Introduction
Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.
First Peoples Principles of Learning
Mathematics is a unique school subject. It leads students through human history by way of mathematical concepts and ideas. Around the world, mathematics curricula roughly follow the historical development of central mathematical concepts. Think, for example, of the number systems: natural numbers, fractions, decimals, integers, irrational numbers, and finally complex numbers. This is the order that we introduce students to the number systems, and in a broad sense it slides along the timeline of the discovery and development of different numbers in mathematics. And although mathematics is deeply rooted in our collective history, it at times feels detached from the real world.
Mathematical word problems is one of the oldest genre of writing tradition. Many of them have very ancient origins, and a very long continuous history of use in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Through stories, riddles and tricks mathematical knowledge traveled around the world. Many word problems “have been disseminated as folk stories through merchant connections and trade routes” (Daroczy, 2015). And the wording of problems have been easily adapted to “suit the cultural context allows problems to cross cultural boundaries.” (Daroczy, 2015). That is why we encounter the same problems in diverse cultures and diverse times. The practical, historical context of the problems might be quite different but strip a problem of its cultural attire or reword it in the modern language and we are solving a problem from a textbook of today. But what happens if we leave a problem from Babylon or ancient Egypt or China or medieval Europe or India or Japan of 18 century in its original form for our students to solve it? The answer is an immersive experience. Students not only doing meaningful mathematics but also get a glimpse, feel a touch, experience a flavour of history. Mathematics does not seem detached from the real world anymore.
But let’s take one step further in immersing students in the cultural, historical context of the problems they solve. For instance, students are to embark on the calculation of the volume of a canal in Babylon. Why not to let them listen first to the story about The Code of Hammurabi? Or students are tasked to tackle the Japanese problem on riders riding in circles. Why not to let them listen first to the story about Samurai Mathematicians? Or students are to calculate the distribution of grain to workers in ancient Egypt. Why not to let them listen first to the story about The girl with the rose-red slippers or Egyptian Cinderella? A plunge into the Mayan number system can be started by the story of The Story of Pok-A-Tok, Mayan ancient Ballgame. The Chinese problem on the Pythagorean Theorem can be introduced by The Legend of Yu the Great, a legendary Chinese emperor who conquered annual disastrous flooding caused by Yellow River.
Mathematics and human history come hand-in-hand in the book as they should. “The entire body of mathematical knowledge is very much like a tree.” (Kennedy 1995, p. 460). It is a global affair. It has its roots in cultural practices from numerous civilizations. The book gives your students a chance to see mathematics as a part of human history. It gives your students a chance to learn some snippets of human history. And the most important goals of the book is that it gives students an opportunity to feel that they belong to the living tree of mathematics, that history is not dead but lives through the stories and math problems, and it is a part of their own personal stories.
