Briefly Recalling Moments in Mathematics Education History: The Early Teaching and Learning of Arithmetic in America and the Influence of Colburn’s First Lessons in Arithmetic, Two Hundred Years Since its Publication

Abstract

Arithmetic was the first mathematical subject to enter the school curriculum in the United States in a formalized manner. Until the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the prevailing pedegogy of this subject revolved around the tenets of mental discipline theory and the rules method of teaching, which valued memorization and repetivive drill of procedures. This continued until pedegogical alternatives to this approach were offered by innovative textbook writers, most notably William Colburn and his 1825 text First Lessons in Arithmetic on the Plan of Pestalozzi. In this article, the teaching of arithemtic in the early United States and the influence of Colburn's text is discussed and is later contextualized through their influence on modern mathematics education practice.