Thomas Jefferson and his Decimals 1775–1810: Neglected Years in the History of U.S. School Mathematics

Thomas Jefferson and his Decimals 1775–1810: Neglected Years in the History of U.S. School Mathematics

Author: M.A. (Ken) Clements

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-11-19

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 3319025058

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This well-illustrated book, by two established historians of school mathematics, documents Thomas Jefferson’s quest, after 1775, to introduce a form of decimal currency to the fledgling United States of America. The book describes a remarkable study showing how the United States’ decision to adopt a fully decimalized, carefully conceived national currency ultimately had a profound effect on U.S. school mathematics curricula. The book shows, by analyzing a large set of arithmetic textbooks and an even larger set of handwritten cyphering books, that although most eighteenth- and nineteenth-century authors of arithmetic textbooks included sections on vulgar and decimal fractions, most school students who prepared cyphering books did not study either vulgar or decimal fractions. In other words, author-intended school arithmetic curricula were not matched by teacher-implemented school arithmetic curricula. Amazingly, that state of affairs continued even after the U.S. Mint began minting dollars, cents and dimes in the 1790s. In U.S. schools between 1775 and 1810 it was often the case that Federal money was studied but decimal fractions were not. That gradually changed during the first century of the formal existence of the United States of America. By contrast, Chapter 6 reports a comparative analysis of data showing that in Great Britain only a minority of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century school students studied decimal fractions. Clements and Ellerton argue that Jefferson’s success in establishing a system of decimalized Federal money had educationally significant effects on implemented school arithmetic curricula in the United States of America. The lens through which Clements and Ellerton have analyzed their large data sets has been the lag-time theoretical position which they have developed. That theory posits that the time between when an important mathematical “discovery” is made (or a concept is “created”) and when that discovery (or concept) becomes an important part of school mathematics is dependent on mathematical, social, political and economic factors. Thus, lag time varies from region to region, and from nation to nation. Clements and Ellerton are the first to identify the years after 1775 as the dawn of a new day in U.S. school mathematics—traditionally, historians have argued that nothing in U.S. school mathematics was worthy of serious study until the 1820s. This book emphasizes the importance of the acceptance of decimal currency so far as school mathematics is concerned. It also draws attention to the consequences for school mathematics of the conscious decision of the U.S. Congress not to proceed with Thomas Jefferson’s grand scheme for a system of decimalized weights and measures.


Book Synopsis Thomas Jefferson and his Decimals 1775–1810: Neglected Years in the History of U.S. School Mathematics by : M.A. (Ken) Clements

Download or read book Thomas Jefferson and his Decimals 1775–1810: Neglected Years in the History of U.S. School Mathematics written by M.A. (Ken) Clements and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-11-19 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This well-illustrated book, by two established historians of school mathematics, documents Thomas Jefferson’s quest, after 1775, to introduce a form of decimal currency to the fledgling United States of America. The book describes a remarkable study showing how the United States’ decision to adopt a fully decimalized, carefully conceived national currency ultimately had a profound effect on U.S. school mathematics curricula. The book shows, by analyzing a large set of arithmetic textbooks and an even larger set of handwritten cyphering books, that although most eighteenth- and nineteenth-century authors of arithmetic textbooks included sections on vulgar and decimal fractions, most school students who prepared cyphering books did not study either vulgar or decimal fractions. In other words, author-intended school arithmetic curricula were not matched by teacher-implemented school arithmetic curricula. Amazingly, that state of affairs continued even after the U.S. Mint began minting dollars, cents and dimes in the 1790s. In U.S. schools between 1775 and 1810 it was often the case that Federal money was studied but decimal fractions were not. That gradually changed during the first century of the formal existence of the United States of America. By contrast, Chapter 6 reports a comparative analysis of data showing that in Great Britain only a minority of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century school students studied decimal fractions. Clements and Ellerton argue that Jefferson’s success in establishing a system of decimalized Federal money had educationally significant effects on implemented school arithmetic curricula in the United States of America. The lens through which Clements and Ellerton have analyzed their large data sets has been the lag-time theoretical position which they have developed. That theory posits that the time between when an important mathematical “discovery” is made (or a concept is “created”) and when that discovery (or concept) becomes an important part of school mathematics is dependent on mathematical, social, political and economic factors. Thus, lag time varies from region to region, and from nation to nation. Clements and Ellerton are the first to identify the years after 1775 as the dawn of a new day in U.S. school mathematics—traditionally, historians have argued that nothing in U.S. school mathematics was worthy of serious study until the 1820s. This book emphasizes the importance of the acceptance of decimal currency so far as school mathematics is concerned. It also draws attention to the consequences for school mathematics of the conscious decision of the U.S. Congress not to proceed with Thomas Jefferson’s grand scheme for a system of decimalized weights and measures.

Samuel Pepys, Isaac Newton, James Hodgson, and the Beginnings of Secondary School Mathematics

Samuel Pepys, Isaac Newton, James Hodgson, and the Beginnings of Secondary School Mathematics

Author: Nerida F. Ellerton

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-03-02

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 3319466577

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This book tells one of the greatest stories in the history of school mathematics. Two of the names in the title—Samuel Pepys and Isaac Newton—need no introduction, and this book draws attention to their special contributions to the history of school mathematics. According to Ellerton and Clements, during the last quarter of the seventeenth century Pepys and Newton were key players in defining what school mathematics beyond arithmetic and elementary geometry might look like. The scene at which most of the action occurred was Christ’s Hospital, which was a school, ostensibly for the poor, in central London. The Royal Mathematical School (RMS) was established at Christ’s Hospital in 1673. It was the less well-known James Hodgson, a fine mathematician and RMS master between 1709 and 1755, who demonstrated that topics such as logarithms, plane and spherical trigonometry, and the application of these to navigation, might systematically and successfully be taught to 12- to 16-year-old school children. From a wider history-of-school-education perspective, this book tells how the world’s first secondary-school mathematics program was created and how, slowly but surely, what was being achieved at RMS began to influence school mathematics in other parts of Great Britain, Europe, and America. The book has been written from the perspective of the history of school mathematics. Ellerton and Clements’s analyses of pertinent literature and of archival data, and their interpretations of those analyses, have led them to conclude that RMS was the first major school in the world to teach mathematics-beyond-arithmetic, on a systematic basis, to students aged between 12 and 16. Throughout the book, Ellerton and Clements examine issues through the lens of a lag-time theoretical perspective. From a historiographical perspective, this book emphasizes how the history of RMS can be portrayed in very different ways, depending on the vantage point from which the history is written. The authors write from the vantage point of international developments in school mathematics education and, therefore, their history of RMS differs from all other histories of RMS, most of which were written from the perspective of the history of Christ’s Hospital.


Book Synopsis Samuel Pepys, Isaac Newton, James Hodgson, and the Beginnings of Secondary School Mathematics by : Nerida F. Ellerton

Download or read book Samuel Pepys, Isaac Newton, James Hodgson, and the Beginnings of Secondary School Mathematics written by Nerida F. Ellerton and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-03-02 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells one of the greatest stories in the history of school mathematics. Two of the names in the title—Samuel Pepys and Isaac Newton—need no introduction, and this book draws attention to their special contributions to the history of school mathematics. According to Ellerton and Clements, during the last quarter of the seventeenth century Pepys and Newton were key players in defining what school mathematics beyond arithmetic and elementary geometry might look like. The scene at which most of the action occurred was Christ’s Hospital, which was a school, ostensibly for the poor, in central London. The Royal Mathematical School (RMS) was established at Christ’s Hospital in 1673. It was the less well-known James Hodgson, a fine mathematician and RMS master between 1709 and 1755, who demonstrated that topics such as logarithms, plane and spherical trigonometry, and the application of these to navigation, might systematically and successfully be taught to 12- to 16-year-old school children. From a wider history-of-school-education perspective, this book tells how the world’s first secondary-school mathematics program was created and how, slowly but surely, what was being achieved at RMS began to influence school mathematics in other parts of Great Britain, Europe, and America. The book has been written from the perspective of the history of school mathematics. Ellerton and Clements’s analyses of pertinent literature and of archival data, and their interpretations of those analyses, have led them to conclude that RMS was the first major school in the world to teach mathematics-beyond-arithmetic, on a systematic basis, to students aged between 12 and 16. Throughout the book, Ellerton and Clements examine issues through the lens of a lag-time theoretical perspective. From a historiographical perspective, this book emphasizes how the history of RMS can be portrayed in very different ways, depending on the vantage point from which the history is written. The authors write from the vantage point of international developments in school mathematics education and, therefore, their history of RMS differs from all other histories of RMS, most of which were written from the perspective of the history of Christ’s Hospital.

Toward Mathematics for All

Toward Mathematics for All

Author: Nerida Ellerton

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-06-27

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13: 3030857247

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This book presents a history of mathematic between 1607 and 1865 in that part of mainland North America which is north of Mexico but excludes the present-day Canada and Alaska. Unlike most other histories of mathematics now available, the emphasis is on the gradual emergence of "mathematics for all" programs and associated changes in thinking which drove this emergence. The book takes account of changing ideas about intended, implemented and attained mathematics curricula for learners of all ages. It also pays attention to the mathematics itself, and to how it was taught and learned.


Book Synopsis Toward Mathematics for All by : Nerida Ellerton

Download or read book Toward Mathematics for All written by Nerida Ellerton and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-06-27 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a history of mathematic between 1607 and 1865 in that part of mainland North America which is north of Mexico but excludes the present-day Canada and Alaska. Unlike most other histories of mathematics now available, the emphasis is on the gradual emergence of "mathematics for all" programs and associated changes in thinking which drove this emergence. The book takes account of changing ideas about intended, implemented and attained mathematics curricula for learners of all ages. It also pays attention to the mathematics itself, and to how it was taught and learned.

A History of Mathematics in the United States and Canada

A History of Mathematics in the United States and Canada

Author: David E. Zitarelli

Publisher: American Mathematical Society

Published: 2022-10-25

Total Pages: 500

ISBN-13: 1470472570

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This is the first truly comprehensive and thorough history of the development of mathematics and a mathematical community in the United States and Canada. This first volume of the multi-volume work takes the reader from the European encounters with North America in the fifteenth century up to the emergence of a research community the United States in the last quarter of the nineteenth. In the story of the colonial period, particular emphasis is given to several prominent colonial figures—Jefferson, Franklin, and Rittenhouse—and four important early colleges—Harvard, Québec, William & Mary, and Yale. During the first three-quarters of the nineteenth century, mathematics in North America was largely the occupation of scattered individual pioneers: Bowditch, Farrar, Adrain, B. Peirce. This period is given a fuller treatment here than previously in the literature, including the creation of the first PhD programs and attempts to form organizations and found journals. With the founding of Johns Hopkins in 1876 the American mathematical research community was finally, and firmly, founded. The programs at Hopkins, Chicago, and Clark are detailed as are the influence of major European mathematicians including especially Klein, Hilbert, and Sylvester. Klein's visit to the US and his Evanston Colloquium are extensively detailed. The founding of the American Mathematical Society is thoroughly discussed. David Zitarelli was emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Temple University. A decorated and acclaimed teacher, scholar, and expositor, he was one of the world's leading experts on the development of American mathematics. Author or co-author of over a dozen books, this was his magnum opus—sure to become the leading reference on the topic and essential reading, not just for historians. In clear and compelling prose Zitarelli spins a tale accessible to experts, generalists, and anyone interested in the history of science in North America.


Book Synopsis A History of Mathematics in the United States and Canada by : David E. Zitarelli

Download or read book A History of Mathematics in the United States and Canada written by David E. Zitarelli and published by American Mathematical Society. This book was released on 2022-10-25 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first truly comprehensive and thorough history of the development of mathematics and a mathematical community in the United States and Canada. This first volume of the multi-volume work takes the reader from the European encounters with North America in the fifteenth century up to the emergence of a research community the United States in the last quarter of the nineteenth. In the story of the colonial period, particular emphasis is given to several prominent colonial figures—Jefferson, Franklin, and Rittenhouse—and four important early colleges—Harvard, Québec, William & Mary, and Yale. During the first three-quarters of the nineteenth century, mathematics in North America was largely the occupation of scattered individual pioneers: Bowditch, Farrar, Adrain, B. Peirce. This period is given a fuller treatment here than previously in the literature, including the creation of the first PhD programs and attempts to form organizations and found journals. With the founding of Johns Hopkins in 1876 the American mathematical research community was finally, and firmly, founded. The programs at Hopkins, Chicago, and Clark are detailed as are the influence of major European mathematicians including especially Klein, Hilbert, and Sylvester. Klein's visit to the US and his Evanston Colloquium are extensively detailed. The founding of the American Mathematical Society is thoroughly discussed. David Zitarelli was emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Temple University. A decorated and acclaimed teacher, scholar, and expositor, he was one of the world's leading experts on the development of American mathematics. Author or co-author of over a dozen books, this was his magnum opus—sure to become the leading reference on the topic and essential reading, not just for historians. In clear and compelling prose Zitarelli spins a tale accessible to experts, generalists, and anyone interested in the history of science in North America.

A History of Mathematics in the United States and Canada: Volume 1: 1492–1900

A History of Mathematics in the United States and Canada: Volume 1: 1492–1900

Author: David E. Zitarelli

Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.

Published: 2019-10-21

Total Pages: 474

ISBN-13: 1470448297

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This is the first truly comprehensive and thorough history of the development of mathematics and a mathematical community in the United States and Canada. This first volume of the multi-volume work takes the reader from the European encounters with North America in the fifteenth century up to the emergence of a research community the United States in the last quarter of the nineteenth. In the story of the colonial period, particular emphasis is given to several prominent colonial figures—Jefferson, Franklin, and Rittenhouse—and four important early colleges—Harvard, Québec, William & Mary, and Yale. During the first three-quarters of the nineteenth century, mathematics in North America was largely the occupation of scattered individual pioneers: Bowditch, Farrar, Adrain, B. Peirce. This period is given a fuller treatment here than previously in the literature, including the creation of the first PhD programs and attempts to form organizations and found journals. With the founding of Johns Hopkins in 1876 the American mathematical research community was finally, and firmly, founded. The programs at Hopkins, Chicago, and Clark are detailed as are the influence of major European mathematicians including especially Klein, Hilbert, and Sylvester. Klein's visit to the US and his Evanston Colloquium are extensively detailed. The founding of the American Mathematical Society is thoroughly discussed. David Zitarelli is emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Temple University. A decorated and acclaimed teacher, scholar, and expositor, he is one of the world's leading experts on the development of American mathematics. Author or co-author of over a dozen books, this is his magnum opus—sure to become the leading reference on the topic and essential reading, not just for historians. In clear and compelling prose Zitarelli spins a tale accessible to experts, generalists, and anyone interested in the history of science in North America.


Book Synopsis A History of Mathematics in the United States and Canada: Volume 1: 1492–1900 by : David E. Zitarelli

Download or read book A History of Mathematics in the United States and Canada: Volume 1: 1492–1900 written by David E. Zitarelli and published by American Mathematical Soc.. This book was released on 2019-10-21 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first truly comprehensive and thorough history of the development of mathematics and a mathematical community in the United States and Canada. This first volume of the multi-volume work takes the reader from the European encounters with North America in the fifteenth century up to the emergence of a research community the United States in the last quarter of the nineteenth. In the story of the colonial period, particular emphasis is given to several prominent colonial figures—Jefferson, Franklin, and Rittenhouse—and four important early colleges—Harvard, Québec, William & Mary, and Yale. During the first three-quarters of the nineteenth century, mathematics in North America was largely the occupation of scattered individual pioneers: Bowditch, Farrar, Adrain, B. Peirce. This period is given a fuller treatment here than previously in the literature, including the creation of the first PhD programs and attempts to form organizations and found journals. With the founding of Johns Hopkins in 1876 the American mathematical research community was finally, and firmly, founded. The programs at Hopkins, Chicago, and Clark are detailed as are the influence of major European mathematicians including especially Klein, Hilbert, and Sylvester. Klein's visit to the US and his Evanston Colloquium are extensively detailed. The founding of the American Mathematical Society is thoroughly discussed. David Zitarelli is emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Temple University. A decorated and acclaimed teacher, scholar, and expositor, he is one of the world's leading experts on the development of American mathematics. Author or co-author of over a dozen books, this is his magnum opus—sure to become the leading reference on the topic and essential reading, not just for historians. In clear and compelling prose Zitarelli spins a tale accessible to experts, generalists, and anyone interested in the history of science in North America.

Using Design Research and History to Tackle a Fundamental Problem with School Algebra

Using Design Research and History to Tackle a Fundamental Problem with School Algebra

Author: Sinan Kanbir

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-10-28

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 3319592041

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In this well-illustrated book the authors, Sinan Kanbir, Ken Clements, and Nerida Ellerton, tackle a persistent, and universal, problem in school mathematics—why do so many middle-school and secondary-school students find it difficult to learn algebra well? What makes the book important are the unique features which comprise the design-research approach that the authors adopted in seeking a solution to the problem. The first unique feature is that the authors offer an overview of the history of school algebra. Despite the fact that algebra has been an important component of secondary-school mathematics for more than three centuries, there has never been a comprehensive historical analysis of factors influencing the teaching and learning of that component. The authors identify, through historical analysis, six purposes of school algebra: (a) algebra as a body of knowledge essential to higher mathematical and scientific studies, (b) algebra as generalized arithmetic, (c) algebra as a prerequisite for entry to higher studies, (d) algebra as offering a language and set of procedures for modeling real-life problems, (e) algebra as an aid to describing structural properties in elementary mathematics, and (f) algebra as a study of variables. They also raise the question whether school algebra represents a unidimensional trait. Kanbir, Clements and Ellerton offer an unusual hybrid theoretical framework for their intervention study (by which seventh-grade students significantly improved their elementary algebra knowledge and skills). Their theoretical frame combined Charles Sanders Peirce’s triadic signifier-interpretant-signified theory, which is in the realm of semiotics, with Johann Friedrich Herbart’s theory of apperception, and Ken Clements’ and Gina Del Campo’s theory relating to the need to expand modes of communications in mathematics classrooms so that students engage in receptive and expressive modes. Practicing classroom teachers formed part of the research team. This book appears in Springer’s series on the “History of Mathematics Education.” Not only does it include an important analysis of the history of school algebra, but it also adopts a theoretical frame which relies more on “theories from the past,” than on contemporary theories in the field of mathematics education. The results of the well-designed classroom intervention are sufficiently impressive that the study might havecreated and illuminated a pathway for future researchers to take.


Book Synopsis Using Design Research and History to Tackle a Fundamental Problem with School Algebra by : Sinan Kanbir

Download or read book Using Design Research and History to Tackle a Fundamental Problem with School Algebra written by Sinan Kanbir and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-10-28 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this well-illustrated book the authors, Sinan Kanbir, Ken Clements, and Nerida Ellerton, tackle a persistent, and universal, problem in school mathematics—why do so many middle-school and secondary-school students find it difficult to learn algebra well? What makes the book important are the unique features which comprise the design-research approach that the authors adopted in seeking a solution to the problem. The first unique feature is that the authors offer an overview of the history of school algebra. Despite the fact that algebra has been an important component of secondary-school mathematics for more than three centuries, there has never been a comprehensive historical analysis of factors influencing the teaching and learning of that component. The authors identify, through historical analysis, six purposes of school algebra: (a) algebra as a body of knowledge essential to higher mathematical and scientific studies, (b) algebra as generalized arithmetic, (c) algebra as a prerequisite for entry to higher studies, (d) algebra as offering a language and set of procedures for modeling real-life problems, (e) algebra as an aid to describing structural properties in elementary mathematics, and (f) algebra as a study of variables. They also raise the question whether school algebra represents a unidimensional trait. Kanbir, Clements and Ellerton offer an unusual hybrid theoretical framework for their intervention study (by which seventh-grade students significantly improved their elementary algebra knowledge and skills). Their theoretical frame combined Charles Sanders Peirce’s triadic signifier-interpretant-signified theory, which is in the realm of semiotics, with Johann Friedrich Herbart’s theory of apperception, and Ken Clements’ and Gina Del Campo’s theory relating to the need to expand modes of communications in mathematics classrooms so that students engage in receptive and expressive modes. Practicing classroom teachers formed part of the research team. This book appears in Springer’s series on the “History of Mathematics Education.” Not only does it include an important analysis of the history of school algebra, but it also adopts a theoretical frame which relies more on “theories from the past,” than on contemporary theories in the field of mathematics education. The results of the well-designed classroom intervention are sufficiently impressive that the study might havecreated and illuminated a pathway for future researchers to take.

History of Mathematics Teaching and Learning

History of Mathematics Teaching and Learning

Author: Alexander Karp

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-07-26

Total Pages: 47

ISBN-13: 3319316168

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This work examines the main directions of research conducted on the history of mathematics education. It devotes substantial attention to research methodologies and the connections between this field and other scholarly fields. The results of a survey about academic literature on this subject are accompanied by a discussion of what has yet to be done and problems that remain unsolved. The main topics you will find in “ICME-13 Topical Survey” include: • Discussions of methodological issues in the history of mathematics education and of the relation between this field and other scholarly fields. • The history of the formation and transformation of curricula and textbooks as a reflection of trends in social-economic, cultural and scientific-technological development. • The influence of politics, ideology and economics on the development of mathematics education, from a historical perspective. • The history of the preeminent mathematics education organizations and the work of leading figures in mathematics education. • Mathematics education practices and tools and the preparation of mathematics teachers, from a historical perspective.


Book Synopsis History of Mathematics Teaching and Learning by : Alexander Karp

Download or read book History of Mathematics Teaching and Learning written by Alexander Karp and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-07-26 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work examines the main directions of research conducted on the history of mathematics education. It devotes substantial attention to research methodologies and the connections between this field and other scholarly fields. The results of a survey about academic literature on this subject are accompanied by a discussion of what has yet to be done and problems that remain unsolved. The main topics you will find in “ICME-13 Topical Survey” include: • Discussions of methodological issues in the history of mathematics education and of the relation between this field and other scholarly fields. • The history of the formation and transformation of curricula and textbooks as a reflection of trends in social-economic, cultural and scientific-technological development. • The influence of politics, ideology and economics on the development of mathematics education, from a historical perspective. • The history of the preeminent mathematics education organizations and the work of leading figures in mathematics education. • Mathematics education practices and tools and the preparation of mathematics teachers, from a historical perspective.

Is Thomas Jefferson the Forgotten Man?

Is Thomas Jefferson the Forgotten Man?

Author: Nicholas Murray Butler

Publisher:

Published: 2013-02

Total Pages: 20

ISBN-13: 9781258546243

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Book Synopsis Is Thomas Jefferson the Forgotten Man? by : Nicholas Murray Butler

Download or read book Is Thomas Jefferson the Forgotten Man? written by Nicholas Murray Butler and published by . This book was released on 2013-02 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Teaching and History of Mathematics in the United States (Classic Reprint)

The Teaching and History of Mathematics in the United States (Classic Reprint)

Author: Florian Cajori

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-09

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 9781331043188

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Excerpt from The Teaching and History of Mathematics in the United States On the study of mathematics in elementary schools of the American colonies but little can be said. In early colonial days schools did not exist except in towns and in the more densely settled districts; and oven where schools were kept, the study of mathematics was often not pursued at all, or consisted simply in learning to count and to perform the fundamental operations with integral numbers. Thus, in Hampstead, N. H., in 1750, it was voted "to hire a school-master for six mouths in ye summer season to teach ye children to read and write." Arithmetic had not yet been introduced there. As late as the beginning of this century there were schools in country districts in which arithmetic was not taught at all. Bronson Alcott, the prominent educator, born in Massachusetts in 1799, in describing the schools of his boyhood, says: "Until within a few years no studies have been permitted in the day school but spelling, reading, and writing. Arithmetic was taught by a few instructors one or two evenings in a week. But in spite of the most determined opposition arithmetic is now permitted in the day school." This was in Massachusetts at the beginning of this century. In secondary schools, "ciphering" was taught during colonial times, which consisted generally in drilling students in the manipulation of integral numbers. He was an exceptional teacher who possessed a fair knowledge of "fractions" and the "rule of three," and if some pupil of rare genius managed to master fractions, or even pass beyond the "rule of three," then he was judged a finished mathematician. The best teachers of those days were college students or college graduates who engaged in teaching as a stepping-stone to something better. An example of this class of teachers was John Adams, afterwards President of the United States. Immediately after graduating at Harvard and before entering upon the study of law, he presided, for a few years, over the grammar school at Worcester. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.


Book Synopsis The Teaching and History of Mathematics in the United States (Classic Reprint) by : Florian Cajori

Download or read book The Teaching and History of Mathematics in the United States (Classic Reprint) written by Florian Cajori and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-09 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Teaching and History of Mathematics in the United States On the study of mathematics in elementary schools of the American colonies but little can be said. In early colonial days schools did not exist except in towns and in the more densely settled districts; and oven where schools were kept, the study of mathematics was often not pursued at all, or consisted simply in learning to count and to perform the fundamental operations with integral numbers. Thus, in Hampstead, N. H., in 1750, it was voted "to hire a school-master for six mouths in ye summer season to teach ye children to read and write." Arithmetic had not yet been introduced there. As late as the beginning of this century there were schools in country districts in which arithmetic was not taught at all. Bronson Alcott, the prominent educator, born in Massachusetts in 1799, in describing the schools of his boyhood, says: "Until within a few years no studies have been permitted in the day school but spelling, reading, and writing. Arithmetic was taught by a few instructors one or two evenings in a week. But in spite of the most determined opposition arithmetic is now permitted in the day school." This was in Massachusetts at the beginning of this century. In secondary schools, "ciphering" was taught during colonial times, which consisted generally in drilling students in the manipulation of integral numbers. He was an exceptional teacher who possessed a fair knowledge of "fractions" and the "rule of three," and if some pupil of rare genius managed to master fractions, or even pass beyond the "rule of three," then he was judged a finished mathematician. The best teachers of those days were college students or college graduates who engaged in teaching as a stepping-stone to something better. An example of this class of teachers was John Adams, afterwards President of the United States. Immediately after graduating at Harvard and before entering upon the study of law, he presided, for a few years, over the grammar school at Worcester. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Thomas Jefferson and Education in a Republic

Thomas Jefferson and Education in a Republic

Author: Thomas Jefferson

Publisher:

Published: 1971

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Thomas Jefferson and Education in a Republic by : Thomas Jefferson

Download or read book Thomas Jefferson and Education in a Republic written by Thomas Jefferson and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: