Madiating instruments of the mathematical conceptual learning for students with intellectual disabilities: an integrative vision

Abstract

This integrative literature review presents reflections about the mediating instruments of the mathematical conceptual learning used in the pedagogical practices organized to students with intellectual disabilities. The study is based on the Historical-Cultural Theory and embraces contributions of the literature available in the databases Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), Biblioteca Digital Brasileira de Teses e Dissertações (BDTD) and SciVerse Scopus. After the selection, 21 studies were considered as final sample. The researches were analyzed through the categories: (a) Mediating instruments used in the pedagogical interventions; (b) Implications in the mathematical conceptual appropriation. From the analyses, it is evident that the assessed researches used several structed and unstructured mediating instrument, such as: softwares, mathematical games, geometrical solids, calculators and objects for counting. It is important to notice that the use of these instruments contributed to the mathematical conceptual appropriation, by planning the pedagogical interventions that set the mental representation from the concrete towards abstraction. As we think about the teaching and learning of mathematical concepts for students with intellectual disabilities, advances could be observed on the researches, such as: the multiple possibilities of intervention with the use of several mediating instruments.