O desenvolvimento de representações gráficas em software educativo para facilitar significativa e colaborativamente a construção do conceito de funções matemáticas

Abstract

The application of mathematical functions in everyday people’s life has a relevance to be a subject of a broad interdisciplinary spectrum, permeating several knowledge areas. However, teachers and students develop an instructional approach to teaching and learning this content that is mechanically assimilated. The indicators of public education in the State of Ceará reveals that many students finish the high school having mathematics learning difficulties,specifically quadratic polynomial functions, both in the algebraic aspects and in the construction of its graphical representation. This research investigates how the development of graphical representations, using educational software, effected by high school students during the course of a teaching practice, can facilitate the construction of the mathematical concept of polynomial functions. To carry out the research, thinking in the students participants of the practice, we articulated the operational and pedagogical use of the educational software Winplot to the function teaching and learning process. The survey is strongly grounded in the Theory of Meaningful Learning of Ausubel, Concept Mapping of Novak and the constructivist approach according the Learning Spiral of Valente. So we left to a pedagogical action, which was designed and developed with a group of 15 students from the third years of high school and from a public state school located in Beberibe City, Ceará, Brazil. To proceed with the development of teaching practice, the teacher-researcher adopted the following research approach: qualitative, exploratory and action research. To carry out the practice of educational research, it was planned seven meetings, distributed in two phases, totaling 21 classroom hours. The first one deals with the student adaptation and motivation, the application of the interview and the questionnaire that was designed to diagnose students' prior knowledge. The second phase goals performs complementary classes sections, in order to review prior knowledge, discuss aspects of collaborative learning methods and to perform the application of software Winplot to the students develop the graphical representation of the second degree polynomial functions, according the second phase questionnaire. Such strategy enabled the establishment of collaborative work among students groups and the teacherresearcher,in order to encourage and promote the process of student interaction with the computer through cycles of action, reflection, deputation and new-action. Analyzing the results collected in the questionnaires we found evidence of advances in student learning in the construction of meaningful knowledge, as well as the consolidation of learning situations, when students used the software Winplot. We conclude there are evidences that the practice with the pedagogical use of the computer allowed to students develop a more facilitating and motivating polynomial function concept, with emphasis on graphics representation, which encouraged creativity, collaboration, reflection and encouraged them to develop new skills fostering a constructive educational process with the use of the computer.