History of Mathematics Education and Oral History: Possibilities for the Classroom

Abstract

Besides presenting some experiences conducted with oral history in mathematics teaching (focusing on teacher formation courses), this text also proposes practical possibilities for classroom practice. Examples of several natures are shown, particularly relating to topics associated with the history of mathematics education. We believe that history, seen as a potent aid in the building of knowledge and because of the richness and diversity of the elements involved in a historiographic operation, enables problematization of some fundamental circumstances which lead us, both teachers and students, to become what we are. Therefore, these historiographic practices, together with oral history, are essential aids in teaching and learning processes (in general and, particularly, in mathematics) when transposed to the educational scenario in a promising and instigating manner. The examples shown must be understood as possibilities for action which trigger perspectives so that each reader, with their own interests, conceptions, and curricular demands, may adapt, transform, and transcend these suggestions, thus creating their own sequences and didactic scripts so as to include history, oral history, and history of mathematics education in teaching and learning processes.