Laboratório de ensino de matemática como estratégia de aprendizagem para as quatro operações aritméticas básicas

Abstract

Face the change arising when a student passes from the second to the third cycle of Middle School, one may ask: the concepts studied initially in the Elementary School may be considered as understood and fully grasped for all students who have passed on to the fifth grade? Considering, in particular, the teaching of Mathematics, one observes that, during this process of change, the use of manipulatives is left behind for the sake of abstraction. Thus, considering that in the Laboratory Method for Teaching Mathematics (LMTM) exists a variety of manipulatives such as games involving mental calculation, logical reasoning and abstractions, it is valid to ask: why not use these materials also in the final grades of Middle School? Perhaps, is it so due to the lack of knowledge on how to use such materials? Better yet, what would be the actual influence in the use of such manipulatives when applied to the construction of some concepts, by the student, regarding a certain mathematical object? Thus, the present study constitutes, initially, as a reflection on “how” to teach, more specifically in the case of the LMTM used as a strategy to learn the four basic arithmetic operations in the fifth grade of the Middle School, as well as its influence in the teaching process. To search for possible answers to the above questions the research work was divided in two intertwine parts: one theoretical based on the available literature, the other practical based on a case study with the participation of students from the Colégio Estadual Edna May Cardoso, Santa Maria/RS. The research development, looking beyond the strategies for teaching, allowed relevant considerations regarding the school social functions and the role of the school mathematics in the formation of individuals.