The textbook of Arithmetics and 1911 Public Education Reform in Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

In Brazil, the reformation of the educational systems developed after the republic proclamation, were influenced by the republican conception of modernization and nationalization. In the state of Santa Catarina, the 1911 Public Educational Reformation was effectuated following such conceptions as parameters, establishing a different educational system from the one applied so far. Starting with the primary teacher training, and the intuitive method as the cournerstone of the reform and control of textbooks and teaching materials used in schools, reformers have institutionalized their ideas. This article aims to analyze how structured the teaching of mathematics in the context of this reform, mainly related to the adoption of textbooks for teaching arithmetics, by analyzing a document submitted to the government of the state of Santa Catarina during the 1911 Public Educational Reformation, entitled “Opinion on the adoption of textbooks”. Seen as responsible for influencing teachers and students, textbooks were controlled and regulated as part of the reformation. The study of this document shows the problematic issues lived at that time, as well as collaborates with the writing of the History of Mathematics Education in primary levels in the State of Santa Catarina, specifically during this period.