Between requests and opinions: evaluations of math teaching books in the XIX century

Abstract

The textbook, along with other sources, can be identified as a material of significant contribution to the history of educational practices, in addition to being seen as carrying part of the content to be taught, which allows us to see the book as a source of research that it focuses on the understanding of school culture and the constitution of school subjects. In Brazil, the 1830s marked the moment when the first national didactic works in ​​Mathematics began to appear, used in schools, preparatory exams and, later, in high schools and colleges. From then on, an issue that began to impose itself, particularly after 1854 with the Couto Ferraz Reforms, was the control over books used in schools. In order to assess the quality of these books, opinions written by teachers from renowned institutions were used to decide whether a book should be adopted and / or maintained at school. These opinions can be taken as important documents that express quality criteria that textbooks should obey. This article aims to analyze the evaluation process of didactic works in the 19th century in order to identify which general and other specific criteria for the area of ​​mathematics can be inferred from the opinions, understanding the role and the importance of the opinions in the process of validating the works didactics also as strategies for the circulation of schoolbooks.