Arithmetic Progression: a proposal for teaching and learning through Problem Solving

Abstract

The following article is a piece of a Master’s research, in which investigates the teaching and learning of arithmetic progression in a learning environment through problem solving. The participants were students from the first year of high school at a private school in Santa Maria / RS. The data collect was developed in eight meetings and used the Methodology of Teaching-Learning-Assessment of Mathematics as a theoretical support, through the Problem Solving proposed by Allevato and Onuchic (2014).  The problems that were planned and applied would allow the construction and formalization of such content. It is a qualitative research and the data collection was carried out through questionnaires, observation and documentary analysis. The records of the observations were as follows: field diary, audio recordings, and photographs. With the analysis and discussion of the collected data we noticed that the developed problems inserted the students in the process of constructing the concepts, making them producers of their own knowledge, because the strategies used in the resolution of the problems led to reflection, contributing to the recognition, systematization and formalization of mathematical concepts. Thus, the use of problem solving as a teaching methodology favored the students´ approach with the content in question, due to a less abstract manner. This methodology has become an important strategy that generated great interest and motivation on the part of students, developing a favorable environment for the learning of Mathematics.