Abstract

In this study, teacher candidates were asked to evaluate activities designed with the use of the history of mathematics (HoM) as a tool in terms of the obstacles to the use of the HoM. A total of 12 activities which used the HoM as a tool were utilized in the study. The study group consisted of 40 teacher candidates who were first-year students in an elementary mathematics education program. The activities were used within the HoM course. The presentation and implementation of all activities took six weeks. Then, 40 teacher candidates completed written opinion forms, and 10 of them got interviewed. As the collected data were analyzed, teacher candidates’ perceptions about whether each obstacle to the use of the HoM could emerge were identified. Afterwards, two different researchers examined the reasons underlying the identified perceptions.The findings showed that the activities used in this study could be used in mathematics classes and similar activities may stop the emergence of philosophical, student-related, stylistic and instructional preparation obstacles. . In the future, longer-term studies may be conducted with mathematics teachers and secondary school students with the activities used in this study. In this way, stronger evidence may be obtained about the effectiveness of using such activities in the instructional process.

Keywords

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