CONTEXTUALIZATION OF MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS: POSSIBILITIES AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

Brazil has not achieved good results in the learning indices of its students, a fact confirmed in 2009 when the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) was conducted, in which Brazil ranked 53rd among sixty-one countries evaluated in Mathematics. In 2012 a new result was released and Brazil’s position improved slightly: among the 65 countries evaluated, Brazil ranked 58th with 391 points in Mathematics, and the most recent result placed Brazil in the 66th position among the 70 countries evaluated. With the current result it is clear that the expected standards regarding the quality of Mathematics education in the country have not yet been achieved. In other major learning assessment examinations such as SAEB, SPAECE, among others, the averages obtained are very low when compared with results from other countries with levels of development similar to Brazil. It has been clearly observed that Brazilian students’ learning in Mathematics has been unsatisfactory, especially regarding their ability to interpret mathematical texts. One of the major challenges in the National High School Examination (ENEM) has been precisely the amount of information contained in a single item that must be interpreted in order for the question to be correctly solved, a situation that also occurs in other national-scale examinations and that has raised concern throughout Brazil, especially among Mathematics teachers, since it has become evident that the current work is not on the right path and that something needs to be done to change this reality. This study aims to identify the difficulties found in the pedagogical practices of a group of teachers from lower secondary education and high school regarding the use of contextualized mathematical practice as a teaching tool, as well as the teachers’ knowledge about the issue addressed: contextualization. The methodology used in this study is descriptive research, in which data were collected about current practices or opinions of the Mathematics teachers involved through questionnaires, interviews and observations, taking into account the contextualization of mathematical content and the difficulties faced. The results show that teachers who teach in the early grades face fewer difficulties in contextualizing Mathematics and in stimulating students’ interest in the classes when compared with teachers who teach in later grades, especially in high school. Throughout this work the problem of Mathematics teaching will be widely discussed and suggestions will be presented for a more interactive teaching approach that provides students with better learning and greater satisfaction with their studies. It is expected that this work may inspire or at least encourage a new moment for Mathematics in which students feel part of it and use it as a tool in their daily lives.