Mathematics is Story

Mathematics is often viewed as a set of invariant prepositions, theorems, and axioms. However, from a historical perspective, these mathematical objects and results have evolved and are contingent on cultural developments within society. Studies of teacher learning suggest that teachers tend to make sense of new ideas through existing views of the nature of mathematics: in this way, images of the nature of mathematics impact pedagogy. In this book I investigate the experiences of four elementary teachers as they engaged in a professional development project concerned with designing a series of mathematics lessons where historical stories were used as instructional tools. Working with three emerging metaphoric themes, I consider how images of the nature of mathematics can be altered through immersion in the uncertainty and indeterminacy of historical mathematical stories. By creating with the teachers a parable that presents mathematics as a vibrant and creative activity, the predominant view many elementary teachers have of mathematics as isolated facts and procedures that must be memorized is challenged.