O uso da Plataforma Khan Academy em escolas da rede municipal de educação pública de Pelotas: um estudo de caso.

Abstract

This work seeks to answer the question: How did the adoption of the Khan Academy platform happen in the municipal Public Education Network in Pelotas? From this, other related questions arise: What were the processes of choice and adoption of the platform in mathematics teaching by the city of Pelotas? How is the platform used in math classes? The literature review presents a survey of academic productions, carried out in Brazilian post-graduate programs, related to the Khan Academy platform and its use in schools. Also, theoretical reviews are presented about the use of Information and Communication Digital Technologies in Mathematics Education, about the Khan Academy platform and its insertion in public education networks, and about the definition of Public-Private Partnership identified between Pelotas City Hall and Lemann Foundation, which represents the Khan platform in Brazil. The methodology used was qualitative, with the case study method. A triangulation of data was made using official documents from Khan Academy and Pelotas City Hall, local media and city hall news, and an interview with the public servants of the pedagogical area of the Municipal Department of Education and Sports (SMED) who also are mathematics teachers. From the research questions, propositions emerged that guided the interview on three major topics: the process of adopting the platform and training teachers to use it; the daily lives of teachers in relation to the platform; and the conceptions of the servants about the use of Khan Academy in mathematics classes. The interview was analyzed and discussed in triangulation with the theoretical references and public documents collected. The absence of technical justifications that would support the choice of the Khan Academy platform among other available options was confirmed. The information on the services offered by the platform to teachers was supplemented, such as monitoring the records of each student's actions, and also on the control of the teacher's activity. It was identified that the use of the platform occurs according to recommendations from Khan Academy and SMED, occupying two of the five weekly periods of mathematics. It was reaffirmed that training is carried out to train teachers to use the platform and that these teachers are monitored by the Municipal Department through meetings and periodic visits to schools. In the final considerations, it was shown that the adoption of the Khan Academy platform, in the municipal Education Network of Pelotas, occurred in 2014, by initiative of the Municipal Department of Planning and Management in agreement with SMED. This adoption to mathematics classes, referred to as” Khan project", triggered the implementation of computer labs in schools in the municipal network. There are 32 municipal schools with 40% of the weekly mathematics workload destined to the use of the platform. The characteristics of public-private partnership, with its package of ready-made solutions, present in the case of the adoption of the Khan platform in municipal schools in Pelotas, show the influence of private initiative on the teaching of mathematics in public education. Finally, the future steps related to the continuity and deepening of this research are presented.