New Math and the South Slavs

Yugoslavia was a young country when the Royaumont Seminar took place in 1959, a seminar that emerged from the New Thinking in School Mathematics initiative. This chapter, on Yugoslavia, seeks to illuminate that part of the mathematics education history of the country by looking at the three mathematicians who all contributed to a specific view of mathematics, mathematics education, and its practical manifestations. The contributions of Đuro Kurepa, Miloš Radojčić, and Judita Cofman are explored, and their lasting impact on mathematics education in the framework of the New Math in Yugoslavia and further away, on a global scale. Kurepa’s influence and prominence are explored through his role with the ICMI and his global networks; Cofman’s influence through her work in Europe: Germany and England—as much as her work in Yugoslavia; and Radojčić’s work reached Africa through the non-aligned movement. Their contributions to mathematics education were diverse. Kurepa concentrated mostly on delineating the principles of teaching and learning and had leading roles in many institutions, nationally and internationally. Radojčić’s contribution to the philosophy of mathematics education was deeply colored by his epistemology based on anthroposophical principles. Finally, and perhaps the most enduring, was Cofman’s contribution to mathematics education in Serbia, England, and Germany, on structuring the learning of mathematics around problem solving.