International Journal on Education Insight
Vol. 2 No. 1 (2021)

Is mathematics created or discovered? Pre-service teachers' perception on a classic enigma

Vita Istihapsari (1 Universitas Ahmad Dahlan 2 Universitas Negeri Semarang)
Rochmad Rochmad (Universitas Negeri Semarang)
Isnarto Isnarto (Universitas Negeri Semarang)



Article Info

Publish Date
10 Jul 2021

Abstract

There are many classic questions about the nature of mathematics which have been an endless debate among philosophers. One of them is about whether mathematics is created or discovered. This research aims to find out the pre-service mathematics teachers perception about the classical enigma of mathematics after joining the course of history and philosophy of mathematics education. It was a descriptive qualitative research involving 45 pre-service mathematics teachers in their first-year training. We collected the data using questionnaire and then deepened the findings using semi-structured interview. The results suggest that 40% of the respondents believed that mathematics is created, while the rest 60% believed that mathematics is discovered. The two claims have their basic reasoning in the perspective of the respondents. Those who believed that mathematics is created argued that mathematics exists because of human activities. Therefore, it will never be founded if it is not created first. Meanwhile, those who believed that mathematics is discovered tended to argue that whether or not there is human activities to prove the mathematics phenomena, it is already there as the God created it. Thus, human just discovered it, not create it. Both arguments are interesting and have a potential impact to the mathematics education practice.

Copyrights © 2021






Journal Info

Abbrev

ijei

Publisher

Subject

Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Mathematics Other

Description

The International Journal on Education Insight welcome manuscript which focuses on research, experience, and perspectives of teaching, instruction, educational projects and innovations, learning methodologies, and the use of new technologies in education. Furthermore, the manuscript eligible for ...