The discipline and the content of kinematics in physics text books of Brazil – 1801 to 1930

Abstract

In this paper we analyzed how the content of kinematics was presented in Physics textbooks used in the Brazilian school since the 19th century to the 1930’s. We showed that the textbooks used at the beginning of the studied period were in its most part French. But, at the end of the 19th century and in the beginning of the 20th century, there was an increase on the production of Brazilian Physics textbooks, whose authors were mainly teachers of renowned Brazilian schools. Analyzing the content of kinematics in these books along the time, we identified different approaches to deal with this content. Those changes could be justified through a cut on the history of the Physical discipline, showing a strong relationship of the content of the textbooks with the history of the discipline. Besides the connection between textbook and discipline, they are other clear connections when we considered the history of the institutions of education and the system of preparatory exams. In that sense, we discuss how Brazilian education, in the first decades of the 20th century, was altered in face of the educational reforms that constrained Physics textbooks profile to one that prevailed for decades, which presents some characteristics until our days.