Banca de DEFESA: WAGNER RODRIGUES COSTA

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TEACHERS' CONCEPTIONS ABOUT MATHEMATICS AND ITS TEACHING AND CURRICULUM MATERIALS: IMPLICATIONS ON READING AND INTERPRETATION PROCESSES OF THE PRESCRIBED MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM

curriculum material; constructivist conception; transmission-based conception; prescribed curriculum; Mathematics curriculum.

The main objective of our research was to investigate the connection between the
teacher's conceptions of Mathematics and its teaching and the curriculum materials
and their implication in the process of reading and interpretation that these
professionals make of the curricular prescriptions. Therefore, we needed to develop a
theoretical construct in the ambit of mathematics education that would allow us to
create a more expanded view of what conceptions might be. Our theoretical references
led us to accept the existence of at least two conceptions about Mathematics and its
teaching, which we call: the constructivist conception and the transmission-based
conception. With regard to the curricular aspect, we consider the existence of two
connections: one between the teacher and the curriculum material and the other
between the teacher and the prescribed curriculum. Then, we support such
relationships in the studies of Brown and Edelson (2001, 2003), Brown (2009) and
Sacristán (2000). As for the methodological aspect, the adopted perspective is based
on the principles of a qualitative approach. In order to fulfill our objectives, we selected
two 6th-grade Mathematics teachers, who were submitted to the same prescribed
curriculum, in this case, the Mathematics Curriculum of the State of Pernambuco. One
of our research results indicates that teachers with a tendency towards the
constructivist conception of Mathematics and its teaching relate in a more critical,
reflective and transcendent way with the curriculum materials, implying the recognition
of the prescriptions as a starting point for teaching. On the other hand, teachers with a
tendency towards a transmission-based conception relate in a more passive and
pragmatic way with the curriculum materials, implying the recognition of the
prescriptions as a strict document with a weak logical connection between its
constituent elements.