A NUMBER OF mathematics educators have called in recent years for a ‘humanising’ of the teaching of mathematics and even of the subject itself. One important way in which this can be done is by recognising the importance of story in human life and understanding in general and in mathematics teaching in particular. Using as an example the story of Florence Nightingale and her rose statistical diagrams, three ‘stories within the story’ are identified: the ‘human-story’, the ‘mathematics-story’ and the ‘knowledge-story’. A way of making use of these within the mathematics classroom is suggested and areas for further research are identified.
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