Mathematics Education in America in the Premodern Period

Mathematics Education in North America in 1800 Joseph W. Dauben and Karen Hunger Parshall North America began to be colonized in the sixteenth century primarily by French Catholics and British Protestants of various stripes. In addition to their religious beliefs, these colonists transplanted to North American soil educational ideals that were strongly affected by these beliefs and entailed instruction in mathematics. This chapter traces the evolution of mathematics education at the elementary and secondary levels in present-day Canada and the United States, exploring the impetus behind the so-called ciphering and practical arithmetic as well as the development of mathematics curricula at various colonial “colleges.” Mathematics Education in Latin America in the Premodern Period Ubiratan D’Ambrosio This section covers both secondary and higher education in Latin America during the period preceding the early nineteenth-century independence of Spanish and Portuguese colonies. For all school subjects, and particularly for mathematics education, this period is poorly researched, although some sources and studies about pre-Columbian civilizations exist. For colonial education, the main sources are religious and refer to general studies which contain little or no reference to mathematics education.