Historical activities in the mathematics classroom: Tartaglia's Nova Scientia (1537)

Th e History of Mathematics can be developed both implicitly and explicitly in the classroom. Learning about the history of mathematics can therefore contribute to improving the integral education and training of students. Th e aim of this paper is to analyze the proposal of an historical activity based on the work Nova Scientia (1537) by Tartaglia for use in the mathematics classroom. Th is analysis will show the use of a Renaissance mathematical instrument for measuring the height of a mountain in order to motivate the study of trigonometry in the mathematics classroom, as well as to show students the explanatory role of mathematics in regard to the natural world.

[1]  Ramón Gavela González.  La nueva ciencia , 2011 .

[2]  Evangelos N. Panagiotou.  Using History to Teach Mathematics: The Case of Logarithms , 2011 .

[3]  Katerina Malamitsa,et al.  Adapting Historical Knowledge Production to the Classroom , 2010 .

[4]  Jacqui Klowss.  Using History to Teach Mathematics , 2011 .

[5]  J. Stillwell.  Mathematics and Its History , 2020, Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics.

[6]  Karin J. Ekholm.  Tartaglia's ragioni: A maestro d'abaco's mixed approach to the bombardier's problem , 2010, The British Journal for the History of Science.

[7]  Donald Cardwell.  Historia de la tecnología , 1996 .

[8]  Uffe Thomas Jankvist.  A categorization of the “whys” and “hows” of using history in mathematics education , 2009 .

[9]  R. L. Goodstein,et al.  Euclid’s Elements. Translated by Sir T. L. Heath. 3 volumes. $5.8 1956. (Dover Publications, New York) , 1957, The Mathematical Gazette.

[10]  Olivier Bruneau,et al.  Innovative Methods for Science Education: History of Science, ICT and Inquiry Based Science Teaching , 2012 .

[11]  Ronald Calinger,et al.  Vita Mathematica: Historical Research and Integration with Teaching. Mathematical Association of America Notes Series, No. 40. , 1997 .

[12]  V. Katz.  Using history to teach mathematics : an international perspective , 2000 .

[13]  H. Jahnke.  History of mathematics and education : ideas and experiences , 1996 .

[14]  M. Henninger-Voss.  How the "New Science" of Cannons Shook up the Aristotelian Cosmos , 2002 .

[15]  Marcella Grendler,et al.  The Italian Renaissance of mathematics : studies on humanists and mathematicians from Petrarch to Galileo , 1977 .

[16]  J. A. van Maanen,et al.  History in mathematics education : an ICMI study , 2000 .