Raciocínio combinatório: uma meta-análise a partir dos registros de representação semiótica

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate whether and how the semiotic representation registers are employed in the strict sense research produced by Brazilian institutions that address the development of combinatory reasoning through educational activities that had the participation of high school students. The study is based on qualitative meta-analysis, which can be understood as the realization of a systematic review of a body of research intended to culminate in an interpretive synthesis through analysis and primary data from these (BICUDO, 2014). Therefore, we adopted the semiotic representation registers based on Duval (2003, 2009, 2011) as a theoretical framework. The screening took place on the websites of postgraduate programs of Brazilian universities (Multidisciplinary Teaching of Mathematics area) and the Bank of Theses and Dissertations of Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination (CAPES). In search it was used keywords "combinatorics", "combinatorial" and "permutations". It was found that 43 research emphasized the combinatorial reasoning; 35 made explicit in its documentary corpus educational activities in basic education, higher education or training of teachers who teach mathematics. From these, 12 focused on high school, both in regular schools and in the form of Youth and Adult Education. To accomplish the data analysis it was selected four dissertations that analyze and propose activities resolved by high school students and have theoretical support in solving problems. Thus, using descriptors drawn from solving strategies of combinatorial nature of activities presented by Batanero et al (1996, 1997, 2001 and 2003). It sought these evidence activities that have identified the representation registers mobilized in the solutions presented by the participants of the selected studies. The data analysis it was concluded that the use of array formulas, combination and permutation is not the strategy adopted by the students, but rather the product rule (Cartesian product or multiplicative principle). This rule mainly symbolic mobilizes records and, therefore, poses treatments in the same record type. However, when the activities are developed through formulas, that is, the product rule, the sum or quotient, were also employed symbolic records and their treatments. Additionally, these tasks were further evidence of the modification of the starting record in natural language to the intermediary, symbolic record. In other strategies such as enumerating the requested settings, recursion, subdividing the problem, set variables and translation problem the equivalent there was a greater diversity of records, namely: natural language, figural, tabular and tree. Therefore a variety in most types of conversion. Finally, it was also noted that the mobilization of semiotic representation registers in solving combinatorial nature of activities are not aimed at only the seizure of mathematical objects, but mainly a support for solving such problems.