Alexander Karp

Russian Mathematics Education : History and World Significance

Russian Mathematics Education Before the Revolution 1917 (T Polyakova) Soviet Mathematics Education in 1917-1956 (A Karp) Sixties Through Eighties (A Abramov) Challenges and Issues in Post-Soviet Mathematics Education (M Bashmakovi) Mathematicians and Mathematics Educators: Traditions of Collaboration (A Sossinsky) Soviet Influence on Mathematics Education in the Socialistic Countries (A Pardala et al.) Soviet and Russian Influences on Research in Mathematics Education (J Kilpatrick) Relevance of Russian Elementary Mathematics Education (J Schmittau) History of Mathematics Teacher Education (N Stephanova) Soviet and Russian Contribution to Mathematics Competitions (M Saul et al.) Developing an Agenda for Comparative Studies: the Example of Russia (B Vogeli).

The Cold War in the Soviet School: A Case Study of Mathematics Education

This article is devoted to certain aspects of the cold war reflected in the teaching of mathematics in the Soviet Union. I will deal specifically with direct manifestations of the cold war, not with the teaching of mathematics during the cold war in general. My aim is not to present a comprehensive examination of school programs in mathematics offered during the period in question; nor is it necessarily to demonstrate how these programs reflected the ambition to win the arms race. I am interested in examining direct expressions of ideology, including how the teaching of mathematics was used (or intended to be used) to convey to students on the one hand an image of the enemy and on the other a sense of national superiority. The characterization of certain phenomena as manifestations of the spirit of the cold war and aggression toward other countries remains a complicated matter in Russia. Contemporary Russian textbooks (Durmanova 2003) note that the long-accepted defini-

Russian schools for the mathematically and scientifically talented: Can the vision survive unchanged?

Political and economic changes in the former Soviet Union have affected literally every aspect of Russian life including education. The purpose of this article is to describe the effects of these changes upon the internationally recognized Russian schools for mathematically and scientifically talented students. Although famous schools such as that founded by mathematician A. N. Kolmogorov have served as models for schools in other nations including the United States, the shifting sands of modern Russia may threaten their future. Previous works that described the education of the mathematically and scientifically talented in Russian such as Grigorenko and Clinkenbeard (1994), Dunstan (1990), Shtokola (1978), and Vogeli (1968) have not anticipated the impact of changes in Russias political and economic systems. This article should serve to supplement these more inclusive works.

Russian Mathematics Education: Programs and Practices

On the Mathematics Lesson (A Karp & L Zvavich) The History and Current State of Elementary Mathematics Education in Russia (O Ivasheva) On the Teaching of Geometry in Russian Schools (A Karp & A Werner) On the Teaching of Algebra in Russian Schools (L Kuznetsova et al.) On the Teaching of Analysis in Russian Schools (M Jackubson) Combinatorics, Probability, and Statistics in Russian Schools (E Bunimovich) Mathematics in Schools with Advanced Courses of Studies (A Karp) Assessment in Mathematics in Russian Schools (A Karp & L Zvavich) Extracurricular Work in Mathematics (A Marushina & M Pratusevich) On Russian Research in Mathematis Education (A Karp & R Leikin) Developing and Agenda for Comparative Studies (B Vogeli).

Toward a History of Teaching the Mathematically Gifted: Three Possible Directions for Research

This article is devoted not so much to laying out the results of completed research as to indicating topics for research. The author presents what may be described as three case studies, focusing on people, on the government, and on mathematical problems. These microstudies draw on Russian (Soviet) material, but in the author’s view they may be expanded and continued. An analysis of the history of mathematics education conducted along the same lines, but focused on other countries, would be of considerable interest.RésuméCet article vise non pas à présenter des résultats de recherches déjà terminées, mais plutôt à indiquer d’éventuels sujets de recherche future. l’auteur présente trois études qu’on pourrait appeler des études de cas, centrées sur les personnes, le gouvernement et les problèmes mathématiques. Ces micro-études se fondent sur des données russes (soviétiques), mais, selon l’auteur, elles pourraient être ultérieurement poursuivies et développées. Une analyse de l’histoire de l’enseignement des mathématiques, menée selon les mêmes critères mais centrée sur d’autres pays, serait d’un grand intérêt.

Thirty years after: The lives of former winners of mathematical Olympiads

Mathematical Olympiads are generally regarded as one of the best methods for identifying talented students and attracting them to mathematics. Nevertheless, although the achievements and the names of certain Olympiad winners have become widely known, there are no statistics concerning the vast majority of former winners. How did their lives turn out? What became of these people who were considered mathematically gifted in childhood? What are their own views regarding the Olympiads and their mathematical education as a whole? This article attempts to answer these questions by tracing the lives of a large group of winners of the St. Petersburg (Russia) Olympiad. The research makes use of two surveys conducted in 1991 and in 2001. A comparison of the responses to these questionnaires also makes it possible to draw certain conclusions about the changes that have taken place in these peoples lives over the course of the recent crucial decade in Russian history.

‘Universal Responsiveness’ or ‘Splendid Isolation?’ Episodes From the History of Mathematics Education in Russia

This article investigates the prevalent attitudes toward foreign influences and methodologies in Russian mathematics education at different periods in Russian history. The words ‘universal responsiveness’ belong to Dostoevsky, who, in his famous speech on Pushkin, used them to characterize Pushkin’s openness to the genius of all other nations. Moreover, Dostoevsky considered universal responsiveness to be typical of Russians in general. However, the isolationist tradition in Russia has been no less influential. At times this tradition has prevailed, at times it has retreated. It has expressed itself openly in political life – Stalin’s campaign against ‘cosmopolites’ was an especially striking example – and its impact on the development of literature and science has been the object of extensive research. Mathematics education, however, has rarely been looked at from this perspective. This paper will focus on a few select episodes from the history of mathematics education in Russia. These episodes, however, clearly demonstrate that a conflict between the isolationist and the internationalist traditions has taken place in this field as well. The paper contains a discussion of Leo Tolstoy’s article ‘On the People’s Education’, little‐known in the West, in which Russian mathematics education is aggressively and favorably contrasted with German methodologies. It also examines a methodological work from 1951, which includes a chapter entitled ‘From the History of the Struggle against Foreign Influences in Russian Mathematics’. On the other hand, the article also looks at materials from Russian mathematics teachers’ congresses from before the Russian Revolution, which illustrate Russian involvement and participation in processes taking place abroad. It also analyzes correspondence between the well‐known Russian and American mathematics educators Dmitriy Sintsov and David Eugene Smith, discovered by the author, which facilitates a deeper understanding of certain aspects of the issues under investigation.

The History of Mathematics Education: Developing a Research Methodology

The aim of this chapter is to discuss answers to two basic questions: what does the history of mathematics education investigate, and how does it carry out its investigation? Consequently, the discussion addresses various directions of research that seem to be interesting, methods and forms of analysing and interpreting sources in the history of mathematics education, as well as the question of what may constitute such sources. This chapter concludes by addressing existing myths in the history of mathematics education.

‘We all meandered through our schooling…’: notes on Russian mathematics education in the early nineteenth century

This article addresses the reception of mathematics and mathematics education among the educated classes of Russian society during the first third of the nineteenth century.

Mathematics Education in Russia

This chapter is devoted to the history of Russian mathematics education from Peter I to recent times. The discussion addresses issues pertaining to the organization and aims of education at different stages; what constituted the content of education during different periods; who implemented the teaching of this material; and how teachers were prepared. Russian mathematics education was fundamentally different (and continues to be so) from education in many other countries and came to serve as a model for many countries. This chapter attempts to describe the typical traits of the Russian system and understand how they took shape.