On the Role of Imagination in the Use of History in Mathematics Education

Thomas De Vittori

doi:10.29333/iejme/11296

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Thomas De Vittori ¹ ^*

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¹ Univ. Artois, UR 2462, Laboratoire de Mathématiques de Lens (LML), F-62300 Lens, FRANCE^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Based on an experiment carried out with 10- to 11-year-old pupils, this paper questions the place of imagination in a class activity using the history of mathematics. The study focuses on three groups of pupils who were offered three variants of the same activity based on base-60 counting (our time measurement system inherited from the Babylonians). To identify differences and similarities between the three scenarios, a quantitative analysis, using a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), was carried out on the basis of the pupils’ productions and a questionnaire. The approach remains exploratory, but it seems to indicate that imagination plays a relevant role in sessions using history of mathematics.

Keywords

history of mathematics
imagination
mathematics education
primary school
quantitative study

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

INT ELECT J MATH ED, Volume 16, Issue 3, October 2021, Article No: em0660

https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/11296

Publication date: 21 Oct 2021

Article Views: 2273

Article Downloads: 1365

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Declaration of Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest is declared by author(s).

Data sharing statement: Data supporting the findings and conclusions are available upon request from the corresponding author(s).

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How to cite this article

APA

De Vittori, T. (2021). On the Role of Imagination in the Use of History in Mathematics Education. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 16(3), em0660. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/11296

Vancouver

De Vittori T. On the Role of Imagination in the Use of History in Mathematics Education. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2021;16(3):em0660. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/11296

AMA

De Vittori T. On the Role of Imagination in the Use of History in Mathematics Education. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2021;16(3), em0660. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/11296

Chicago

De Vittori, Thomas. "On the Role of Imagination in the Use of History in Mathematics Education". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education 2021 16 no. 3 (2021): em0660. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/11296

Harvard

De Vittori, T. (2021). On the Role of Imagination in the Use of History in Mathematics Education. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 16(3), em0660. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/11296

MLA

De Vittori, Thomas "On the Role of Imagination in the Use of History in Mathematics Education". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, vol. 16, no. 3, 2021, em0660. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/11296