of<br />
reorientation according to which history reminds us that the mathematical<br />
concepts were invented and (c) the notion of cultural understanding according<br />
to which integrating history of mathematics invites us to place the development<br />
of mathematics in the scientific and technological context of a particular time<br />
and in the history of ideas and societies and also to consider the history of<br />
teaching mathematics.<br />
For many years, the rationale of employing the history of mathematics in<br />
teaching has explicitly or implicitly been hinged on the notion of<br />
“recapitulation”, according to which ontogenesis recapitulates phylogenesis.<br />
Although this principle has been challenged on the grounds of different sociocultural<br />
conditions, Sfard (1995) points to “inherent properties of knowledge”<br />
which result in similar phenomena that can “be traced throughout its historical<br />
development and its individual construction” (p. 15). These inherent properties<br />
or epistemological obstacles could provide the grounds for a meaningful<br />
negotiation of meaning using history as a means towards an epistemological<br />
laboratory (Radford 1997).<br />
Studying the development of mathematical ideas also opens up the<br />
possibility of seeing mathematics as a socio-cultural creation and helps<br />
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“humanize” mathematics (Fauvel 1991). As Siu (1997) claims, using the history<br />
of mathematics in the classroom does not necessarily increase students’<br />
cognitive performance, but “it can make learning mathematics a meaningful<br />
and lively experience, so that learning will come easier and will go deep” (p. 8).<br />
Such programs also have the potential to help students overcome mathematics<br />
anxiety or mathematics avoidance. In addition to that, historical and<br />
epistemological analysis of the content helps teachers understand why a certain<br />
concept is difficult for students to grasp. Such an understanding is important,<br />
because it can inform selection of tasks/problems to introduce a particular<br />
concept, the strategies teachers employ in helping students develop<br />
understanding of this concept, and the time they allot to working on this<br />
concept (Barbin et al. 2000). The mathematics teachers in the study by Lit and<br />
Wong (2001) were very supportive in theory for using history in their teaching.<br />
Siu (1998), in an invited talk given at the working conference of the 10 th ICMI<br />
study on the role of history of mathematics in mathematics education, offered a<br />
list of thirteen reasons why a school teacher hesitates to make use of the history<br />
of mathematics in classroom teaching such as “I have no time for it in class”,<br />
“Students don’t like it”, “There is a lack of teacher training on it”, “Students do<br />
not have enough general knowledge on culture to appreciate it”, etc. The<br />
suggestions which are included in Curriculum or Reports of Committees do not<br />
necessarily mean that teachers are able to apply them in their teaching, either<br />
due to their lack of positive beliefs and self-efficacy beliefs or due to teaching<br />
difficulties and obstacles, which they are unable to overcome when they face<br />
them.<br />
2.2 The inquiry-based teaching approach<br />
Inquiry-based teaching and learning is based on the principles of social<br />
constructivism (Aulls & Shore 2008), according to which a learner assimilates a<br />
new situation and experience on previous experiences and depending on interindividual<br />
differences constructs the new knowledge. The scientific journal of<br />
ZDM in Mathematics Education has published a special issue in 2013 with nine<br />
papers focusing on inquiry-based mathematics education and their<br />
implementations, indicating that many questions remain unanswered. The<br />
challenge for educational systems is to enable its teachers to adopt the values of<br />
the inquiry-based pedagogy. Chin and Lin (2013) claim that there are obstacles<br />
and difficulties such as: (i) teachers did not experience inquiry-based learning<br />
in mathematics in their own school years, (ii) they do not have complete<br />
understanding of the inquiry-based teaching, (iii) there are practical constraints<br />
such as that the allocated teaching hours are not enough, (iv) the influence of<br />
teaching for success in tests.<br />
The learner-focused perspectives of mathematics education require teachers<br />
to use pedagogical methods which actively engage students in developing<br />
conceptual understanding of mathematical concepts (Chapman 2011).<br />
According to Taylor and Bilbrey (2011) the research outlines two facets of<br />
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inquiry-based instruction which are open education and differentiation. The<br />
major characteristic of the open education is that instruction is driven by the<br />
desires of the students, while the differentiation approach allows students’<br />
preferences to guide how particular content is encountered. Hakkarainen (2003)<br />
proposes an inquiry pedagogical approach called progressive inquiry for young<br />
learners in learning science, while Song and Looi (2011) explore the application<br />
of an adaptation of this approach to mathematics inquiry learning. The learnerfocused<br />
perspectives of mathematics education requires teachers to use<br />
pedagogical methods which actively engage students in developing conceptual<br />
understanding of mathematical concepts (Chapman 2011). Teachers need to<br />
develop their ability to foster student decision-making by balancing support<br />
and independence in thinking and working (NCTM 2000). The teacher’s role<br />
has evolved from concept deliverer to concept facilitator.<br />
Hegarty – Hazel (1986) categorized four levels of inquiry – based activities<br />
which ranged from specific guidance and close question to open exploration<br />
and open question. For example at the first level the teacher provides specific<br />
inquiry question, solving procedures and solution, while at the last level the<br />
teachers provide learning environment for students to generate inquiry<br />
question. Both teachers and students need slow and stable steps in order to be<br />
moved from the traditional algorithmic procedures to the challenge of the<br />
conceptual processes.<br />
One of the main emphases of the new proposed teaching model of<br />
Mathematics in the centralized educational system of Cyprus which is<br />
presented at the New Curriculum (NCM 2011), is the use of exploration and<br />
investigation of mathematical ideas as two dimensions of the inquiry-based<br />
teaching and learning approach. Last year during the implementation of the<br />
new school mathematics curriculum, the new obligatory for use textbooks for<br />
grades 1, 2, 3 and 4 had already been introduced (ages 6-9 years old). The whole<br />
idea is to introduce a mathematical concept by using an inquiry-based activity<br />
through which the teacher generates curiosity and interest in the topic and<br />
he/she asks students to express their ideas and communicate by using the<br />
language of mathematics. The emphasis is on using authentic and open-ended<br />
problem solving activities without only one correct answer and each student is<br />
expected to respond in respect to his/her previous knowledge, experiences and<br />
unique way of thinking. Teachers are expected to support the students in<br />
working independently and creatively. In only few specific cases the activities<br />
which are included in the textbooks use the context of the history of<br />
mathematics.<br />
3. METHODOLOGY<br />
The present study was divided into two main phases. At the first phase the<br />
emphasis was on examining the teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about using<br />
the history of mathematics and mainly in cases of planning inquiry-based<br />
activities. To examine teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about the use of the<br />
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history of mathematics and the inquiry-based teaching approach, we<br />
constructed and used a questionnaire that consisted of two scales: one<br />
including 12 items that measured knowledge and beliefs about the use of the<br />
history of mathematics (e.g. Mathematics changes in order to fulfill the human<br />
or social needs) and another consisting of 12 items designed to capture<br />
knowledge and beliefs about the value and implementation of inquiry-based<br />
teaching (e.g the teachers’ guidance during inquiry-based teaching approach<br />
has to be limited). All items were measured on a 5-point Likert scale (1=<br />
strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree).<br />
The emphasis of the second phase was on examining the practices teachers<br />
use during the implementation of the inquiry-based activities by using the<br />
history of mathematics in authentic classroom situations. We wanted to make<br />
the link between what they say and what they actually do. Researchers can<br />
examine the teachers’ behavior well when following and observing them in an<br />
authentic context (Hwang, Zhuang & Huang 2013). By using the case study<br />
approach we emphasized detailed contextual analysis of teaching condition in<br />
real-life school situations. A teacher of the 2 nd grade and a teacher of the 3 rd<br />
grade were observed individually while they were introducing the place-value<br />
of two- and four-digit numbers by using the history of mathematics, and then a<br />
semi-structured individual interview was conducted with each one of them.<br />
The respective activities which were suggested to be used by the textbooks<br />
introduced the concepts by using an exploration and an investigation (the<br />
Greek version of the respective pages are presented in Figure 1 and 2). A<br />
protocol for the observation was constructed and used in order to concentrate<br />
the observer’s attention on: a) teachers’ guidelines at the introduction of the<br />
activity, b) teachers’ feedback on students’ difficulties and mistakes and c) the<br />
time which was allocated for the specific activities. The interview was<br />
concentrated on the practices they had used and the difficulties they had faced.<br />
The sample: Participants who completed the questionnaire at the first phase<br />
of the study were 162 teachers, who were teaching mathematics at the first,<br />
second, third and fourth grade last year. The new curriculum methods with the<br />
new obligatory for use textbooks which include inquiry-based activities at a<br />
framework of the history of mathematics have already been introduced only at<br />
those four primary school grades. 115 of the participants of the sample were<br />
females and 47 were males. 45 participants were teaching at the first grade, 43<br />
at the second grade, 40 at the third grade and 34 at the fourth grade. All the<br />
participants were asked to complete the questionnaire voluntarily and<br />
anonymously. The teachers who took part in the second phase of the study<br />
were randomly chosen and both agreed to be observed during their teaching<br />
and take part in the individual interview.<br />
Statistical analyses: In order to confirm the structure of the questionnaire<br />
and mainly in order to examine the interrelations between the four main factors<br />
of the study, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted using<br />
Bentler’s (1995) Structural Equation Modelling (EQS) programmes. The<br />
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tenability of a model can be determined by using the following measures of<br />
goodness of fit: x 2 /df 0.9 and RMSEA<br />
(Root Mean Square Error of Approximation)
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4. RESULTS<br />
4.1 Teachers’ knowledge and beliefs<br />
Firstly the interest concentrated on the interrelations between the first-order<br />
factors as indicators of the impact of the cognitive and affective factors<br />
concerning the use of the history of mathematics and the use of the inquirybased<br />
teaching approach. The initial model tested in this study hypothesized a<br />
first-order model with four main interrelated factors: (i) the in-service teachers’<br />
knowledge about the history of mathematics, (ii) their beliefs about the use of<br />
the history of mathematics in teaching, (iii) their knowledge about the use of the<br />
inquiry-based approach and (iv) their beliefs about the inquiry-based approach<br />
and its implementation. The a priori model hypothesized that the variables of<br />
all the measurements would be explained by a specific number of factors and<br />
that each item-statement would have a non-zero leading on the factor that it<br />
was supposed to measure. Additionally the model (following the LM Test) was<br />
tested under the constraint that the error variances of some pair of scores<br />
associated with the same factor would have to be equal. As Kieftenbeld,<br />
Natesan and Eddy (2011) suggest few error variances need to be correlated<br />
when there is a local dependence between items. Local dependence occurs<br />
when participants’ responses to a particular item depended someway on their<br />
responses to other similar items.<br />
Figure 3 presents the results of the elaborated model that fits the data<br />
reasonably well (x 2 /df = 1.86, CFI = 0.932, RMSEA = 0.031). The first-order<br />
model that is considered appropriate for interpreting teachers’ beliefs and<br />
knowledge about the inquiry-based teaching approach which includes the use<br />
of the history of mathematics involves 4 first-order factors, as was proposed.<br />
The first factor consisted of 7 items concerning teachers’ knowledge about the<br />
history of mathematics. The loadings of all the items were >0.5 and all the<br />
regressions were statistically significant. The second first-order factor consisted<br />
of 6 items concerning teachers’ beliefs about using the history of mathematics in<br />
the teaching of mathematics at primary education. The third-order factor<br />
consisted of 5 items concerning teachers’ knowledge about the use of inquirybased<br />
approach in the teaching of mathematics and the fourth-order factor<br />
consisted of 6 items concerning teachers’ beliefs about using inquiry-based<br />
activities in their teaching. By using the specific analysis we aimed to explore<br />
the way these four dimensions of the model were interrelated. The existence or<br />
the non-existence of statistically significant interrelations is interesting.<br />
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Figure 3: CFA model about knowledge and beliefs interrelations<br />
As it was expected the relation between teachers’ knowledge about the<br />
history of mathematics and their beliefs about using it as part of the teaching<br />
process was statistically significant and extremely high (0.813), indicating that<br />
teachers who understand mathematics as a dynamic science which has evolved<br />
throughout the centuries in order to facilitate the development of the science<br />
and the social needs, they are at the same time teachers with positive beliefs<br />
about using the history of mathematics in teaching. At the same time teachers<br />
who know the advantages and limitations of using the inquiry-based teaching<br />
and learning approach, have positive beliefs about using the specific method in<br />
order to encourage their students to investigate and explore a mathematical<br />
concept (0.753).<br />
Statistically significant was the relationship between teachers’ knowledge<br />
about the use of the history of mathematics and their beliefs about using the<br />
inquiry-based approach (0.692). It seems that teachers who believe that<br />
mathematics has been created, constructed and enriched by humans during the<br />
development of the specific science, want to give their students the opportunity<br />
to work creatively and critically in order to explore or investigate a<br />
mathematical concept. Teachers who have positive beliefs about using the<br />
inquiry-based approach in their teaching have at the same time positive beliefs<br />
about the use of the history of mathematics (0.718).<br />
The non-existence of a statistically significant interrelation between teachers’<br />
knowledge about the use of inquiry-based approach and their knowledge and<br />
their beliefs about using the history of mathematics is justified by the fact that<br />
0.753<br />
the use of the inquiry-based approach in education is presented and suggested<br />
to teachers without relating it directly with the use of the history of<br />
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mathematics. However there are indirect interrelations, as teachers’ adequate<br />
knowledge about the inquiry-based approach is related with their beliefs about<br />
using the inquiry-based approach. At the same time teachers with high<br />
knowledge about using the history of mathematics have positive beliefs about<br />
using it.<br />
4.2 Teachers’ practices during inquiry-based teaching with the use of the<br />
history of mathematics<br />
The observation of two teachers enabled us to concentrate more<br />
qualitatively on the practices they followed in order to use the inquiry-based<br />
approach on their teaching when they decide to use the history of mathematics<br />
which is presented in the textbooks. Firstly we present briefly the observations<br />
and then the related parts of the follow-up interviews which concentrated on<br />
dimensions which are related to the instructional practices.<br />
The teacher of the 2 nd grade presented to her students a picture with ancient<br />
Egyptians who were farmers and at the background of the picture there were<br />
symbols on the wall of their houses. She told the students that ancient<br />
Egyptians used to engrave symbols on the walls or papyrus and she asked<br />
them to study the picture in their book and guess which numbers were<br />
possible. She actually preferred to pose an open question which guided them to<br />
many different accepted answers. Many right answers were given and only one<br />
wrong. In fact the mistake was made by a student who presented an<br />
unexpected answer with three-digit numbers. He claimed that the first number<br />
was 310, the second 502 and the third 106. The teacher told him “we have not<br />
learnt three-digit numbers yet, we will not discuss this mistake now”. She spent<br />
almost 10 minutes on the specific activity with the ancient Egyptians in the<br />
textbook and then she asked students to imagine that there were ancient<br />
Egyptians and they had to construct and propose their own symbols. Each<br />
group of two students had to decide 3 to 4 symbols and they had to present to<br />
their classmates few numbers in order to guess the value of each symbol.<br />
Students found the activity creative and all the pairs wanted to present their<br />
work. The most common mistake was the insufficient information which was<br />
given to their classmates in order to guess the value of the symbols. The teacher<br />
preferred to justify this mistake by making the comment to the students “you<br />
had preferred to pose an open problem, an exploration”. During the interview<br />
she justified this behaviour by saying that “it was an exploration and I didn’t<br />
want to kill students’ enthusiasm by pointing out that they worked wrongly. I<br />
wanted them to feel free to create in mathematics rather than feeling fear of<br />
making mistakes”. She justified the absence of feedback in the case of the threedigit<br />
numbers, which were presented above, by saying that “I do not have the<br />
time to discuss everything and most students would be unable to understand<br />
something from this discussion”. What was impressive and unexpected was<br />
that she continued with activities of place-value at two digit numbers without<br />
any reference to the similarities and differences of the two arithmetic systems.<br />
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At a question during the interview asking her to explain why she had not<br />
discussed the importance of the absence or the presence of zero at the<br />
arithmetic systems, she said “the history of mathematics can be used just as a<br />
fairy tale. It has to be used in the same way you can use literature in order to<br />
introduce a concept. We have no time to insist more. This could be done in the<br />
upper grades of education, not at the 2 nd grade”. The parts of the interview<br />
which are indicative of her beliefs about the use of the history of mathematics<br />
and about the inquiry-based approach are presented below.<br />
- How often do you use the inquiry-based approach in the teaching of<br />
mathematics?<br />
- I always do the investigations which are presented in the textbooks and<br />
sometimes the explorations.<br />
- Why are you not using all the explorations?<br />
- I do not have enough time. It is difficult to concentrate your students’<br />
attention on a specific concept when the framework is open.<br />
- Why did you decide to use the exploration with the ancient Egyptians?<br />
- This was interesting but you saw that I did not continue to discuss the<br />
three-digit numbers. I would have problem with the time.<br />
- Have you ever used something from the history of mathematics which is<br />
not presented in the textbook during an activity of exploration?<br />
- No, I didn’t know many things about the history of mathematics and it is<br />
too difficult to relate the historical concepts with the knowledge you<br />
want them to learn today.<br />
At a relative question about the attendance of any course related with the<br />
history of mathematics or the inquiry-based approach during her studies or any<br />
pre-service training program she claimed that she did not know anything about<br />
the use of the history of mathematics and she had attended the obligatory inservice<br />
training about the use of explorations and investigations which was<br />
organized by the Ministry of Education. She underlined the necessity of<br />
developing programs of training at the school in real teaching situations,<br />
especially in order to enforce the use of the inquiry-based approach.<br />
It is clear from the discussion which is presented above that the teacher felt<br />
the pressure of the syllabus which had to be taught; she indicated negative selfefficacy<br />
beliefs in managing the time and the unexpected situations derived by<br />
students who performed well in mathematics. At the same time the lack of<br />
knowledge about the content of the history of mathematics and the value of<br />
using it as a teaching tool is obvious, while the teacher was convinced about the<br />
value of using of the inquiry-based approach in daily-life framework.<br />
The teacher at the 3 rd grade started the lesson by asking students to imagine<br />
that they were archaeologists and they had to understand the numbers which<br />
were written on the stones (Figure 2). He asked them to cooperate with the<br />
classmate who was near them in order to solve the two exercises on page 19. He<br />
spent only 3 minutes in order to correct their answers. He asked three students<br />
to write the three numbers on the board and he evaluated students’<br />
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understanding by asking them to raise their hand if they knew how to translate<br />
the numbers 5328 and 2008. He asked from a child who did not raise his hand<br />
for translating the second number to go on the board in order to “help him to<br />
think together” the solution. When he realized that the child was confused<br />
because of the presence of “0”, he asked him to find the respective solution for<br />
the number 110 by presenting it firstly with the dienes cubes and then by using<br />
ancient symbols. Then he asked for the translation of numbers 101 and 1001.<br />
During the interview he claimed that the inquiry-based approach is useful,<br />
especially for students with low performance in mathematics as it reveals their<br />
misunderstandings and misconceptions. However he underlined the difficulty<br />
to work at the same time with all the students during an investigation. He knew<br />
few things about the history of mathematics, mainly about geometry and non-<br />
Euclidean geometry, which he had been taught at university but he could not<br />
imagine anything else beyond the arithmetic systems that could be used in the<br />
teaching of mathematics in primary education. He believed that the history of<br />
mathematics could be useful in gymnasium in order to enable students to honor<br />
the ancient Greeks who discovered mathematics. He did not remember other<br />
mathematicians except for Pythagoras and Euclid. It is obvious that this specific<br />
teacher preferred to use a guided investigation. He insisted on students’<br />
mistakes by using the strategy of simplifying the problem. He did not know the<br />
philosophy and pedagogy of using the history of mathematics in order to<br />
introduce a mathematical concept.<br />
5. DISCUSSION<br />
European reports will continue to call for inquiry-based teaching<br />
approaches in mathematics in order to urge students to think critically and<br />
creatively and to enable them to solve authentic real-life problems. Teachers are<br />
expected to actively engage students in open-ended learning experiences in<br />
order to foster an environment of inquiry. The current study provided evidence<br />
that although teachers have positive beliefs about the importance of the history<br />
of mathematics for the introduction of mathematical concepts, they do not<br />
apply its features into their teaching practice satisfactorily, because they do not<br />
have the necessary and sufficient knowledge. Teachers feel more confident to<br />
teach the way they were taught and they seemed not having adequate<br />
experiences in learning mathematics through the exploration of the respective<br />
history. We have to rethink at least the role of in-service training programmes<br />
and the respective experiences which are built through them. In pre-service or<br />
in-service training we have to equip teacher with methods and techniques for<br />
incorporating historical materials in their own teaching, with experiences in<br />
inquiry-based teaching approaches and with strategies of managing flexibly the<br />
time and their students’ misunderstandings. In order to enable teachers to<br />
adopt inquiry-based approaches which use the history of mathematics for the<br />
introduction of mathematical concepts, we have to develop pre-service and inservice<br />
training programs which use the progressive inquiry approach in order<br />
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to affect their knowledge on the specific domain, their masteries experiences<br />
and consequently their self-efficacy beliefs in respect to Bandura’s theory<br />
(Bandura 1997). Attempts to incorporate the history of mathematics in<br />
education might benefit from keeping in mind that teachers need to be helped<br />
to develop knowledge that is both useful and usable for the work of teaching<br />
mathematics.<br />
It is extremely important that teachers who adopted an experimental<br />
epistemological perspective about the nature of mathematics by understanding<br />
the dynamic development of the specific science throughout the centuries,<br />
believed in the value of exploring and investigating the mathematical concepts.<br />
This is an indication that their experiences as learners during their training<br />
courses at universities with the development of the mathematical concepts by<br />
using an inquiry-based approach will probably enable them to believe in the<br />
value of using the inquiry-based approach and the benefit of using the history<br />
of mathematics in order to humanize them.<br />
The present study is just the starting point of investigating a piece of this<br />
puzzle which is related with the history of mathematics and the inquiry – based<br />
approach and more research has to be developed in order to relate the teachers’<br />
knowledge and beliefs about the use of the history of mathematics with their<br />
beliefs and knowledge about the inquiry-based approach. Emphasis has to be<br />
given on studying further teachers’ difficulties in implementing the inquirybased<br />
teaching approach in general and in the case of using the history of<br />
mathematics in particular. Studies have to be developed to examine their<br />
practices and difficulties in real classroom actions. A future study could<br />
concentrate further on the investigation of teachers’ practices in classroom<br />
context by observing more instructions and investing on changes which would<br />
be the result of teachers’ own self-reflection on their teaching behaviour when<br />
difficulties are faced during an attempt to implement an innovation.<br />
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Chapman, O. (2011). Elementary school teachers’ growth in inquiry–based<br />
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Chin, E. & Lin, F. (2013). A survey of the practice of a large–scale<br />
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Clark, K. (2006). Investigating teachers’ experiences with the history of<br />
logarithms: a collection of five case studies. Dissertation: University of<br />
Mayrland.<br />
Dubey, M. & Singh, B. (2013). Assessing the effect of implementing<br />
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Research Publications, 3 (8), 1-3.<br />
Ernest, P. (1991). Philosophy of mathematics education. New York: Falmer<br />
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Fauvel, J. (1991). Using history in mathematics education. For the Learning of<br />
Mathematics, 11(2), 3-6.<br />
Fleener, M., Reeder, S., Young, E. & Reylands, A. (2002). History of<br />
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Teacher Education, 24, 73-84.<br />
Furinghetti, F. (2007). Teacher education through the history of mathematics.<br />
Educational Studies in Mathematics, 66, 131-143.<br />
Goktepk, S. & Sukru, A. (2013). An example of using history of mathematics in<br />
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Gulikers, I., & Blom, K. (2001). 'A historical angle', a survey of recent literature<br />
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Studies in Mathematics, 47(2), 223-258.<br />
Hakkarainen, K. (2003). Progressive inquiry in a computer–supported biology<br />
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Haverhals, N. & Roscoe, M. (2010). The history of mathematics as a pedagogical<br />
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Hwang, G. J., Wu, P. H., Zhuang, Y. Y., & Huang, Y. M. (2013). Effects of the<br />
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Jahnke, H. (2000). The Use of original sources in the mathematics classroom. In<br />
Fauvel J, van Maanen J (eds). History in Mathematics Education: The ICMI<br />
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Illinois State University, Bloomington−Normal, IL, USA.<br />
Marshall, J. C., & Horton, R. M. (2011). The relationship of teacher-facilitated,<br />
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(Eds.), History in mathematics education – The ICMI study (pp. 91-142).<br />
Boston, MA: Kluwer.<br />
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BRIEF BIOGRAPHY<br />
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Areti Panaoura is associate professor in Mathematics Education at the Frederick<br />
University in Cyprus. She has BA in Education, MA in Mathematics Education and<br />
PhD in Mathematics Education (University of Cyprus) and MSc in Educational<br />
Research (University of Exeter). Her main research interests are about young pupils’<br />
metacognitive abilities in mathematics, the self-regulation, the affective domain in<br />
mathematics, the use of different representations for the teaching of mathematical<br />
concepts and the inquiry-based teaching and learning approach.<br />
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UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN MACEDONIA<br />
FACULTY OF EDUCATION<br />
<strong>MENON</strong><br />
©online Journal Of Educational Research 146<br />
THE OLD TEACHER EUCLID: AND HIS SCIENCE IN THE ART<br />
OF FINDING ONE’S MATHEMATICAL VOICE<br />
Dr Snezana Lawrence<br />
Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Education, Leader of Mathematics PGCE<br />
Bath Spa University<br />
s.lawrence2@bathspa.ac.uk<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
This paper offers ideas for teachers to engage with mathematics through the historical<br />
‘journeys’ and relationship with art and cultural and intellectual history. Its premise is<br />
that, whilst teachers’ main reason for choosing the career path of a mathematics<br />
teacher is usually their enjoyment of the subject, their later insistence on utilitarian<br />
view of mathematics leads to disengagement both in their students and their own<br />
disillusionment. The paper also treats the question of how teachers who come to the<br />
profession from non-mathematical backgrounds find their own ‘mathematical’ voice<br />
through series of historical investigations and what impact that may have on their<br />
teaching and pupils’ progress.<br />
Keywords: Professional identity, teacher identity, internal dialogue<br />
1. SCHOOL MATHEMATICIANS VS UNIVERSITY ONES<br />
As a teacher educator I often recommend to my teacher students to keep<br />
learning about mathematics (and in some cases through its history) in order to<br />
keep developing their practice (Lawrence 2009). This constant re-energising is<br />
necessary not only to keep one’s mind alive and well, but also because of the<br />
well-described reorientation process (Furinghetti 2007). There is however, a<br />
deeper need to which I dedicate this paper, and that is of being rooted in the<br />
practice of mathematics, developing conceptual understanding, learning new<br />
things, and being able to feel part of mathematical tradition in order to convey<br />
its practices, meanings, and joy of belonging to it, to the younger generations.<br />
In previous work (Lawrence & Ransom 2011) colleague and I have<br />
investigated in particular groups of mathematics teachers in training who came<br />
to secondary mathematics teaching from mathematically related degrees, but<br />
who have never been exposed to undergraduate or postgraduate mathematics<br />
courses and therefore the contextual culture of research university mathematics.<br />
All these students had to go on, to understand what ‘real’ mathematics is like,<br />
was what memories and their experiences of mathematics from the time of their<br />
own schooling.<br />
On the other hand, these teachers are, by their pupils, perceived as<br />
‘mathematicians’, similarly as art teachers are perceived as artists and science<br />
teachers as scientists. I do not argue here the numbers, percentages related to<br />
such beliefs and views, or measure their intensity: my supposition from<br />
experience tells me that some children will be better at realizing the difference<br />
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between real mathematicians and their mathematics teachers, just as they will<br />
be at realizing the difference between a university and their school.<br />
Nevertheless, all they have, for six years of secondary schooling, is mathematics<br />
through their mathematics teacher.<br />
In many schools’ corridors one can hear the wisdom of the crowd phrase<br />
that “one does not have to be a brilliant mathematician to be a brilliant<br />
mathematics teacher”, and we will not dispute, support, or analyse this phrase.<br />
We merely mention the belief. The obvious fact of the learning and teaching is,<br />
that on the one hand, the fact that one has to have a full grasp of something one<br />
is to convey to others in teaching capacity, and on the other to be a good<br />
communicator and teacher in order to convey such meaning. A good solid<br />
grounding in mathematics and a desire to consistently and constantly learn<br />
new mathematics during their teaching career, seems then to be a necessary, if<br />
not sufficient condition. So what can we do to inspire teachers in training and<br />
education, coming from non-mathematical backgrounds, to become such good<br />
teachers? This paper describes one such approach, based on the principles of<br />
learning mathematics through history. In this respect, history is not ‘used’ to be<br />
either a tool or a goal (Jankvist 2009), but rather a method in a Collingwood’s<br />
(Collingwood 1939) sense of both transcendent and re-enacting in order for one<br />
to find one’s own voice and construct one’s own stories. By this I mean that one<br />
has to experience new mathematics at all times, in order to remain alive to its<br />
ability to fascinate, engage and have a dialogue (with pupils) about. To<br />
experience mathematics, is to become a mathematician for a while:<br />
…in its immediacy, as an actual experience of his own, Plato’s argument must<br />
undoubtedly have grown up out of a discussion of some sort, though I do not<br />
know what it was and been closely connected to such a discussion. Yet if I not<br />
only read his argument but understand it, follow it in my own mind re-enacting<br />
it with and for myself, the process of argument which I go through is not a<br />
process resembling Plato’s so far as I understand him correctly (Collingwood<br />
1946: 301).<br />
It is to grapple with an idea, with a mathematical object, for the first time,<br />
rather than just think how to convey its meaning. By this process, the teacher<br />
student deals with mathematical objects directly, rather than through someone<br />
else’s narrative, in fact the student builds their own narrative. So how can this<br />
be done?<br />
2. ME, MYSELF, AND MATHEMATICS<br />
Let me elaborate on this ‘personal voice’ phenomena in the process of<br />
becoming mathematics teacher a little bit further. The reoccurring theme whilst<br />
I have been working with teachers coming to mathematics teaching from nonspecialist<br />
backgrounds has been their inability to establish model for the<br />
learning that is rich in meaning to themselves, as they struggle to find this in<br />
mathematical topics, not having ‘roots’ in the discipline (Lawrence & Ransom<br />
2011). This does not mean that teachers coming to teaching with undergraduate<br />
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mathematics degrees will also not have such problems. In my experience<br />
though, this uprootedness is less pronounced with such students, as they had<br />
been previously exposed to specific university mathematics culture with all its<br />
idiosyncrasies and subtle means of communication for at least three years.<br />
What kind of voice am I talking about? Well like in any other intellectual<br />
discipline, to have a ‘voice’ means to have something to say, being interested in<br />
particular aspects of the discipline, constantly learning further about the core of<br />
the discipline, and becoming and being creative in the discipline. In today’s<br />
world we are perhaps more used to ‘having our voices’ developed and<br />
disseminated via the social media from tweeting to blogging. 1 In mathematics<br />
education, teachers are expected to have this voice, which is not strictly<br />
mathematical, but has a strong relation to the mathematics as a discipline.<br />
One way of experiencing what exactly this ‘voice’ for real mathematicians<br />
sounds like, could be achieved by reading biographies or autobiographies of<br />
mathematicians. Unfortunately, mathematicians do not often feel a necessity to<br />
communicate their intellectual journey by letters, but more often they do it in<br />
mathematical language. One famous autobiography (Weil 1991) says it in<br />
words, with great skill and through an engaging narrative. However, this is a<br />
story more of a testimony to the period of mathematical history, than a way by<br />
which one can learn about the personal life journey as experienced through<br />
mathematics that the author learnt, conceived, and communicated.<br />
Then we can of course, look at educationalists. Great lessons can be learnt<br />
here, and one could do worse than reading John Stuart Mills’ Autobiography<br />
(Mills 1873). But at this point we will introduce back Collingwood, as he<br />
records an important aspect that we suggest could be used as a starting point<br />
for self-discovery, a process which should lead towards the forming of an<br />
identity for a mathematics teacher.<br />
The first great experience Collingwood gives in his intellectual<br />
autobiography is his personal experience of an initiation, awakening of his<br />
intellect’s desire to develop and learn. He describes this by reminiscing about<br />
how, when he first saw a book by Kant, something was born in him:<br />
… one day when I was eight years old curiosity moved me to take down a little<br />
black book lettered on its spine ‘Kant’s Theory of Ethics’… I was attached by a<br />
strange succession of emotions. First came an intense excitement. I felt that<br />
things of the highest importance were being said about matters of the utmost<br />
urgency: things which at all costs I must understand… There came upon me by<br />
degrees, after this, a sense of being burdened with a task whose nature I could<br />
not define except by saying, ‘I must think’. What I was to think about I did not<br />
1 At this point I have to digress and mention the Infinite Monkey Theorem, which states that a monkey<br />
hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a<br />
given text, such as the complete works of Shakespeare. Perhaps the most famous quote relating to this is<br />
Robert Wilensky’s supposed communication at the meeting at the EECS Department, University of<br />
California, Berkeley, in the Spring 1996, when he said “We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging<br />
on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire words of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the<br />
Internet, we know this is not true” (http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/27695.html accessed 5th Dec<br />
2015).<br />
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know; and when obeying this command, I fell silent and absent-minded in<br />
company, or sought solitude in order to think without interruption, I could not<br />
have said, and still cannot say, what it was that I actually thought. There were<br />
no particular questions that I asked myself; there were no special objects upon<br />
which I directed my mind; there was only a formless and aimless intellectual<br />
disturbance, as if I were wrestling with a fog (Collingwood 1939: 3-4).<br />
Teachers who read this passage (or the whole book) can use this to remind<br />
them of their memory of a kind – and their memory would be something to do<br />
with mathematics, as the desire to teach the subject has never left them – to<br />
which testifies their dedication to undertake a demanding training and<br />
education.<br />
But then, there is the process of finding and articulating the voice of which I<br />
am talking about. And it should begin with an area of mathematics, a journey<br />
they can undertake, or have undertaken, and other journeys that they may<br />
undertake. I will come back to this later again.<br />
I became interested in the ways of how teachers become confident in<br />
discovering their own mathematics teacher identity through finding their own<br />
voice, and this voice is a crucial element of a mathematical dialogue with<br />
others. To develop this, they first have to find their own, internal dialogues –<br />
they need to describe mathematical objects with which they meet for the first<br />
time in order to develop authentic voice. The development of pupils’ own<br />
mathematical selves has been well described by Fried (2008), and so my story<br />
builds on his work by considering the similar aspect for teachers in training,<br />
with obvious limitations to account for differences in ages, experiences,<br />
contexts, and maturity.<br />
Then we need to think of the most common dialogues mathematics teachers<br />
will have in their working careers: and they are those they have with children.<br />
The importance of that dialogue as being a permanent feature of teachers’ own<br />
development should not be underestimated. A question here arises on the<br />
nature of such a dialogue. Teachers will of course know much more of<br />
mathematics than their pupils. They will also know that they could not tell all<br />
they know, to their pupils, and surely not all at once. They will have to filter<br />
their knowledge and keep some of it for later, or even secret for a while: they<br />
will want to have a full control of making situations that will result in positive<br />
cognitive discomfort they wish to entice in their pupils, like the one from the<br />
quote above. If teachers succeed, their pupils will forever continue searching for<br />
the meaning of mathematical concepts and begin developing their own<br />
mathematical identities in turn. But to get back to their own voices - they first to<br />
have that, and the story they want to tell in order to engage their pupils. Here is<br />
where mathematical journeys of learning for teachers, through history, come.<br />
3. FINDING THE INSPIRATION<br />
The journey of finding own voice for a teacher doesn’t come from one<br />
episode, one example, or one area of mathematics. It is therefore difficult to find<br />
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material that would offer many aspects that could tie in with the teachers’<br />
interests and their backgrounds. Cultural and historical contexts offer a rich<br />
field from within which one can sow and reap fruitful rewards. In this paper, I<br />
suggest a journey that relates the history of art to the history of mathematics.<br />
The reasons for this will become apparent and will be discussed later.<br />
I looked at finding a starting inspiration point from art, with limitation that<br />
mathematics contained in art should be obvious, represented clearly, and that it<br />
must say something about mathematics or mathematicians themselves. The<br />
journey narrative would then develop by looking at connections with the<br />
original concept represented.<br />
The starting point to the project I chose to be a geometric diagram that<br />
Euclid is showing (or proving a theorem) in Rafael’s School of Athens, a fresco in<br />
the Vatican. The detail shows diagram demonstrating a theorem – its exact<br />
shape is debatable (fig. 1).<br />
Fig. 1<br />
One interpretation is by Watson (2015), who suggests that diagram refers to<br />
areas of certain shapes contained in a hexagonal star. The diagram Watson<br />
suggests is given (fig. 2).<br />
Fig. 2<br />
C<br />
D<br />
E<br />
A<br />
B<br />
F<br />
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The diagram relates, Watson suggests, to the right angled triangle contained<br />
within the hexagonal star, here labeled ABC, an application of Pythagoras’<br />
theorem (areas of equilateral triangles being replaced by squares: AEC and ABF<br />
add to BDC). It also points to some conjecturing on the ratio of shaded figures,<br />
the darker being 1/3 of the lighter. A reference is also made to the method of<br />
teaching to which picture refers, namely the dialogue as that described in Meno,<br />
between Socrates and the slave boy, and modeling the universal teaching<br />
method via a dialogue (Plato 2009, Watson & Mason 2009, Lawrence 2013).<br />
Another interpretation is that offered in Heilbron (2000) in the section<br />
relating to polygons, and in particular hexagon (fig. 3). In this diagram, the<br />
hexagonal star is divided by a diagonal PS, on both sides of which, at equal<br />
distances, parallel lines are constructed. Then the length AB will be equal to<br />
CD. This Heilbron called ‘Rafael’s theorem’. It must be pointed that while it<br />
may well be Rafael’s theorem, it is clearly being demonstrated on Rafael’s<br />
picture by Euclid (Haas 2012). This required some further investigation.<br />
Fig. 3<br />
P<br />
Q<br />
C<br />
B<br />
D<br />
R<br />
A<br />
x<br />
x<br />
T<br />
The investigation turned to another image, having a diagram also used<br />
apparently in a teaching episode of a kind, being shown on a similarly small<br />
blackboard: it is the famous painting of Luca Pacioli (1447-1517) attributed to<br />
Jacopo de’Barbari (1495). In this painting the diagram is quite clear (fig. 4).<br />
Fig. 4<br />
S<br />
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It shows a theorem XIII.12 from Euclid (as it clearly also says on the side of<br />
the board, and on the page to which left hand is pointing – not shown in our<br />
detail) which states that if an equilateral triangle is inscribed in a circle, the<br />
square on the side of the triangle is triple of the square on the radius of the<br />
circle (fig. 5).<br />
This Euclid uses in the construction of the tetrahedron (it is, after all, book<br />
XIII dealing with solids), but not the construction of dodecahedron. However if<br />
we look a little more closely, we can say that this is closely related to what is<br />
previously mentioned as Rafael’s theorem, closely resembling though the first<br />
image of Watson’s interpretation (fig. 6). The images are clearly related.<br />
It is possible to identify the edition of Elements to which Pacioli is pointing<br />
on his left. Pacioli published his own edition of Elements in 1509, but if we are<br />
correct about the date of the picture, he must have used another copy at the<br />
time the picture was completed. As the date of the painting is most probably<br />
1495, the only possible Elements Pacioli (and indeed de’Barbari) would have had<br />
access to would be the Venice edition of 1482 (Mackinnon 1993). It is possible<br />
that he had in his possession a copy of Johannes Campanus (1220-1296),<br />
although unlikely – we will therefore assume that he had the more recent – to<br />
him – Venice edition of 1482, which was in fact the Latin translation of Johannes<br />
Campanus, who was Pope’s (Urban IV) chaplain at the time. This edition of the<br />
book was illustrated and produced by Erhald Ratdolt and, for my purposes of<br />
study, a copy of this book can be found in Albert and Victoria Museum in<br />
London. If one more closely looks at the book and pages Pacioli is pointing at,<br />
they are quite clearly identifiable as pages from the book. A copy of the<br />
diagram of XIII.12 as we just explained it above, is given in this edition (fig. 7).<br />
Fig. 5 Fig. 6 Fig. 7<br />
3<br />
2<br />
1<br />
What can these theorems do for the teachers? The similarity of their<br />
representation and their various interpretations, their repetition in the works of<br />
art, and being attributed to different mathematicians in different periods, as<br />
well as the high esteem in which they were obviously held by the artists of the<br />
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Renaissance, would be a first point from which to begin questioning their<br />
meaning.<br />
4. EUCLID IN BATH, THEN AND NOW<br />
As we know, one of the most celebrated moments of intellectual history is<br />
the recovery of Euclid’s Elements to the West. Adelard of Bath (1080-1152), a<br />
philosopher, traveller, and translator, brought the first Latin such translation<br />
back from his travels. The illustration, part of frontispiece of his translation<br />
(Meliacin 1309-1316), in a French manuscript from the early 14th century, shows<br />
not only the learned men, but also a teacher who is female – a sight that is for<br />
our purposes welcome in the sea of male names and inventions (fig. 8).<br />
Our narrative started with only a clear idea about the possible image to<br />
initiate a construction of a learning episode which would make a bridge<br />
between art, culture, and mathematics, in order to develop teachers’ learning<br />
and grappling with new mathematics. The image had to be a real<br />
representation of some kind of mathematics, rather than the mathematical<br />
technique that helped generate the image. But, developing the narrative<br />
through tracing the history of the diagram appearing in Rafael, created other<br />
criteria which generated themselves as it were, along the way. One such<br />
criterion for example steamed from a long-term experience, that what is locally<br />
or culturally familiar to learners, is more likely to affect them positively as they<br />
begin making other connections by drawing on their experience (and my course<br />
is based in Bath from where Adelard came).<br />
Secondly, the identification for both genders is important – a happy<br />
coincidence that both relationship with geography and gender were given at<br />
once by Adelard of Bath’s first Latin translation (fig. 8).<br />
Fig. 8<br />
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But the original exploration and the connection between two images by<br />
Rafael and de’Barberi offered much more than was hoped for in the beginning.<br />
A link between the two geometrical diagrams on Rafael and de’Barberi, and<br />
mathematics contained within them, is obvious as can be seen from the<br />
diagrams above. It further transpires that these images, that put geometry in<br />
context of history and art so beautifully, also contain a wealth of further<br />
pathways to investigate and learn from, and possible tasks rich in both depth<br />
and width of associations.<br />
At this point, it would be good to suggest to teacher students their further<br />
pathways of investigation, with some possibilities and resources. These<br />
resources could certainly take into account Piero della Francesca’s (1415-1492)<br />
work, one of the leading artists of the Renaissance with significant contributions<br />
to development of geometrical techniques, who was connected to both Rafael<br />
and Pacioli.<br />
Pierro did not only a work on perspective (Francesa 1482), but published at<br />
the same time as the two diagrams originated from which we began our<br />
journey, were created. Francesca’s work also influenced Luca Pacioli. Here we<br />
can link to the work of Leonardo, who also worked on perspective.<br />
Fig. 9<br />
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), one of the most celebrated artists and<br />
scientists of all time, was also closely working with Pacioli on his De divina<br />
proportione (1498), having provided illustrations for it. Strangely enough, by<br />
looking at Leonardo’s mathematical works, a theorem after him comes up that<br />
is closely linked to our particular problem. He was certainly at the time<br />
interested in the problems of relationships between lengths, areas, and<br />
volumes. In Codex Arundel (da Vinci 1478-1518, Duvernoy 2008), he calculates<br />
(fig. 9) the centre of gravity of a pyramid (fol. 218v), further extending it to<br />
tetrahedron, as was the case with both instances of diagrams from which we<br />
began (fig. 5-7).<br />
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5. FROM THE VOICE TO THE DIALOGUE<br />
How would this episode of research be of any relevance to the teachers in<br />
their education and training, or as French would say ‘formation’? There are two<br />
questions that now come to mind:<br />
1. What is the purpose of this mathematics teacher’s voice?<br />
2. What exactly should mathematics teacher do to model the learning for<br />
their pupils that this learning episode could help with?<br />
The first question refers us back to the beginning of the paper. The purpose<br />
of finding one’s voice and undertaking such historical journey as we did is<br />
about being ‘rooted’ in mathematical discipline. It is about developing, and<br />
having an awareness, of mathematical objects and concepts not only in how<br />
they relate to utilitarian and engineering topics, but how they have developed<br />
also as an intellectual tradition of a way of thinking and are hence deeply<br />
rooted themselves in our culture. It is about experiencing them for the first<br />
hand, and developing also ‘an eye’ to spot such references in culture all around<br />
us.<br />
Having such voice means, as we already said, an internal and an external<br />
dialogue. An internal dialogue would question what is being seen and<br />
discovered, and the trail that we sketched offers many possibilities to<br />
investigate, search, and refer to, in both mathematics and art. An external<br />
dialogue could then develop from interaction with colleagues first, and then<br />
with pupils (as we are talking about teachers in training and education).<br />
How could a teacher make mathematics relevant? Perhaps this is asked<br />
always as the sense of beauty and aesthetic experience is so far from<br />
mathematics classrooms that utility seems to be the only answer we are used to<br />
discussing. For most mathematicians though, their dedication to the discipline<br />
comes from their experience of such aesthetic pleasure.<br />
Mathematics teachers glimpse this particular aspect of doing mathematics,<br />
as they search for the profession and find it in teaching mathematics, and most<br />
refer to memories of clarity and beauty they experienced in some mathematical<br />
context, as children or later as adults, as the crucial reason for choosing the<br />
profession in the first place. But somehow, somewhere, that sense of beauty<br />
disappears and mathematics teachers are faced often with the question of<br />
‘when will we need this’ – something that is rarely being asked in art or music<br />
lessons.<br />
The second question points to the modeling of mathematics for the learning<br />
of pupils. Investigating something for the first time and searching for the<br />
answers is a messy process, and so what kinds of mathematical techniques and<br />
learning routines could possibly be interesting or useful through this journey?<br />
Perhaps not many, but they are I believe crucial for this voice to be developed<br />
and this dialogue to be truly established between a teacher and their pupils.<br />
Again, this is the possibly only way of meeting with the mathematical objects in<br />
Collingwood’s sense – the true object in all its beauty – and grappling with it<br />
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for the first time as it is not given in any curriculum, and so should or would<br />
not have been met by mathematics teachers before.<br />
By searching for the answers teacher discovers their own way of thinking,<br />
and learns from it. This learning should be reflective, and articulate the points<br />
upon which one stumbles as one searches for meaning and understanding.<br />
Why is this theorem important? What does it tell us? How is it similar to the<br />
other one? What other theorems are like this? Why did he (Euclid, Rafael,<br />
Pacioli, Francesca, Leonardo) think it so? Who was that Euclid? Why was he<br />
important? Why does the image of Adelard’s Elements represent a woman as a<br />
teacher?<br />
Further investigations point to the possibilities of developing thinking on:<br />
a. the possibility of connecting two and three dimensional geometry,<br />
showing the interconnectedness of mathematics<br />
b. universality and beauty of mathematical concepts that transcend<br />
centuries, cultures, and disciplines<br />
c. showing that mathematics is part of a culture within which it grows, and<br />
is also an inspiration for the cultural life – we have shown this on the<br />
example of some great paintings mentioned in this paper.<br />
The routines of learning and thinking about mathematics therefore, by using<br />
historical episodes, become also embedded in the teachers’ own constant search<br />
for new material and inspiration. It is difficult to inspire without being inspired,<br />
and by looking for gems from the history of mathematics that intrigue, makes<br />
the search pleasurable, and the learning inspirational. Some of that inspiration,<br />
when structured properly, and narrated by a skilled teacher, could develop into<br />
a dialogue that enables pupils to discover the beauty of mathematics for<br />
themselves.<br />
Finally, the reference to Rafael appears for my teachers close to home – in a<br />
stately home at Stourhead in Wiltshire, adorning its famous library (fig. 10). A<br />
story perhaps to be discovered there for a teacher on a journey.<br />
Fig. 10<br />
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REFERENCES<br />
Campanus, Johannes (1482). Euclid’s Elements. Illustrations and production by<br />
Erhald Ratdolt, Venice.<br />
da Vinci, Leonardo (1478-1518). Codex Arundel. MSS British Library, 263.<br />
Collingwood, R. E. (1939). An Autobiography. Oxford University Press, Oxford.<br />
Duvernoy, S. (2008). Leonardo and Theoretical Mathematics. In Nexus Network<br />
Journal, 10, 1: 39-50. Springer.<br />
Francesca, Pierro della (1482). Perspective Pigendi. Venice.<br />
Fried, N. Michael (2008). Between Public and Private: Where Students’<br />
Mathematical Selves Reside. Radford, Schubring, and Seeger (eds).<br />
Semiotics in Mathematics Education: Epistemology, history, Classroom, and<br />
Culture, 121-137. Sense Publishing.<br />
Furinghetti, F. (2007). Teacher education through the history of mathematics.<br />
Educational Studies in Mathematics, 66: 131-143.<br />
Haas, R. (2012). Raphael’s School of Athens: A Theorem in a Painting? Journal<br />
of Humanistic Mathematics, 2, 3:23.<br />
Heilbron, J. L. (2000). Geometry Civilized: History, Culture, and Technique.<br />
Clarendon Press, Oxford.<br />
Lawrence, S. (2009). What works in the classroom – Project on the History of<br />
Mathematics and the Collaborative Teaching Practice. Paper presented at<br />
CERME 6, January 2009, Lyon France.<br />
Lawrence, S. (2013). Meno, his Paradox, and the Incommensurable Segments for<br />
Teachers. In Mathematics Today, IMA, London.<br />
Mackinnon, N. (1993). The Portrait of Fra Luca Pacioli. The Mathematical<br />
Gazette, 77, 479: 130-219.<br />
Meliacin, M. (1309-1316). Scholastic miscellany. French MSS, Burney 275, British<br />
Library.<br />
Mill, John Stuart (1873). Autobiography. London: Longmans, Green, Reader,<br />
and Dyer.<br />
Pacioli, Luca (1494). Summa. Venice.<br />
Plato (translated by Robin Waterfiled) (2009). Meno and other dialogues.<br />
Oxford University Press.<br />
Watson, A. & Mason, J. (2009). The Menousa. For the Learning of Mathematics,<br />
29, 2: 32-37.<br />
Watson, A. (2015). Culture and Complexity. An unpublished manuscript based<br />
on presentation at the Art of Mathematics Day, held at Bath Spa University,<br />
19th June 2015.<br />
Weil, André (1991). The Apprenticeship of a Mathematician. Birkhäuser.<br />
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY<br />
Dr Snezana Lawrence is a Senior Lecturer in Mathematics Education at Bath Spa<br />
University. She is interested in the History of Mathematics and Mathematics<br />
Education. Snezana has published on the history of geometry and its applications in<br />
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architecture, as well as the image geometry has in popular culture and literature.<br />
Snezana is interested in the multitudes of manifestations of the cross-disciplinary links<br />
between mathematics and other creative disciplines, and writes a regular column on<br />
this called Historical Notes for Mathematics Today, the largest professional magazine for<br />
mathematicians in the UK. She recently co-edited a book with Mark McCartney on the<br />
relationship between mathematics and theology, Mathematicians and Their Gods, which<br />
is published by the Oxford University Press. She is on the Advisory Board of the<br />
History and Pedagogy of Mathematics group, (HPM, satellite group of the<br />
International Mathematics Union), and leads a teacher development programme for<br />
the Prince’s Teaching Institute (UK). She is a keen swimmer.<br />
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