Conhecimentos para o ensino de figuras geométricas planas: um estudo com professores dos anos iniciais

Abstract

This study deals with the teaching of Mathematics, specifically on Geometry in the early years of schooling. In Brazil, there is a growing movement to rescue the teaching of Geometry from the National Curriculum Parameters, so that the proposals for teaching and learning this thematic unit culminate in the development of the geometric thinking of children and adolescents, which includes aspects about the spatial relationships and geometric figures. In the case of geometric figures, in addition to the relationships with lived and perceived space, it is necessary to explore the characteristics of the figures, involving identification / naming, comparison, classification and composition and decomposition. Thus, recognizing the legitimacy of this curricular demand, this study aimed to analyze the professional knowledge of teaching presented by teachers who work in Paraíba, in order to unveil the reality of teaching flat figures in the early years of schooling. To achieve this goal, it was necessary to identify a set of knowledge necessary for the teaching of Geometry; map the knowledge used by teachers to teach flat figures and discuss the teaching of these geometric figures based on the professional knowledge of teaching. To subsidize the construction of the theoretical dialogue regarding the professional knowledge and knowledge of teaching, it was based on Shulman (2014), Ball, Hill and Bass (2005), Serrazina (2014), Tardiff (2000) and Puentes, Aquino and Neto (2009). While Pavanello (1989; 1993), Galvéz (1996), Lorenzato (1995), Lima and Carvalho (2010; 2014), Walle (2009), Crowley (1994), among others, supported the discussions on Geometry. The methodological basis had a qualitative approach. The empirical data were produced from a questionnaire answered by teachers from the initial years education, in the state of Paraíba, with at least one year of professional experience. For the organization, the categorization and analysis of these data, it was based on the content analysis techniques proposed by Bardin (1977). As a result, the data reveal formative weaknesses in relation to the curriculum, geometric content and pedagogical aspects of teaching Geometry in the early years, mainly related to the teaching of flat figures. However, the conceptual dimension emerges as the main difficulty for teachers to develop geometric knowledge in the early years. Overcoming this problem is related to the construction of a scope of knowledge related to teaching and learning, specifically, to the knowledge of the content, without which teaching, the knowledge of the curriculum is not viable, which guides and suggests how teaching can be conceived in each year of schooling and the pedagogical knowledge of the content, which nourishes and makes learning effective.