Alunos em ambientes de modelagem matemática: caracterização do envolvimento a partir da relação com background e o foreground

Abstract

The investigation focus of this research is the student involvement in the mathematical modeling learning environment. One of the hypotheses is that students foreground and background influence the way they engage in this learning environment. Background refers to the cultural and socio-political status of an individual, whereas foreground refers to the individual's perspectives towards the future (SKOVSMOSE, et. al., 2009). In order to understand the different types of student involvement, we have referred to the Relation to Knowledge theory developed by Bernard Charlot (2000). The context of the research was the discipline Mathematics A, offered to undergraduates attending the first year of the Public Management program at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais UFMG). Mathematics A includes Differential and Integral Calculus, containing examples of application on the Humanities field. As part of the activities, the teacher proposed the development of mathematical modeling projects, whose themes were chosen by the groups of students who have developed it. The subjects of the research were 10 students, participants of two of these groups. By having the objective of understanding how the student involvement in modeling environment is related to their backgrounds and foregrounds, this research is of qualitative nature. The methodological procedures were not structured observations and semi-structured interviews and participants. In the present dissertation, data are organized and analyzed in categories, each one composed by a group of episodes. From this analysis, the starting categories were organized in three larger discussion categories: task division as access possibility; relation to the theme and leadership; interest for the theme, foregroumd involvement and transformation. Results indicate to the fact that individual foregrounds and backgrounds suggest different kinds of involvement in modeling environment and in order to understand these involvements, it is also necessary to analyze how the background and foregrounds manifest in the collective relationships developed between subjects involved in modeling environment.