A Case Study Of Integrating The History Of Mathematics Into The Teaching Of "Circle" Unit In Elementary School

The history of mathematics is an effective carrier of mathematical culture and plays a great value in the process of teaching mathematics.The inclusion of mathematics history in the elementary school mathematics classroom can enrich the teaching content,add fun to the classroom,improve the quality of teaching and learning,and play a multifaceted role.Integrating the history of mathematics into the mathematics classroom has significant implications for students,teachers and teaching,and is therefore favored by an increasing number of teachers.However,there are not enough proven examples of teaching from the HPM（History of Mathematics into Mathematics Teaching）perspective in the primary grades.This thesis is a study of the teaching of a primary school unit on circles from the perspective of HPM.The four components of the primary school unit on "Circles",namely "Understanding Circles","Circumference of Circles","Area of Circles" and "Sectors",are designed and tested for effectiveness and change in students’ attitudes towards mathematics learning through the Mathematics Knowledge Scale and the Mathematics Attitude Scale.Finally,on the basis of the teaching practices and tests,insights related to the integration of the history of mathematics into primary school mathematics teaching are obtained from several perspectives.This paper focuses on the following three questions:1.What are the effective ways to integrate the history of mathematics into the teaching of the "circle" unit?2.What is the effectiveness of teaching the History of Mathematics in the Circle unit?3.The impact of teaching the History of Mathematics in the Circle unit on students’ attitudes to learning mathematics?The findings of the study are as follows:（1）In the teaching of the Circles unit,the history of mathematics was incorporated in different ways in different parts of each lesson,suggesting that the design of the Circles unit was well suited to the incorporation of the history of mathematics.The five approaches-embellishment,addition,replication,adaptation and reconstruction-were used to achieve the desired effect,suggesting that it is feasible to integrate the history of mathematics into the teaching and learning of the’circle’ unit and that the resulting lesson examples are also useful.（2）The integration of the history of mathematics into the teaching of the ’Circle’unit has helped to improve students’ learning skills and has shown good results.By incorporating the history of mathematics into the teaching of the Circle unit,students gain a new understanding of the concepts they are learning about and deepen their understanding of the formulae for calculating the circumference and area of a circle.Through a series of investigations into the circle,students are able to apply their knowledge in a coherent way to solve everyday problems.The integration of the history of mathematics into the teaching of the ’circle’ unit brings together mathematical knowledge and mathematical thinking,not only broadening students’ horizons in observing and learning mathematics,but also training their mathematical thinking.With the integration of the history of mathematics,the classroom becomes more threedimensional and enriched.（3）The inclusion of the history of mathematics into the teaching of the "circle" unit has a positive impact on students’ attitudes toward learning mathematics.By incorporating the history of mathematics into the teaching of the "circle" unit,students can appreciate the history and achievements of ancient investigations,feel the wisdom of ancient mathematicians and the spirit of studying mathematics,feel the value and charm of mathematics,and develop a comprehensive understanding of the educational function of the history of mathematics.Students believe that the inclusion of the history of mathematics into the teaching of the "circle" unit can stimulate their interest in learning,increase their motivation,provide more motivation,and improve their attitude toward learning mathematics.The following insights were obtained from the study:（1）In designing the teaching of "circles",students’ cognitive development should be taken into account,the level of difficulty of the mathematical history materials should be selected,and the selected mathematical history materials should be arranged in a way that is useful for teaching and learning;（2）Pay attention to the intrinsic logical connections between knowledge,and use the concept of "wholeness" in teaching the unit of knowledge on "circles" to help students construct a complete mathematical structure and develop core literacy;（3）Primary school mathematics teachers should pay attention to the multiple values of the history of mathematics and make full use of secondary processing and other effective means to combine the history of mathematics with the teaching content,so that it can be perfectly integrated with classroom teaching;（4）Teachers should enhance their literacy in the history of mathematics on their own and learn to reflect on their teaching from a historical perspective.