Mathematics only entered school at the end of the 18th century, with the Industrial Revolution, but curriculum and textbooks are created based on the formalization and deductive reasoning of the Greek Euclid (sec. III a. C.), crucial for understanding Mathematics, but inadequate for Basic Education classes.
During the world wars (century. XX), Mathematics evolves and acquires importance at school, but remains distant from the student's life.
Based on the National Curriculum Parameters (PCN's) we made a brief history of the curricular reforms. From the 1920s onwards, the movements that took place at the national level in relation to the curriculum reorientation failed to change teaching practice to end the elitist character of the present teaching. Even today, children, young people and/or adults arrive in the classrooms and the aura of difficulty grows. Income drops. Discipline becomes the biggest reason for disapproval. Even so, the formalization still exists.
In the 60s/70s, Modern Mathematics appeared. It builds on set theory, focuses on procedures, and isolates geometry. It's too abstract for the Basic Education student.
In the 70s, the Mathematics Education Movement began, with the participation of teachers from around the world organized in study and research groups. Specialists discover how knowledge is built in children and study alternative forms of assessment. Mathematicians not linked to education are divided into those who support and those who resist change.
In the 1980s, problem solving was highlighted as the focus of Mathematics teaching, with the proposal recommended by the document “Agenda para Ação”.
In the 90's, the National Curriculum Parameters for the eight grades of elementary school were launched in Brazil. The chapter dedicated to the discipline is prepared by Brazilian members of the Mathematics Education Movement. According to the PCN's, they are still the best guidance instruments for all teachers who want to change their way of teaching and, with that, fight school failure.
According to the National Curriculum Parameters (1997)
“(...) Mathematics is an important component in the construction of citizenship, as society uses, increasingly, of scientific knowledge and technological resources, which citizens must appropriate. Learning in Mathematics is linked to understanding, that is, to apprehending meaning; learning the meaning of an object or event presupposes seeing it in its relations to other objects and events. Teaching resources such as games, books, videos, calculators, computers and other materials play an important role in the teaching-learning process. However, they need to be integrated into situations that lead to the exercise of analysis and reflection, ultimately, the basis of mathematical activity”.
According to Brasil (1997), the competences and abilities to be developed in Mathematics are distributed in three domains of human action; life in society, productive activity and subjective experience:
• show applications of the mathematical concepts learned, presenting different forms: oral, graphic, written, pictorial, etc;
• explore computers, simple and/or scientific calculators, surveying situations and validating the results obtained;
• develop the ability to investigate, understand new mathematical situations and build meaning from them;
• develop the ability to estimate, predict results, make approximations and appreciate the plausibility of results in context and in problem solving;
• observe, identify, represent and use geometric, algebraic and arithmetic knowledge, structuring and presenting relationships using mathematical models to understand reality and act about her;
• understand mathematics as a process and a body of knowledge resulting from human creation, establishing a relationship between the history of mathematics and the evolution of humanity.
According to the authors mentioned below, curriculum documents from various countries appear directly or indirectly, referencing the realization of investigation practices by students in mathematical activities, therefore “Investigation and research activities arise here from the perspective of Mathematics as a work context and also in its use in different contexts, related to other areas and transversal themes" (PONTE, BROCARDO, OLIVEIRA, 2003, p. 135).
Bibliography
[1] BRAZIL, Secretary of Fundamental Education. National Curriculum Parameters: introduction. 3rd ed. Brasília: MEC, vol 1, 1997.
[2] _____. National curriculum parameters: secondary education. Brasília: MEC, 2002.
[3] _____. National curriculum parameters: mathematics. Brasília: MEC, 1998.
[4] BRIDGE, João P. gives.; BROCARDO, Joana; OLIVEIRA, Hélia. Mathematical investigations in the classroom. Belo Horizonte: Authentic, 2003.
Per Rodiney Marcelo
Columnist Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/matematica/matematica-reformas-curriculares-pcns.htm