Estilos de aprendizagem e materiais didáticos digitais nos cursos de Licenciatura em Matemática a distância

Abstract

This Master research aimed to investigate learning styles in Mathematics Course students in distance education mode (EAD) at UFPB and their relationship with the teaching materials. With theoretical assumptions in mathematics, as well as in researches developed by the authors: in distance education studies: Boyer (2010) and Roque (2012); for the teaching materials development area: Peters (2004), Litto & Formiga (2012); learning theories: Pais (2000), Barreto (2007) and Correa (2007), and learning style: Kolb (1984) . We have started with two initial questions: What are the main difficulties initially faced by Mathematics Course students in distance education mode? and How developed digital educational materials seek to face the students diversity in distance mode as well as different learning styles? Trying to look for answers to these questions our research was carried out at UFPB. The study was descriptive and exploratory, whose research subjects were eleven students of both sexes in the age group 25-49 years. We have used as tool a protocol adapted from Lima (2007), which was applied to students coursing the subject Mathematics for Basic Education I, in order to identify prevalent learning styles. In addition, we have used a semistructured interview. Data collection showed that the predominant learning style in those subjects was divergent and that most students interviewed listed the teaching materials used in the subject and the web access as the main obstacles in the teaching and learning process and also responsible for some failures. Data analysis also pointed out that students would like to have video classes as a teaching resource and emphasized its importance to succeed in learning. According to the presented results we can conclude that our objective was achieved, because we could identify the subjects learning styles and the main difficulties faced by those in this modality, furthermore, bring contributions for future research.