447 ISSUES IN ACCOUNTING EDUCATION Vol. 22, No. 3 August 2007 pp. 447–457 Lessons for the Classroom from Luca Pacioli Alan Sangster, Gregory N. Stoner, and Patricia A. McCarthy ABSTRACT: In 2006, the Teaching and Curriculum Section of the American Accounting Association published a monograph, Reflections on Accounting Education Research. It includes a chapter that demonstrates how research into accounting history can be used in the classroom to inform ‘‘students about the changing environment and be- havior that influences accounting action.’’ This paper seeks to broaden the applicability of accounting history to accounting education by demonstrating that there are lessons to be learned in both textbook writing and in classroom instruction from the earliest known accounting textbook, the bookkeeping treatise contained within Luca Pacioli’s Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita. Keywords: classroom instruction; pedagogy; contextualization; accounting education; business education; Pacioli; abbaco schools; textbook writing. INTRODUCTION The methods of teaching are the teacher’s craft, and it is through growing in the skills of one’s craft that teachers keep their relationship with their profession alive. To fail to grow is to face the same classroom every day with the same subjects to teach in the same way. The dynamics of the profession is missing, and instead of the challenge of growing and the pride in getting better there is only repetition. —Jones (1987, 199) I n 2006, the Teaching and Curriculum Section of the American Accounting Association published a monograph entitled Reflections on Accounting Education Research (Smith 2006). It includes a chapter that demonstrates how research into accounting history can be used in the classroom to inform ‘‘students about the changing environment and behavior that influences accounting action’’ (Previts et al. 2006, 17). This paper seeks to broaden the applicability of accounting history to accounting education by demonstrating that there are lessons to be learned today in both textbook writing and in classroom instruction from the earliest known accounting textbook, the bookkeeping treatise contained within Luca Pacioli’s (1494) Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita (here- after, Summa). Teaching and learning environments have changed considerably since the 15th century (even the blackboard was not invented until 1801). However, despite these changes, teaching processes have remained quite consistent over time. For example, instruction in late-15th Alan Sangster is a Professor at The Robert Gordon University, Gregory N. Stoner is a Lecturer at The University of Glasgow, and Patricia A. McCarthy is a Course Manager at Open University. The authors thank Sue Ravenscroft and Brian Hentz for their helpful comments and suggestions for revisions, and for the comments and suggestions of the anonymous reviewers and associate editor on earlier drafts of this paper.