Resumen

BEYER K, Walter O. Some Arithmetics books used in Venezuela in the period 1826-1912. Rev. Ped [online]. 2006, vol.27, n.78, pp.71-110. ISSN 0798-9792.

Following Schubring (1987) position that underlines the importance of textbooks in the task of reconstructing salient historical developments in education, in this paper we support the idea that studying early basic mathematics textbooks is an invaluable source to comprehend mathematics education, particularly arithmetic, during a particular period of time, here specifically between 1826 and 1912. In this article, as part of a broader research project, the first arithmetic book edited in Venezuela, that by Romero and Serrano (1826) and some other arithmetic textbooks used in the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century are described and briefly compared. Also, some catalogues showing elementary mathematics books used in Venezuela during the latter two thirds of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century are examined. Such examination may portray the evolution of national bibliographies in the area of elementary mathematics and also shows the permanence and the reediting of some of these books. At the same time, it shows the pre-eminence of arithmetic works over some other subfields of mathematics. This can cast some light on the possible conceptions that about math education existed upon that time.

Palabras clave : mathematical education; arithmetic textbooks; nineteenth century Venezuelan textbooks; earlier arithmetic books; Venezuelan education.