The Efforts to Find a New Form of Polish Mathematical Instruction in the Beginning of the 20th c.

Abstract

The study deals with the actions which the mathematicians undertook in the beginning of the 20th c. in order to improve mathematical instruction in secondary schools. The problems entail: 1) a concise discussion about new ideas in mathematics in the end of the 19th c. and the beginning of the 20th c., 2) some information on the reformative movement in mathematical instruction in some countries of Europe in the beginning of the 20th c., 3) information on the actions which mathematicians undertook to improve mathematical instruction.

The study has paid particular attention to these actions of Polish mathematicians which met the postulates of the reformative movement in school mathematics. The programmes which they worked out, different from those which the invaders left, were the starting point of the works carried out by the Ministry of Religious Denominations of Public Enlightenment. The Ministry worked on new programmes for secondary school in independent Poland.