Discutindo uma atividade sobre o um método histórico e o uso de materiais concretos para o ensino de matemática

Abstract

The insertion of the History of Mathematics in Basic Education has been the object of study in several academic productions, giving rise to diverse ways of working and conducting teaching practice using historical mathematical information. Thus, this article aims to discuss the development of a didactic activity in a class of the 3rd year of high school on the method of Archimedes (287 BC – 212 BC) for determining measures of the allied circle the use of concrete materials. Historical research in the teaching of Mathematics is adopted as a theoretical assumption about History for the teaching of Mathematics for the elaboration of an activity with an investigative and creative aspect that allows the student to argue and communicate as attitudes for ordering their knowledge. The developed activity presents the reproduction of the method of exhaustion systematized by Archimedes of Siracusa to determine the measures of the circle, for which three classes of 50 minutes were used. This qualitative and bibliographical research is based on the discussion about the construction and application of the activity divided into four steps for reproduction in the form of a problem to be solved with the aid of concrete materials. A questionnaire was applied in order to synthesize the general apprehensions about the procedures adopted as engagement of didactic activities in classrooms, which in turn revealed that the students felt motivated by the methodology, proving to be promising and attractive classes.