Mathematics Teachers’ Opinion about the History of Mathematics

In this study, we used the case study to determine the views of mathematics teachers towards history of mathematics.The participants consisted of 21 mathematics teachers who worked in different provinces in Turkey and were determined by purposeful sampling.A structured interview form was used as a data collection tool.The data obtained from interview were analyzed through the content analysis technique.As a result, the participants usually stated that, considering the history of mathematics, they mostly thought about the famous mathematicians and the emergence of mathematics.It was found that they felt inadequate in utilizing the history of mathematics, and as a result, they did not sufficiently include it in their classes.The participants also stated that there is no sufficient amount of materials that would allow them to utilize the history of mathematics.Moreover, they reported that they used history of mathematics usually in developing the affective characteristics of their students.