A student once told me that math feels like learning the rules of a game—straightforward, predetermined, and strict. Students coming to me for tutoring often request patterns, step-by-step procedures, and tricks for memorization. In these moments, the goal is to shift the student’s narrow perspective of math into one of logic and meaning. Necessitating the why, centering mathematics around sense-making, and thoughtfully staging the math history are all essential to a holistic mathematics education.
Mathematics education research shows that incorporating the history of mathematics into instruction can change how students experience and view math. Understanding how mathematical concepts were developed reveal that difficulty and struggle are a normal part of the process, which strengthens students’ own math identities. When a student gets down about not grasping a concept, I love to share examples of struggles and outcomes from famous mathematicians. This helps students see the normality of difficulty, but also motivates students to persevere.
This shift becomes even more important in the AI Era. When answers are instantly available, the value of mathematics cannot rest in procedures alone. It must rest in understanding why ideas exist, how they were developed, and what problems they were designed to solve.
Take Fermat’s Last Theorem. It states that for any exponent greater than 2, no whole-number solutions satisfy:
aⁿ + bⁿ = cⁿ
Even though he created the theorem, Fermat never published a proof for it. Years later, a student named Andrew Wiles became intrigued by the simplicity of the theorem and went on to get his PhD in math to try to prove it! When Wiles announced the proof in 1993, hundreds of mathematicians and journalists gathered, only for a subtle flaw to be discovered in a key part of the argument. Imagine the embarrassment and discouragement Wiles must have felt! Yet he did not give up. Over the following year, as Wiles worked to fix the flaw, new techniques that reshaped number theory emerged. Wiles’s years of work and eventual “failure” actually led to a breakthrough that left mathematics stronger than before Fermat’s Last Theorem was finally, correctly proven.
Contextualizing math using history helps students see math as a logical, human process.
Specifically, research by Dr. Chorlay, an expert in the history of mathematics, highlights how learning historical aspects of mathematics is helpful for “appreciating the relation of mathematics with other intellectual and cultural pursuits all along its historical development” as well as seeing math as “a logically structured collection of intellectual products and processes of knowledge production that lead to these products.” Neglecting math history will result in an incomplete picture of mathematics, as students lack understanding of the processes that led to mathematical conclusions. Additionally, teaching math history contextualizes the learnings and spurs meaning.
Similarly, Paul Ernest asserts that working with the history of mathematics “shows the inter-disciplinary nature of mathematics – how it is relevant to every aspect of human life, from religion, politics, government and warfare to art, music architecture and the wildest dreams of the human imagination.” If we can help students appreciate math and view it as a process of sense-making, they will be more engaged, be more inclined to see why concepts are needed, and more likely to meaningfully apply their learnings.
John Fauvel’s survey further reinforces these outcomes. Teaching mathematics through history:
- increases motivation
- reduces fear
- normalizes struggle
- gives mathematics a human face
- reshapes student perception
In practical terms, when teaching math history, teachers must focus on the discovery process, the need, the decision making trade-offs, and invite the students to think along the journey. Teaching mathematics history pairs well with dialogic learning, a practice that emphasizes reasoning through questioning, discussion, and argumentation. Historical narratives invite students to debate choices, analyze reasoning, and consider alternatives, the same practices that historical mathematicians use. We now have tools that can simulate dialogue, surface alternative perspectives, and support inquiry on demand. When used intentionally, AI can help students engage more deeply. I recommend starting to incorporate math history using this AI-powered “Interview a Mathematician” activity to help students learn how specific concepts came to be and apply dialogic skills.
If students rely on systems that generate answers instantly, they risk missing the very process that gives mathematics its value. Teaching mathematics history reveals that math is essential, logical, and human-centered. Through history, students begin to see math as a process of reasoning and sense-making, which, as the research shows, has potential to fundamentally improve student attitudes toward math.
Appendix: Classroom Applications for the AI Era
This lesson plan helps students experience mathematics as a human process of reasoning, dialogue, and discovery.
AI Mathematician
Summary: Interview a Mathematician: Discovery, Struggle, and the Birth of an Idea Learning Goals:
- Humanize Mathematics: Students understand math as a human, iterative process to improve interest and sense-making.
- Dialogic Learning: Students ask thought-provoking questions, clarify uncertainties, and challenge disagreements.
- Contextual Motivation: Students connect abstract ideas to real-world problems they were designed to solve. AI Role: Simulates a historical voice to enable dialogue, not deliver answers