Historicizing the journey of the New Math reform from the United States to Luxembourg in the 1960s and 1970s

Doctoral thesis (2017)

This research investigates the process of the New Math, an internationally disseminated reform of school mathematics in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, during the 1960s and 1970s. This mathematics reform ... [more ▼]

This research investigates the process of the New Math, an internationally disseminated reform of school mathematics in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, during the 1960s and 1970s. This mathematics reform was propagated in the Western side of the Cold War to promote the mathematical and scientific power of Western countries. With this initial objective as a core of the study, the research then expands the area of the research to look at the mathematics education in the western countries. Timewise also, this expansion goes beyond the 1960s and 1970s, the era of the New Math reform. Thus, in a broader perspective, the research attempts to study what school policymakers expect from school mathematics historically in Western countries. It studies how the background idea and reasoning of the New Math reform through the journey of the reform from the United States to Europe and Luxembourg was changed and adapted to be applicable in the educational context of Luxembourg. The three main questions of the research are: 1 How was the New Math reform received and advanced in Luxembourg? 2 What did Luxembourgers expect from their school mathematics? Or Why students in Luxembourg should learn mathematics? 3 What was the reasoning behind mathematics education in Western countries through the history of schooling? The research began by exploratory methods to clear the property of the research and to determine the data collection method and other features that research needed to improve its design. This approach led to a collection of data including documents related to the context of Luxembourg, and context outside Luxembourg. This collection included both primary and secondary sources. The research studied texts of laws, regulations, newspapers, conference proceedings of the era, mathematics textbooks, teacher journals and other officially published sources as well as unpublished sources such as correspondences between different actors related to the school system and math education. For reading and analyzing data, the research was inspired by Foucault’s archaeological approach in historical research and the study of different layers, which shape the discourse. In addition to Foucault, Popkewitz (e.g., 1997, 2009; Popkewitz & Lindblad, 2004) and Hacking (2012) inspired the work in developing the historical study of the reasoning. The research indicated two paradigms, which shaped the answers to the questions “why students should learn mathematics.” The first paradigm supports the reasoning, which argues that mathematics education should improve thinking ability, mental power and intellectuality. The second paradigm was based on the idea that mathematics offers a tool to learners to solve the problems of everyday life such as economics, engineering, etc. The research showed that these two paradigms shaped the discourse before and during the New Math reform and in different contexts and culture. [less ▲]

When An Educational Ideology Travels: The Experience Of The New Math Reform In Luxembourg

in Mathematics Education and Life at Times of Crisis (2017, April)

Since 1958 a series of new reform programmes, known as “New Math reform” tried to fundamentally deconstruct the mathematics education of schools in the United States. This reform aimed to promote the ... [more ▼]

Since 1958 a series of new reform programmes, known as “New Math reform” tried to fundamentally deconstruct the mathematics education of schools in the United States. This reform aimed to promote the “problem-solving” abilities in students and was a means to modernise not just the school math education but also the idea of why students should learn mathematics. Later, the reform project travelled to Europe through the support of the OECD and some other international or European organisation. This paper briefly reviews the process of the adaptation of this reform project in Luxembourg during the 1960s and 1970s. The aim is to look at how the ideological background about mathematics education, and in general education, mattered in the preceding of this school reform. [less ▲]

A historical study of applying a new perspective on mathematical concepts for improving education of “mentally handicapped” children

Scientific Conference (2016, August 20)

The law of 14 March 1973, in Luxembourg, authorized the creation of institutes et services d’éducation différencié. This law entitled children who could not follow the ordinary schools for the reason of ... [more ▼]

The law of 14 March 1973, in Luxembourg, authorized the creation of institutes et services d’éducation différencié. This law entitled children who could not follow the ordinary schools for the reason of having mental, behavioural or sensorial peculiarities to access appropriate education. However, since the school year of 1970-71, a group of mathematics and primary school teachers in Luxembourg started an experiment to use the approaches of modern mathematics in teaching mathematics to children with Intellectual Disability who had no success during 3-4 years of being in normal schools. The leader of this experiment was Robert Dieschbourg, a math teacher active in the adaptation of the New Math reform in Luxembourg. This experiment was a point of interest both for Luxembourgian communities who were seeking equality in education, and the international promoters of New Math reform. According to the reports that Dieschbourg published at least once a year, the result of the experiment was satisfactory. Two major points that can be concluded from these reports were: it is possible that “mentally handicapped” children learn maths; and modern mathematics with its “humanistic aspect” (Dieschbourg, 1971) is an answer to the question of how to include children with intellectual disability. The paper reviews how these experiments tried to show that a different approach of teaching could make “disable” children able to learn. I also use the opportunity to ask whether this experiment could show how much the mental disability was a consequence of the social construction of knowledge and the definition of being disable in achieving that knowledge. Moreover, the paper shows how the experiment was started as a part of the adaptation of the New Math curriculum, and its “successful” result was meant to support the arguments and reasoning for the implication of the bigger project of the New Math reform. [less ▲]

National Adaptation of New Math as a Cold War ‘Globally’-disseminated Idea in Luxembourg: Confrontation of National Values and International Urges

Scientific Conference (2015, September 08)

After the end of the World War II, almost all western countries started reforming their education system, specially maths and science education, as a result of their wartime experience and the new ... [more ▼]

After the end of the World War II, almost all western countries started reforming their education system, specially maths and science education, as a result of their wartime experience and the new economic and security needs. This trend has been accelerated after the launch of Sputnik satellite by the USSR in October 1957. One of the main subject that has been reformed vigorously was school mathematics, specifically under the name of the New Math reform, created by SMSG (School Mathematics Study Group) in 1958. The New Math reform was a means to modernise not just the school maths education but also the idea of why students should learn mathematics. The beginning of the New Math reform movement in Europe is originated in a so-called Royaumont seminar with the official title of “New thinking in school mathematics”. The seminar was held in Paris, between 23rd of November and 4th of December 1959. This seminar triggered many reforms and changes in school mathematics during 1960s and 1970s in Europe including Luxembourg. This paper is a part of my Ph.D. project under the main title “Travelling ideologies and national adaptations: The implementation of New Math in Luxembourgian school system during 1960s-1970s”. The main focus of the project is to see how the New Math was adapted for Luxembourgian schools in order to reveal how a ‘globally’-disseminated idea about how mathematics is connected to the ideology of the rational and critical citizen has been implemented in this country by translating it into its cultural idiosyncrasy. During the 1960s and 1970s there were many attempts by Luxembourg mathematicians at adapting conceptions of the new mathematics to make them applicable first for the secondary and later for the primary levels. However, the development of my study showed that the New Math reform, unlike in the U.S. or in France, did not have a sharp starting point in Luxembourg, but it was part of a smooth transitional movements that started around 1900 when the country was trying to define its national identity. Therefore, this presentation starts with a brief review of the changes in school mathematics since 1900 up to the end of 1970s when the New Math officially was introduced in the primary level, and studies the arguments and discussion with regard to mathematics education with a focus on the discussion around the era that Royaumont seminar was taking place and after that. The importance of the Royaumont seminar is that from then, the international efforts came to the playfield through OEEC/OECD and intervened in the national demarche. Accordingly the main questions that lead this presentation are: How was the meaning and purpose of mathematics education changing in Luxembourg during the first 70 years of twentieth century? Where did different people or groups in Luxembourg placed mathematics in their expected education at the time when the New Maths movement started in Europe in 1959? Finally, how did OECD influence the development of adapting this suggesting ideology related to education, and how did different people and groups react or collaborate? [less ▲]

The ideological background of mathematics education in Luxembourg before starting the New Maths reform

Presentation (2014, December 11)