Humanizing Proof-based Mathematics Instruction Through Experiences Reading Rich Proofs and Mathematician Stories

Abstract The Reading and Appreciating Mathematical Proofs (RAMP) project seeks to provide novel resources for teaching undergraduate introduction to proof courses centered around reading activities. These reading activities include (1) reading rich proofs to learn new mathematics through proofs as well as to learn how to read proofs for understanding and (2) reading mathematician stories to humanize proving and to legitimize challenge and struggle. One of the guiding analogies of the project is thinking about learning proof-based mathematics like learning a genre of literature. We want students to read interesting proofs so they can appreciate what is exciting about the genre and how they can engage with it. Proofs were selected by eight professors in mathematics who as curriculum co-authors collected intriguing mathematical results and added stories of their experience becoming mathematicians. As mathematicians of colour and/or women mathematicians, these co-authors speak to the challenges they faced in their mathematical history, how they overcame these challenges, and the key role mentors and community have played in that process. These novel opportunities to learn to read and read to learn in the proof-based context hold promise for supporting student learning in new ways. In this commentary, we share how we have sought to humanize proof-based mathematics both in the reading materials and in our classroom implementation thereof.