The School Mathematics Study Group (SMSG) was an American academic

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental ...

focused on the subject of reform in

mathematics education In contemporary education, mathematics education, known in Europe as the didactics or pedagogy of mathematics – is the practice of teaching, learning and carrying out scholarly research into the transfer of mathematical knowledge. Although ...

. Directed by Edward G. Begle and financed by the National Science Foundation, the group was created in the wake of the Sputnik crisis in 1958 and tasked with creating and implementing mathematics curricula for primary and

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

, which it did until its termination in 1977. The efforts of the SMSG yielded a reform in mathematics education known as

New Math New Mathematics or New Math was a dramatic but temporary change in the mathematics education, way mathematics was taught in American grade schools, and to a lesser extent in European countries and elsewhere, during the 1950s1970s. Curriculum top ...

which was promulgated in a series of reports, culminating in a series published by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Ger ...

called the ''New Mathematical Library'' (Vol. 1 is Ivan Niven's ''Numbers: Rational and Irrational''). In the early years, SMSG also produced a set of draft textbooks in typewritten paperback format for elementary, middle and high school students. Perhaps the most authoritative collection of materials from the School Mathematics Study Group is now housed in the

Archives of American Mathematics The Archives of American Mathematics, located at the University of Texas at Austin, aims to collect, preserve, and provide access to the papers principally of American mathematicians and the records of American mathematical organizations. Histor ...

in the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

's Center for American History.

External links

Mathematics education Curricula {{Edu-org-stub

See also

Further reading

External links