MATHEMATICS AND CHILDREN'S MINDS : THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN THE EUROPEAN TRADITION FROM PESTALOZZI TO LAISANT

摘要

In charity and Christian schools for children established in Europe during the 17~(th) and 18~(th) centuries -starting with José de Calasanz' (1557-1648) school in Rome founded in 1597 (Covato, Venzo 2007) -, together with reading and writing and Christian education, some place was accorded to elementary arithmetic. The mathematical contents (writing the numerals, the four operations, measures and coins and equivalences, and solving practical problems regarding several activi-ties which required number and measure) can be traced back to the scuole d'abaco in the Italian Late Middle Ages. The focus was on calculations to be used in crafts ; the mission was to provide poor children with knowledge of use in earning their living. Available books explaining numbering and reckoning were addressed also to self-teaching adults (Denniss 2009), but around 1700 textbooks began to be published targeting schoolchidren, especially by Piarist fathers (Fal-colini 2007). In 1714 father Alessandro della Purificazione wrote in his practical arithmetic in Italian~1: " I have mostly progressed by questions and answers in a simple style, easy to be understood by youngsters, who I have taught for ca. 25 years [...]. I have treated many issues, that do not belong to Merchants, but should be known by a Master liable to be asked about several queries, sometimes only out of curiosity, which are useful for youngsters, for learn-ing through them things that are useful, and necessary ".