Educação matemática na pós-graduação da UFRN (1995-2015): vozes, imagens e escritos

Abstract

In Brazil, at the end of the second half of the twentieth century, research in Educação Matemática - EM (Mathematics Education) emerged in several Post-Graduate Programs.In the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN) it was not different, since the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte - UFRN (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte) has post-graduate programs that contemplate research in this area, namely: the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação - PPGED (Post-graduate Program in Education), linked to the Centro de Educação - CE (Education Center) and the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ensino de Ciências Naturais e Matemática - PPGECNM (Post-graduate Program in Teaching Natural Sciences and Mathematics), linked to the Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Terra - CCET (Center of Exact and Earth Sciences). In this context, we elaborated our question-focus: How did the research in Educação Matemática (Mathematics Education) start and consolidate in the State of RN? In order to answer this question, we have as general objective to make a historiographical description, from 1995 to 2015, of the ways of institution and consolidation of research in Educação Matemática (Mathematics Education) present in the two Programs mentioned. Therefore, this research is justified by the fact that in 1995 the Research Line was created in PPGED entitled Educação Matemática (Mathematics Education) and in 2002, since the creation of the PPGECNM, there were lines of research that included research in this area. To configure this historical research, we used the cultural history and new methodological trends in history writing, understanding that this is about the study of the cultural dimension of a certain historically located society (BURKE, 2011). Our sources of research were the institutional documents of these Programs, those seen in the light of Le Goff's theory (2003), as well as the statements of the professors who were the forerunners of research in Educação Matemática (Mathematics Education) at UFRN. These statements were collected through semi-structured interviews (LAVILLE; DIONNE, 1999) with them, including authorizing, through a letter of assignment, a disclosure of their real names. In addition, because we are in a Program of a Professional Master's Degree, we produced a video, linked to our question-focus, as Produto Educacional (Educational Product), which aims to inform and motivate Basic Education teachers and undergraduate students in Mathematics, when graduated, to take on a continuous formation, adding to their initial formation salary, cultural and social improvements, among others, as did the graduates of PPGED, From the EM area. After analyzing and triangulating the sources (ALBUQUERQUE JÚNIOR, 2007), we have seen that in PPGED and PPGECNM there are researches that turn to EM and we noticed that in each of them there was a unique form of the development of these. We also saw that in the PPGED, the EM Line was inserted by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) in the structure of the Program due to the existence of the research projects being developed by the PPGED professor, PhD John Andrew Fossa. The contributions of this professor helped significantly in the creation of the EM Line, but also expanded new possibilities of research in Mathematics Education in the RN, as we can see from a genealogical tree (MENDES, 2015a) that we built, showing some graduates of the master's degree, masters orientated by Professor John Andrew Fossa and other professors hired by the Departamento de Matemática da UFRN (Department of Mathematics of UFRN), who also contributed significantly to the advancement in research in the field of EM. Our analyzes also showed that, currently, there are graduates of the PPGED who continue the researches in the area of EM within the UFRN. Finally, as we tell this story, we hope to have contributed to the understanding of the course, constitution and consolidation of the research in Educação Matemática (Mathematics Education) in the RN.