Saberes elementares aritméticos em manuais didáticos do curso primário produzidos no Pará (1850 – 1950)

Abstract

The present work aims to describe and analyze the constitution of the arithmetic knowledge present in textbooks destined to primary education in Pará from 1850 to 1950. Our main research question is "what was the elementary arithmetic skills assigned to the first school years present in the textbooks for primary education in Pará?" In this way, we describe the trajectory of the constitution of these arithmetic elementary knowledge in the primary education of Pará in a historical perspective based on legislations, programs and mainly the didactic manuals produced for the schools of the time. Also, it intends to emphasize the intellectual and academic production of textbooks in the state of Pará, the authors and their importance to primary school at the time. The research was carried out at the Arthur Vianna Public Library, Belém / PA, at the Brazilian Digital Library, Center for Research Libraries - Provincial Presidential Reports (1830-1930), at the Institutional Repository of the Federal University of Santa Catarina and with several collectors from different states of Brazil. Thus, we were able to obtain in a printed and digitalized form some examples not only of arithmetic, but also of geometry and drawing, as well as manuals on the metric system. Our theoretical foundations are based on the concepts explored in the guiding perspective of research based on cultural history, which expresses a more elaborate elaboration in the conceptions of authors such as Roger Chartier (2002), Dominique Julia (2001), Michel de Certeau (1982), André Chervel 1990), Alain Chopin (2004) and (2009), etc., that enabled us to delineate trajectories and to conceive guiding concepts of this research. Regarding the epistemological aspects of the researches on didactic manuals, we conclude that there is a considerable production of books, articles and theses that deal with the production of the book and the production of research related to the subject. Through the analysis and description of the official documentation we conclude that the intuitive method was the most relevant method in the education of Pará in relation to the production of its educational documentation and that in turn supported the elaboration of the textbooks described in this study. Primary education in the state of Pará was pedagogically delineated and systematized according to the orientations of the primary schools elaborated in France. There is a vast production of didactic manuals in Pará elaborated by the primary teachers themselves and their authors were influential people in society, taking on other important positions in society. The elementary knowledge was constituted by the conceptualization of several terms used in arithmetic; besides numerals; Numbering; basis of system and numbering; Fundamental operations: Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; Metric system; Fractions; Periodic tithes; Potentiation: Square and cubic root; Complex numbers; Reason and proportion; Rule of three and percentage, interest; Progressions; Logarithms; Prime numbers.