This research traced the history of mathematics education in Haitian secondary schools from 1935 until 2015. While there is not much explicit historical evidence of how mathematics education evolved in Haiti, its development gave some insight into the history of mathematics education in a Caribbean country with a colonial past. One might ask, “Does the Haitian curriculum reflect its past colonizers, or has it developed an identity of its own?”
The purpose of this study was to examine the development of mathematics education in secondary schools in Haiti from 1935 to 2015 under the influence of cultural and sociopolitical changes in the country. To accomplish this purpose, the researcher investigated objectives, content, instructional practices, curricula, and the impact of internal and external influences and ideologies. Haitian parochial and private schools have developed curricula that emulate those of France, the United States, and Canada.
This study examined how these colonial countries may have influenced the development of secondary mathematics education in Haiti. Furthermore, the researcher sought to understand whether Haitian mathematics education curricula were more reflective of modernized French curricula or the New Math movement in the United States during this period of the study. This study was based on multiple primary sources, including documents from the Haitian Ministry of Education, the Internet archive Republique D’Haïti Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale et de la Formation Professionnelle (Republic of Haïti Ministry of National Education and Professional Training), textbooks during the respective years, and other sources.
The analysis of textbooks and curricula revealed patterns that seem very general. Recent trends towards developing students’ perceptions and conceptual understanding or teaching applications and real-world problems find their way into Haitian textbooks. Even before that, trends towards the study of more advanced and abstract mathematics were also reflected in Haiti. The mathematics course turns out to be focused on European models, primarily on the former—albeit, many years ago, metropolis—France. This is reflected not only the fact that the primary language of instruction is French even though only a small part of the population speaks it, but also in the way the curriculum is structured.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:columbia.edu/oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/b4by-pr44 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Maitre, Jonathan |
| Source Sets | Columbia University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Theses |
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