LEGITIMATH · Teaching and learning practices calculus in the 18th century: the case of Italian mathematics and its European dimension
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2022-02-01 → 2024-01-31
- EU contribution
- €171,473
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Teaching and learning practices calculus in the 18th century: the case of Italian mathematics and its European dimension
The aim of this project was to reevaluate the history of mathematics in 18th-century Europe, focusing specifically on the local dynamics of teaching and learning analytic and synthetic geometry, as well as infinitesimal analysis. The project examined significant locations in the Italian peninsula between 1720 and 1750, both in public and private settings. The ultimate objective was to develop a methodological framework that could be adapted to various cultural and geographical contexts. The initial phase involved a thorough examination of manuscript notes from Venice, Padua, Verona, and Treviso regarding mathematics instruction at the University of Padua during the first half of the 18th century. The second phase delved into the contributions of women in mathematics during the same period, emphasizing the unpublished manuscripts of Maria Gaetana Agnesi and collaborating with the Accademia dei Concordi in Rovigo on the editing of lectures by Cristina Roccati. The discovery of previously untapped sources confirmed that algebra and calculus were primarily taught outside of university settings, through private lessons. This raised the unresolved question of the transition of these disciplines from private to public contexts, as well as the impact of these social changes on the content, presentation, and methods of these disciplines. The survey of library archives led to the identification of a larger collection of manuscript notes than initially estimated, providing a valuable archive for future exploration and significantly contributing to our understanding of mathematical education in the early modern period.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The aim of this project is to rewrite the history of differential and integral calculus in 18th century Europe focusing on the processes of acquisition and circulation of teaching and learning practices and, on a broader level, to elaborate a new adaptable methodological framework integrating history of mathematics and mathematical education, oral and cultural histories in order to reconstruct the function of oral knowledge in the processes of acquiring mathematical knowledge acting in determined institutional and social contexts. In doing so, LEGITIMATH will address an under researched phase in the history of mathematics by choosing to explore a rich teaching corpus produced by several learned communities in the Italian peninsula, and chart the transnational circulation of Maria Gaetana Agnesi’s ""Istituzioni Analitiche"" (1748) as well as its reception outside Italy and its French and English translations. The project is interdisciplinary, crossing history of philosophy and of mathematics, mathematics education and the oral culture of knowledge, and is groundbreaking insofar as it prioritizes oral discourses and practices over internalist studies of mathematical works, and, by examining the case of Italy, it will reassess the relation between scientific “centres” and “peripheries” from the perspective of the circulation of teaching practices.This project, hosted at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, will be pivotal for my career as it will allow me, thanks to the help of my supervisor and the special training offered by my host institutions, to strenghten my expertise as a researcher and create a permanent international network integrating historical studies of mathematics to history of science and philosophy. The project is a fundamental step for me to eventually apply for an ERC grant, and subsequently obtain a permanent research position at Ca’Foscari or in another European or Italian institution.""
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA · VeneziaCoordinatorItaly
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union