Aritmética na imigração italiana: docentes, práticas e saberes, do final do século XIX ao início do XX

Abstract

This thesis was developed within the Graduate Program in Education at the University of Caxias do Sul, in the field of History and Philosophy of Education. Its general objective is to investigate the teaching of arithmetic among Italian immigrants and their descendants, starting from teacher education in Italy (public policies, contributions from pedagogical press, and annual pedagogical conferences) in correlation with school practices in the context of Rio Grande do Sul, as well as the cultural practices involving mathematical knowledge by these immigrants. This work aimed, based on Cultural History and the History of Education, with contributions from the transnationality of knowledge and the theories of Certeau (2014), Chartier (2002), and Ginzburg (2007), to understand the pedagogical training in arithmetic of Italian primary school teachers and how these practices manifested in the Italian primary schools subsidized by the Italian government in the Colonial Region of Rio Grande do Sul during the last decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. For this analysis, various historical documents were mobilized, such as arithmetic questions from the licensing exams for Italian teachers, school reports regarding the arithmetic content taught in Italian schools, arithmetic topics present in some Italian educational journals, and the approach to arithmetic issues in pedagogical conferences. Subsequently, consular reports from Rio Grande do Sul were analyzed regarding the teaching methods used by teachers and the arithmetic content worked on in colonial schools. The transnationality of the campicello pedagogical practice was observed in both Italian schools in Italy and those in Rio Grande do Sul. Beyond the school context, cultural practices were identified, involving adaptations and appropriations of arithmetic knowledge, such as the construction of objects for measuring and storing agricultural products, the game of tombola, and the crafting of straw handicrafts known as dressa. Based on this set of evidence and documentary sources, it was concluded that the arithmetic taught and practiced in the Italian schools in Rio Grande do Sul was related to that of Italy, constituting a transnational practice between the two countries, adapted to the realities of the communities and based mainly on mental calculation and memorization. Therefore, the thesis argues that the arithmetic taught in Rio Grande do Sul is a legacy of Italian arithmetic education and that this knowledge was adapted to the new social and geographical context, constituting a transnational practice that contributed to the formation and development of the RCI/RS. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]