A aprendizagem da Estatística em um ciclo investigativo

Abstract

The objective of this research was to identify and analyze the contributions of work through an investigative cycle, in a teaching situation, for the development of statistical literacy of 9th grade elementary school students. This identification occurred through the analysis of the meanings found in the understanding of situations that involved the resolution of statistical problems, socially shared by the students, and also through the analysis of the signs of literacy achieved by the students from a statistical investigation cycle. In theoretical terms, the work was supported by the discussion that highlights problem solving as one, among others, of the categories of methodological approaches to Statistics Education (Lopes, 2004; Lopes, 2008; Wild and Pfannkuch, 1999; Skovsmose, 2008) considered as an investigative process that involves four components: formulating questions, collecting data, analyzing data, and interpreting results. Problem-solving was addressed in this study in a situation of uncertainty and with a high impact on the students' context, giving them the opportunity to research and reflect on a topic relevant to them, analyzing emerging situations in their reality and acquiring skills to create possibilities in the face of social problems. The methodology used was a qualitative research of the teaching experiment type (Borba, Almeida and Gracias, 2020). The research was carried out in a Municipal School in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The instruments used in data collection were questionnaires, individual and collective records of students and audio and video recordings that were later transcribed. Nineteen 9th grade students participated in a pedagogical practice based on problem-solving in an investigative cycle. They produced data from interviews with 278 people from the school community. This research developed, as an educational resource, a “Map of the investigative cycle”, with the considerations and contributions of the research, through images, QR-Codes indications and animated videos. It was surprising to experience statistical literacy situations with the students, especially when it came to calculations and graphing, where they discovered meaning in the content involved and, more than that, constructed meanings and better understood the content of Mathematics and Statistics. The students also demonstrated, in each meeting, more autonomy and more joy during the classes. The impact of the research on the school was also a very significant aspect. With the research, we demonstrated that it is possible to develop projects of social relevance in Mathematics classes and provided clues for the development of future work at the school.