A matemática elementar na Escola Normal de Cuiabá no início do século XX

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the teaching of Elementary Mathematics in the Normal School of Cuiabá in the period between 1910 to 1937, considering its contents, methodologies and implications for Teacher Education at the time, defined by the following investigative question: “How was the knowledge related to elementary mathematics mobilized in the teacher training process at The Normal School of Cuiabá in the period between 1910 and 1937?”. We turn to Cultural history, in particular, to the indicial paradigm, with the elaboration of significant units for the Constitution of elements of Discourse Analysis. To compose the theoretical and methodological structure of the research, different sources produced content to carry out the study, such as: decrees and laws, official messages, tests and examinations, directors ' reports, unofficial documents, photographs, newspapers and periodicals that circulated at that time in the state. The analysis and elaboration of the results was organized from six significant units: The noble mission of the Magisterium – the teacher seen as a missionary, was part of the school culture; Feminization of the Magisterium – promoted women to a position of Distinction and social Valor; Educational programs – there were five reformulations with an expansion of the description of teaching subjects, significant changes in the structures for vocational training, related to the chair of pedagogy, psychology, methodology and didactics; Normal school math teachers – they were engineers, politicians, military, and high school graduates, characters who marked the history of this educational institution; Elements of a Material Culture – we consider both materiality and the interpretation of the most particular processes produced from artifacts that were part of the institution and its trajectory; Evidence of mathematical knowledge-Elementary Mathematics, in which we build a systematization from the traces left in the sources: for arithmetic-numbers, fundamental arithmetic properties and operations, metric system of weights and measures, ratio, proportion, rule of three and interest. For Algebra – general notions, operations of algebraic expressions, study of functions and equations up to the second degree, linear systems and their solutions. For geometry - concepts of plane and spatial geometry, geometric constructions present in the drawing. We conclude that arithmetic, algebra and geometry composed the triad of Elementary Mathematics mobilized in the training of students at The Normal School of Cuiabá. Compared to the National reality, the training of primary teachers was comparable to other normal schools, in terms of predicted mathematical knowledge.