Conceito de função: atividades introdutórias propostas no material de matemática do ensino fundamental da rede pública estadual de São Paulo

Abstract

This research has the objective of investigating the function concept in the mathematics activities of the elementary teaching material in the public school system used in São Paulo during the beginning of the 2008 school year. A documentary research with qualitative caracter was developed by investigating if the function concept was implicit or explicit, if the activities favour its grasp and which kinds of registers of semiotic representation are in such activities, as well as if there is any treatment or conversion in the possible solution strategies. The research is based on the concepts about function presented by Bento de Jesus Caraça and on Raymond Duval's registers of semiotic representation. The results obtained reveal that the concept of function is implicitly present in the activities and favour its future study, therefore they deal with introductory concepts from that mathematical object like: direct and indirect proportionality, reason, the relation between the widths and the standards observation and generalization. They also reveal register transformations like treatment and conversions either congruent or non-congruents, however with no activities that could allow the conversion toward both sides. An interesting observed point was the fact that the activities don't show direct and formal definitions, and they give us the possibility of working with the concepts in a contextualized way and with an accessible language, consisting of a material we notice that matches with the current methodological orientations that are part of the official education documents