The mathematics of complementary courses at the Júlio de Castilhos Institute (Porto Alegre, Brazil)

This article presents a discussion about the Mathematics teaching in the Pré-Médico and PréTécnico courses that took place at Instituto Júlio de Castilhos during the period of the secondary school curricular reform known as Reforma Francisco Campos. The study is based on the analysis of the questions of the Mathematics tests applied to these courses in the years of 1936 and 1937. This analysis permits to investigate what contents were taught, how they were assessed and what possible marks may be left by the teachers who prepared the tests. The study also examines the origin of the Mathematics teaching practice implemented that time considering both the education policies of the time and also the particularly history of the institution. It was based on reports of the Engineering School of Porto Alegre, interviews and reports of former students and former teachers as well as on bibliography related to the subject. This research aims to contribute to the study of the Mathematics teaching history and particularly to the historiography of Instituto Júlio de Castilhos, today named Colégio Estadual Júlio de Castilhos.