Abstract / Synopsis
A college professor, who is highly skeptical of change, but sensing a need for teaching in a more inspiring and engaging way, implements an inquiry-based learning (IBL) approach to teaching the history of mathematics. The first author (Matthews) worked with an experienced IBL colleague mentor (Hodge) on the course. Some student data was collected to document the effects of the class on the students. The approach taken for the course is described in detail including how the students of the course learned about and used IBL in key peer-to-peer teaching about historical mathematics (with a primary focus on the mathemat- ics). An innovative rubric is described to evaluate IBL teaching. Results indicate that the students were engaged in the course and inspired about mathematics, seemingly more than previous semesters. The results also imply that the stu- dents learned at least as much mathematics and history as in previous semester. Finally, the students, most of which were future high school teachers, began to seriously reflect on their own teaching and appreciated the IBL approach.
DOI
10.5642/jhummath.201602.04
Recommended Citation
Michael E. Matthews & Angela M. Hodge, "Using IBL in a History of Mathematics Course: A Skeptic’s Success," Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume 6 Issue 2 (July 2016), pages 23-37. DOI: 10.5642/jhummath.201602.04. Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol6/iss2/4
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