Etnomatemática: das ideias à propostas de práticas docentes

Abstract

The way mathematics teaching is developed in the classroom reflects many of the ideas that circulate in the school environment about mathematics, its importance and its learning. This text presents the results of a qualitative research carried out with teachers and students of the Mathematics Degree course at the Universidade do Estado do Amazonas (UEA). The general objective of the research is to understand the ideas of Ethnomathematics built by mathematics teachers, trainers and in training, in the Mathematics Degree course at the Universidade do Estado do Amazonas, to develop proposals for Didactic Sequences based on the principles of Ethnomathematics. The specific objectives are to identify, according to theorists in the field of Mathematics Education, what kind of relationships Ethnomathematics subsidizes in or for the teaching of mathematics; to know the understanding that teacher trainers, in the Mathematics Degree course at UEA, express about Ethnomathematics; to know the understanding expressed by future mathematics teachers about Ethnomathematics; and, to propose Didactic Sequences for the teaching of mathematics in the perspective of Ethnomathematics. The theoretical basis of the research was based on scholars of Ethnomathematics, particularly on the ideas of Ubiratan D’Ambrosio, Tereza Vergani and Paulus Gerdes. The results presented were built, initially, from a bibliographic survey where articles and books by authors in the area of Ethnomathematics were selected that formed the theoretical basis for understanding the phenomenon studied and, later, a selection of conclusion works of course, dissertations and theses defended at public universities in the state of Amazonas and at the Amazon Science and Mathematics Education Network (REAMEC). Structured interviews were also carried out with teacher trainers and questionnaires with UEA students. As a result of the bibliographic data, didactic sequences are proposed, elaborated from the ethnomathematical indications present in the analyzed researches, for the teaching of mathematics in the final years of Elementary School. Data analysis took place through a triangulation of sources whose results indicate that Ethnomathematics is a field of study of Mathematics Education capable of valuing mathematical ideas present in sociocultural activities developed or witnessed by students, outside the school context, which underlie the experiences brought by students to the classroom, which can be contexts for mathematical learning in different school contexts. Keywords: Ethnomathematics; Mathematical ideas; Sociocultural practices.