Um estudo sobre a compreensão das definições matemáticas no curso de licenciatura em matemática

Abstract

This thesis is based on studies about mathematical language and focuses on the exercising of meaning and communicating in Mathematics. The central problem is the development of a teaching module for the study of matematical definitions. Thus, the present study, subordinated to the line of research Ensino de Ciências e Educação Matemática (PPGED/UFRN), has as its general goal the development of constructivist activities, informed by the History of Mathematics (FOSSA, 1995), to promote the relational understanding (SKEMP, 1976) of mathematical definitions. The activities themselves were organized along constructivist principles with an historical aspect supplied, in the main, by O problema das definições Matemáticas (1965) and A Lógica na Matemática (1966), by Júlio Cesar de Mello e Souza, whose penname was Malba Tahan. The proposed activities were tested with a group of undergraduate mathematics students at the IFRN, Santa Cruz campus in Rio Grande do Norte, using qualitative research methodologies, especially the teaching experiment. As a basic theoretical framework, we used Radical Constructivism and evaluated the data using a global interpretation (SILVA, 2013) of Skemp (1980). From the analysis of data collected during the lessons, written evaluation and interviews we concluded that the proposed intervention led the participants to a relational understanding of mathematical definitions.