A Educação de Jovens e Adultos e a Matemática: delineando trilhas alternativas para o ensino de operações básicas

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate if the use of digital technological resources is a pedagogical alternative which could function as a facilitating teaching methodology for the basic mathematical operations for students in the 5th grade of Youth and Adult Education. At present, a large number of opportunities exist for this type of student to gain access to second chance schooling but, in general, we perceive that the courses of teacher training for teachers of mathematics do not prepare educators to deal with this kind of student which results in the poor quality of education. Initially we identified the kind of training that the teacher taking part in this study possessed, with the aim of verifying if during the initial training, they were introduced to specific methodologies for adult students and if they had access to digital technologies and, if they did, if they used them in the classroom. The research can be characterized as a case study since its goal was to describe the characteristics of a specific population, given that the subjects of the study were teachers from state public schools in the city of Campina Grande in the state of Paraiba. Interviews were conducted with the teachers in order to trace their professional and personal profiles and questionnaires also applied. In order to give support to the teachers, an e-book was produced with video classes and tutorials containing the basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). The results of the research suggest that technologies are extremely necessary for youth and adult education in order to optimize the time available, since classes are short. We also established that the initial training of mathematics teachers is largely incomplete which makes it necessary for the teachers to take part in in-service training and other events which offer orientation on how to work with youth and adult education. Finally, we verified the need to develop more research on the teaching of mathematics for adult education classes.