Revista de História da Educação Matemática (Nov 2023)
A FIRST MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM: Stevin’s instruction for engineers (1600)
Abstract
Teaching of mathematics has a history which spans thousands of years, see e.g. Robson, (2009); Siu (2009); Keller (2014). However, texts which contain a plan for the teaching of mathematics, a formal curriculum, are of far more recent date. Volkov (2014) describes prescriptions for the School of Computations in China, which started in 656. The matters mentioned are, among others, the textbooks to be used, the number and grouping of students and the duration of the study. In Europe, medieval universities might have lists of books to be read by the lecturers to the students. The Ratio studiorum of 1599, which provided a curriculum for the system of education by the Jesuits, contained some remarks on mathematics teaching, but only a few and not very detailed (Paradinas Fuentes, 2012).
