Production and circulation of knowledge to teach arithmetic in primary school: documents from the André Rey fonds

Abstract

The purpose of the stay is to consult and analyze documents of the André Rey fonds (1906-1965) of the Institut Jean-Jacques Rousseau Archives. Rey invents, adapts and standardizes numerous tests, both for the needs of the clinic and for professional selection and guidance. We are interested in his studies related to tests for the teaching of arithmetic. The analysis of Rey fund documents aims to understand the movement of production and circulation of knowledge to teach arithmetic in the early school years, supported by these tests. In this movement of knowledge production to teach arithmetic, Rey can be considered as one of the experts in this subject. This researcher, show the documents of his fund, uses other systematization underway in other countries mainly coming from the United States. The goal of Rey's research in terms of school arithmetic is not to highlight what children need to learn, but rather what children can learn. This objective promotes the production of new knowledge to teach arithmetic in primary school. This knowledge is elaborated, disseminated and arrives in Brazil to guide the publication of textbooks and textbooks for the Brazilian primary school. This is a new era in the production and circulation of professional knowledge of the primary school teacher. This new era seeks to overcome the previous one, guided by an intuitive pedagogy, based on Pestalozzi, the producer of knowledge to teach intuitive arithmetic. The task now is to produce "scientific knowledge" for the teaching of arithmetic.