The author was in the process of writing a book that will to be an introduction to history of mathematics for teachers in primary and lower secondary school. He relates here a workshop, where he outlined a series of objectives in writing the book, and then invited participants to discuss (in groups) concrete examples of sections of the book :

Chapter 6 : Tasks based on the Pascal-Fermat correspondence

Chapter 8 : Original sources : mathematical texts. Main example: The Pascal-Fermat correspondence

Chapter 10 Original sources : Textbooks. Main example: Regula de tri

Chapter 11 Biographical information. Main example: Niels Henrik Abel (and the quintic equation)

This paper relates the groups discussions about :

– Issues in history of mathematics

– How history of mathematics can enrich mathematics education and how suited the examples are (and whether other examples would be better)

– Issues in mathematics education that can be discussed in light of the examples

– What teachers need in order to teach with history of mathematics

– Ideas on how to develop such a book