Aprendizagem baseada em problemas : implicações de um processo de formação continuada para professores de matemática do ensino médio

Abstract

Teaching mathematical objects is usually guided by the insistence on memorizing formulas and the mechanical handling of their calculations, added to the exclusive concern with the final result, in which the practical application of these knowledge ends up being hidden. In this sense, attention is drawn to Problem-Based Learning (PBL), as it is an active methodology that consists of presenting students with a situation that generates a real and open-ended problem that precedes theory and provides the integration of fundamental concepts and skills for resolution. Thus, this study aims to investigate the possibilities and limitations arising from a process of continuing education, in-service, based on Problem-Based Learning, for high school mathematics teachers. In this sense, in addition to highlighting the theoretical and methodological foundations of PBL, we also highlight the fundamental aspects of continuing education, linked to the teaching of mathematics and when they occur in service. Methodologically, this study is intervention research with a qualitative approach, carried out with mathematics teachers from a State Technical School in Mata Norte Pernambuco state. The formative intervention was divided into two stages, the first aimed at planning actions and the second aimed at applying continuing education in service, which in turn was divided into a theoretical formative moment and a practical formative moment. For this, the data collected were analyzed according to the theoretical references of the research, as well as through content analysis, by Bardin (2011). Among the results of the research, we highlight that initially the teachers did not know, or knew very little about PBL, given that there were few considerations about the theoretical and methodological assumptions that underpin it as a methodology; next, we could see that the teachers developed essential skills for the elaboration of documents, that is, both in the resolution of the problem and in the elaboration of the lesson plan, through thinking and arguing critically, making correct decisions, individual and collective studies, appropriation about the importance of a good problematic context and the definition of the objectives that are intended to be achieved; finally, the formative process promoted the development of fundamental attitudes and skills in this methodology (Duch; Groh; Allen, 2001) and, in addition to this, the duration of the formative process being flexible and prolonged allowed the teachers to reflect, dialogue and integrate their knowledge throughout all activities, enabling greater methodological security to teachers, by allowing them to have contact beyond theory. In this sense, we consider that PBL presented itself as an efficient methodology in promoting a process of continuing education, in service, with teachers who teach mathematics, insofar as it favored reflection for different ways of teaching mathematical concepts to high school students, as well as it provided the active participation of these teachers making them use criticality in the self-evaluation of their professional practices through a real problematic context.