PROBLEM SOLVING AND SEMIOTIC REPRESENTATIONS: AN EXPERIENCE AT A PUBLIC SCHOOL IN SÃO PAULO

Abstract

This article presents an excerpt of a master's thesis whose main objective was to investigate how Problem Solving practices can be implemented in the classroom and how they are experienced by students, with an emphasis on the role of different semiotic representations in their problem-solving processes. Therefore, an experiment was carried out with 1st grade classes at a public high school in the city of São Paulo, inspired by the international mathematical competition Rali Matemático Transalpino. The methodological strategy involved an experimental intervention study, organized into three phases, whose data analysis was qualitative, in the light of research in the area, as well as Raymond Duval's theory of representation registers. The analysis of the produced data showed that the students experienced the experiment as active participants in the problem-solving processes and, through the discussions held, recognized the importance of mobilizing different representations as auxiliaries in the development of solutions, although they presented difficulties in activities involving the conversion of numerical tabular registers to symbolic-algebraic registers.