THE THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIONS AND MATHEMATICAL LEARNING OF STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Abstract

This article presents a systematic literature review that sought to identify research that uses the Theory of Planned Formation of Mental Actions and Concepts, by the Soviet physician and psychologist Piotr Yakovlevich Galperin, to promote mathematical learning in Basic Education in regular school, to classify which of these researches are directed to the mathematical learning of students with intellectual disabilities and to discuss which aspects of the theory in question contribute to the mathematical learning of these students. The theory is based on the perspective of learning and development of cultural-historical psychology and considers motivation fundamental for the appropriation of concepts. The formation of mental actions begins with the elaboration of the guiding basis of the new action, followed by the formation of its material aspect. The linguistic aspect of the action indicates one of the stages of concept formation, until reaching the action as a mental act. To meet the purpose of this review, a search protocol was elaborated in the most frequent databases in research in the educational field, with inclusion and exclusion criteria defined to cover the works that meet the defined objectives. The selected productions recognize the contributions of Galperin's theory to the mathematical learning of students with intellectual disabilities: the theory offered more direction to teaching, and enabled students to advance regarding mathematical concepts in the phase of material actions towards the phase of external language. In addition, motivation, which is considered paramount by the theory, generated student engagement during the research. The review found a growing number of researches relating the theory of mental actions with mathematical learning, but the investigations are reduced considering students with intellectual disabilities enrolled in basic education in regular school, which may indicate new research in the field of Inclusive Mathematics Education using Galperin's theory.