Pensamento algébrico de estudantes do 5º ano do ensino fundamental: uma abordagem através de situações exploratório-investigativa

Abstract

This master thesis was developed within the scope of the Programa Pós-Graduação em Educação Matemática (PPGEMAT) at Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel). In this qualitative research, we sought to investigate the algebraic thinking of 5th grade elementary school students at a state public school in the city of Pelotas, in Rio Grande do Sul, through the resolution of exploratory-investigative activities, based on the characterizations of Algebraic Thinking by Fiorentini, Fernandes and Cristóvão (2005). The question that guided the research was: how do 5th grade elementary school students manifest Algebraic Thinking through the resolution of exploratory-investigative activities? The general objective was to analyze the manifestations of students' Algebraic Thinking in the resolutions of exploratory-investigative activities, based on the characterizations of Fiorentini, Fernandes and Cristóvão (2005). The specific objectives were to identify, in the students' activity solutions, the characteristics of Algebraic Thinking related to the skills of the Base Nacional Comum Curricular (BNCC) and to identify the language used in these students' manifestations of Algebraic Thinking. To this end, students were asked to develop five exploratory-investigative activities, based on BNCC algebra skills, for grades 1 to 5 of elementary school, related to the characteristics of Algebraic Thinking. By analyzing the solutions, it was possible to identify the characteristics of Algebraic Thinking present throughout the students' development of the activities, in addition to identifying the type of language these students used during the solutions. Among the characteristics investigated, it was possible to observe that students had greater difficulty identifying terms in more distant positions in a sequence and that they generally use a mixed language, using words, symbols, and numbers to express themselves mathematically.