History and mathematics education: a look around the world with particular reference to Italy.

Having served for four years (2000-2004) as a chairperson of the Study Group HPM (The International Study Group on the Relations between the History and Pedagogy of Mathematics) affiliated to ICMI, I have collected a good amount of information on the role of the history of mathematics in mathematics education. As a general view I may single out two main streams in the interpretation of this role: (A) History for reflecting on the nature of mathematics as a socio-cultural process, (B) History to construct mathematical knowledge. Stream (A) includes the idea of history as a means to humanize mathematics and to promote mathematics in the classroom. Stream (B) concerns the core of the problems related to teaching/learning mathematics. Mathematics education helps to outline reasons why researchers and practitioners think that history is a useful tool in teaching and learning.