"It is not hard to teach Math": The prominence of Nedem in the diffusion of Modern Math in Paraná’s State

Abstract

This paper discusses the trajectory and prominence of NEDEM (Centre for the Study and Dissemination of Teaching of Mathematics), which is a group that in the 1960s spread the Modern Math Movement in Paraná's state in Brazil. Based on historical sources constituted during the elaboration of eight Master and two Doctor theses, concluded in the first decades of the year 2000, in the Postgraduate Program of the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná's State, the study, conducted in the perspective of cultural history (Chartier, 1990), shows that NEDEM's group actions had wide reach in the training of primary and junior high school teachers, either with the production of two collections of math books or with the courses taught in different cities of the state. The group became recognized in Brazil for the production of primary and junior high school textbooks, training courses and also due to the entrepreneurial and committed spirit of its founder, Professor Osny Antonio Dacol, which was an expert who left a legacy to the history of mathematics education, being recognized for his dynamic participation in the diffusion of the modern math movement, and as the main representative of the movement in the state.