This essay analyses eight different individuals perspectives on diversity in order to find knowledge about how a positive diversity work can be done. To achieve this purpose, the following question will be answered: What promotes diversity work according to informants with special expertise in the field? What tools are there that can promote and make use of diversity in different areas? The study is a qualitative study based on interviews where a deductive analysis approach, inspired from the Thematic analysis model created by Braun and Clarke was adopted. A theoretical analysis tool was created based on the third generation of Activity theory - which is based on the theories of Vygotsky, Leontyev and Engeström, as well as the Zone of proximal development and the theory of Expansive Learning. The result of the analysis of the interviewees interviews stories where placed in Engeströms third generation Activity theory. In the analysis of the result we found that there were a variety of factors that could be used to promote diversity work and that there were many tools used to promote diversity. In the interviews we found factors and tools in the form of: anonymization, competence-based recruitment, norm criticism, diversity analysis, intersectionality, separatism, representation, inclusion analysis and transparency. In addition to the above, a parallel learning process emerged: the embryo of a fourth generation Activity theory - the zone of expansive development. / Denna uppsats analyserar åtta individers perspektiv på mångfald med syfte att finna kunskaper om hur ett positivt mångfaldsarbete kan bedrivas. För att uppnå detta syfte kommer följande frågeställning att besvaras: Vad främjar mångfaldsarbete enligt informanter med särskild sakkunskap av mångfald? Vilka redskap kan främja och tillvarata mångfalden inom olika områden? Studien är en kvalitativ studie, baserad på intervjuer där en deduktiv analysansats med inspiration från Braun och Clarkes tematiska analysmodell, antogs. Ett teoretiskt analysverktyg skapades utifrån tre generationers verksamhetsteori. Dessa tre generationer av verksamhetsteorin tar sin grund i Vygotskijs, Leontyevs och Engeströms teorier samt i idéerna om den proximala utvecklingszonen och det expansiva lärandet. Resultatet från analysen av informanternas intervjuer placeras in i Engeströms tredje generations verksamhetsteori. Vi fann vid analysen av resultatet att en mängd olika faktorer används för att främja mångfaldsarbete samt att många redskap används för att främja mångfalden. Följande faktorer och redskap var centrala: anonymisering, kompetensbaserade rekryteringar, normkritik, mångfaldsanalys, kunskap kring intersektionalitet, separatism, representation, inkluderingsanalys och transparens. Utöver nämnda resultat framkom en parallell lärandeprocess: embryot av en fjärde generationens verksamhetsteori – den expansiva utvecklingszonen.

M-learning (mobile learning) é o campo de pesquisa que investiga como os dispositivos móveis podem contribuir para a aprendizagem. Na presente tese é proposto o M-learnMat, um modelo pedagógico para atividades de m-learning em Matemática. O mesmo tem por objetivo orientar práticas educativas que envolvam o uso (não exclusivo) de dispositivos móveis no Ensino Superior e é fundamentado na Teoria da Atividade. Nessa teoria, o foco está nas atividades que os indivíduos desenvolvem e nas relações diversas que decorrem destas. Assim, o modelo tem seu diferencial no fato de relacionar m-learning, Matemática do Ensino Superior e Teoria da Atividade, visando contribuir para a organização, desenvolvimento e análise de atividades pedagógicas. Para a elaboração do M-learnMat, além da revisão bibliográfica, foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória e um estudo de caso piloto. Essas ações forneceram dados que permitiram compreender melhor algumas questões relacionadas ao uso educacional de celulares. Para a experimentação do modelo foram organizados dois estudos de caso com alunos do Ensino Superior. Os mesmos ocorreram durante o primeiro semestre letivo de 2011, na disciplina de Cálculo I, com utilização dos celulares dos próprios alunos. Para a coleta e análise dos dados foi promovida uma pesquisa mista, envolvendo abordagens qualitativas e quantitativas, em função das características dos dados. A experimentação sinalizou que o M-learnMat tem potencial para orientar as atividades a que se destina, colaborando para que as mesmas sejam desenvolvidas segundo estratégias definidas. / M-learning (mobile learning) is a field of research that investigates how mobile devices can contribute to learning. This thesis presents M-learnMat, a pedagogical model for m-learning Math activities. This model, developed with support of the Activity Theory, aims at orienting educational practices that involve the use (non-exclusive) of mobile devices in graduation courses. The Activity Theory focuses on the activities developed by individuals and in the various relationships resulting from them. Thus, the model is distinctive as it comprises m-learning, Mathematics and the Activity Theory with the purpose of contributing to the organization, development and analysis of pedagogical activities. Besides the literature review, the development of M-learnMat included exploratory research and a pilot case study. These actions provided data that allowed for a better understanding of some issues related to the educational use of cell phones. For model experimentation, two case studies were carried with college level students. These took place in the first semester of 2011, in Calculus I, in which students used their cell phones. For data collection, a mixed methods research (quantitative and qualitative) was used due to the characteristics of the data. The experimentation indicated that M-learnMat has the potential to guide activities, and collaborate for their application according to defined strategies.

Esta tese teve como objetivo compreender a formação de parcerias sociais entre empresas e ONGs para a construção de projetos de desenvolvimento social de cooperativas e associações no setor da reciclagem. Para tanto, foram investigados dois casos de parcerias entre ONGs e Empresas que buscaram desenvolver projetos para a melhoria das condições de trabalho dos recicladores. Devido à natureza conflitante destes atores, a parceria social foi entendida é entendida como uma rede de atividades interconectadas, construídas coletivamente, em um espaço de tensão e contradição. Essa construção coletiva é compreendida como uma elaboração conjunta de um projeto de desenvolvimento social, em que os parceiros discutem, aprendem e negociam sentidos e significados visando a construção de um coletivo. Este entendimento remete a utilização de uma abordagem que possibilite a compreensão das tensões e contradições imersas nas atividades dos atores e, neste sentido, a teoria da atividade histórico cultural foi utilizada como lente teórico metodológica, principalmente em sua articulação com o campo de estudos negócios e sociedade. Diante deste contexto, desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa qualitativa, descritiva, por meio de dois estudos de caso. O primeiro caso refere-se ao projeto desenvolvido entre a ONG e a Gerdau, a partir do interesse da empresa em qualificar o seu fornecedor de sucata, bem como usar tal ação de qualificação como uma iniciativa de responsabilidade social em sua cadeia de suprimentos. Os principais mediadores deste processo foram o conhecimento da ONG, seus educadores sociais, o conhecimento gerencial da empresa, seus recursos financeiros, bem como artefatos de identificação. O segundo caso estudado relata o relacionamento ONG e Braskem. Este relacionamento emerge da necessidade da empresa em obter uma licença de operação na sociedade em que esta inserida. Assim a intenção da empresa é legitimar a sua presença e existência na sociedade e isto é realizado através do reforço da utilidade do seu produto. Os instrumentos que são utilizados na parceria buscam assim a melhoria da imagem do produto, bem como da sua imagem como uma empresa ―local‖: artefatos de identificação e discursivos. E tendo como norte esta necessidade latente, o diálogo entre empresa e ONGs se torna um dos principais mediadores do processo, bem como uma divisão do trabalho que reflita esta parceria e proximidade. Ainda, a fim de compreender a dinâmica subjacente ao processo de desenvolvimento destes projetos, este estudo lançou o olhar para os desafios de aprendizagem vivenciados pelos atores. No primeiro caso, foram evidenciados como desafios de aprendizagem (i) necessidade de mudança em direção a uma maior organização do trabalho (ii) ressignificação do trabalho e; (iii) necessidade de desenvolver um instrumento de trabalho que fosse condizente à realidade dos cooperados. Por outro lado, os desafios de aprendizagem relacionados ao segundo caso referem-se ao (i) relacionamento ONG-Empresa e na sua forma de operacionalização; (ii) escolha dos projetos devem ser apoiados, ou, em outras palavras, quais os stakeholders que irão ser considerados na comunidade. É importante notar que o fato dos desafios de aprendizagem e, consequentemente, das transformações obtidas mediante as consecução destes, terem residido, no Caso A, na cooperativa e, no Caso B, no relacionamento, reflete as características idiossincráticas destas organizações e o que ambas buscavam com a parceria. / How to construct fruitful relations with different stakeholders represents a challenge for organizations and a gap in the academic literature. One way to do this is through partnership establishment, especially in between companies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO). Through partnerships, organizations could develop their own CSR‘s practices. On the other hand, NGOs could exercise their social role, in order to help community development. This study aims to understand how cross sectorial social partnerships for social development projects, whose purpose is to improve the working conditions and business structure of recycling warehouses, are constructed in the recycling sector, in the South Region of Brazil. In order to do so, two business-NGOs partnership cases were investigated. Given the actors contradictory nature, social partnerships were understood as a network of interconnected activity systems, in a social space of tension, contradiction and negotiation among actors in relation with each other and to the world, immersed in a historical and cultural context, from a culturally mediated relationship. The argument put forward is that the Cultural Historical Activity Theory can serve as a theoretical framework and provide a suitable model to analyse cross-sector social partnerships construction. Supported by the theoretical perspectives outlined above, we rely on a qualitative, descriptive research, by using a case study method. We carry on two case studies, in order to understand the projects development by a single NGO with two company leaders in each sector. The first case analyses Gerdau S.A. and its trajectory in the recycling sector. Gerdau S.A. seeks to engage with the NGO aiming to qualify recycling warehouses, as they are one of the suppliers, and to comply with their CSR agenda. The main artifacts used by the actors are NGO‘s knowledge and expertise, company managerial knowledge, and Identity Artifacts (company logo). The second case refers to NGO-Braskem relationship, which emerges from the company‘s need to get social license to operate in the region. So, the company intends to legitimate its existence in the society through gains in their product‘s image. Most of the artifacts are used by the actors to achieve this goal, such as Identity Artifacts (company and NGO logo), and Discursive Artifacts, in order to embody ―local identity‖ to the company. Given this context, the dialogue between Braskem and the NGO is one of these artifacts, as well as labor division, which reflects the relationship and proximity. In order to understand the dynamics that underlies the project construction, this study also investigated the learning challenges experienced by the NGO and the companies. The main learning challenges experienced by the partnership NGO-Gerdau are: (i) change through better work organization and structuration; (ii) work meaning ressignification; (iii) development of a work tool that fits to the warehouses reality. On the other hand, the learning challenges experienced by the partnership NGO-Braskem are: (i) the partnership between the actors and its operationalization; (ii) the choice between warehouses that will be supported, or, in other words, which stakeholders will be included in the community.

The aim of this research study was to critically appraise the innovation model in relation to teacher development for ICT use in classroom practice associated with the Strengthening Innovative Practice in Secondary Education (SIPSE) project conducted in Kenya secondary schools. The model integrated an ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (ICT-CFT) and a Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework into a phased modular approach for teacher professional development. The research addressed key questions related to: the object of ICT use as perceived by head teachers and teachers; and the characteristics of teacher design for ICT use in STEM teaching and learning as evidenced in classroom activities at different stages of their professional learning journey. The study used a qualitative design based research (DBR) methodology that was enhanced with the use of a ‘TPACKtivity’ lens combining TPACK and Activity Theory (AT) to explore, explicate and communicate the findings. The study was conducted with a purposive sample of twenty-four teachers, four head teachers and four schools drawn from the wider SIPSE programme intervention. The qualitative research methods included interviews and focus group discussions. Data were also drawn from documentation of lesson plans and peer-to-peer lesson observations. The findings presented participant accounts of tensions and dissonances with the introduction of technology into their school and classroom practices that reflected similar issues in the literature. However, the findings elucidated some unexpected teacher design narratives for technology use to support and innovate STEM teaching and learning. They further revealed the importance of classroom processes as the centre stage for fostering teacher collective design conversations for ICT use solutions. In this the research contributes to the current discourse by offering a TPACKtivity framework centred on authentic classroom settings as a basis for developing and appraising models of professional development for ICT use that can inform practice, policy and research.

This study aims to create an understanding of how assisting nurses within the Elderly care perceive their fundamental conditions for learning during their job execution. More specifically the ambition of the study is, based upon the activity theorys´ stance, to reveal further knowledge of how these employees perceive their opportunities and barriers for learning in their everyday work. Two questions was formed in order to investigate this purpose further; “What obstacles do assisting nurses within the Elderly care perceive hinders them from learning in their everyday work ? and “What supporting functions do assisting nurses within the Elderly care perceive support their learning in everyday work?”. The study is based on a qualitative method, using eight semi-structured interviews with assisting nurses working at six different senior care departments at three retirement homes. By the use of the activity theory the collected empirical data has been interpreted and analyzed. The results showed that assisting nurses learning conditions is shaped as result of various interacting and multidimensional variables, which parallelly can act as hinders as well as supporting functions for learning. Based upon the results given we argue that the most important variables can be summarized as communication and close work with colleagues. These variables may contribute to further learnings, as long as the college in question possesses the relevant communicative tools, education and experience. Under these conditions the colleague can act as an supporting function to the assisting nurses´further learning. However if the colleague does not possess the relevant education, experience or communicative tools the learning becomes inhibited and acts as a barrier for further learning. Based upon the results given it also became clear that these conditions were related to and seems to be a result of all the activities within the activity system - the workplace.

abstract: The use of blogging tools in the second language classroom has been investigated from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives (Alm, 2009; Armstrong & Retterer, 2008; Dippold, 2009; Ducate & Lomicka, 2008; Elola & Oskoz, 2008; Jauregi & Banados, 2008; Lee, 2009; Petersen, Divitini, & Chabert, 2008; Pinkman, 2005; Raith, 2009; Soares, 2008; Sun, 2009, 2012; Vurdien, 2011; Yang, 2009) and a growing number of studies examine the use of microblogging tools for language learning (Antenos-Conforti, 2009; Borau, Ullrich, Feng, & Shen, 2009; Lomicka & Lord, 2011; Perifanou, 2009). Grounded in Cultural Historical Activity Theory (Engestrom, 1987), the present study explores the outcomes of a semester-long project based on the Bridging Activities framework (Thorne & Reinhardt, 2008) and implemented in an intermediate hybrid Spanish-language course at a large public university in Arizona, in which students used microblogging and blogging tools to collect digital texts, analyze perspectives of the target culture, and participate as part of an online community of language learners with a broader audience of native speakers. The research questions are: (1) What technology is used by the students, with what frequency and for what purposes in both English and Spanish prior to beginning the project?, (2) What are students' values and attitudes toward using Twitter and Blogger as tools for learning Spanish and how do they change over time through their use in the project during the semester course?, and (3) What tensions emerge in the activity systems of the intermediate Spanish-language students throughout the process of using Twitter and Blogger for the project? What are the underlying reasons for the tensions? How are they resolved? The data was collected using pre-, post-, and periodic surveys, which included Likert and open-ended questions, as well as the participants' microblog and blog posts. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the qualitative data was analyzed to identify emerging themes following the Constant Comparative Method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Finally, three participant outliers were selected as case studies for activity theoretical analysis in order to identify tensions and, through their resolution, evidence of expansive learning. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Spanish 2015

abstract: This dissertation examines collaborative inquiry as a form of graduate mentoring. To investigate this issue, I analyze the research and writing process of a team of five multilingual graduate students and their mentor as they collaboratively design, implement, and report a study based in their local writing program over the course of two years. Through a qualitative activity analysis of team meetings, participant interviews, and the team’s written drafts and email correspondence, I investigate the ways in which self-sponsored, team-based collaborative research and writing supports participants’ learning and development of a professional identity. Key findings show that unanticipated obstacles in the research context present participants with “real-world” dilemmas that call forth disciplinary alignments, reinforce existing disciplinary practices, and, most importantly, generate new practices altogether. An example of this process is reflected in the research team's frequent need to adjust their research design as a result of constraints within the research environment. The team's ability to pivot in response to such constraints encouraged individual members to view the research enterprise as dynamic and fluid, leading ultimately to a heightened sense of agency and stronger awareness of the rhetorical challenges and opportunities posed by empirical research. Similarly, participants’ demonstrated an ability to recognize and resolve tensions stemming from competing demands on their time and attention during the course of their graduate study. Actively constructing resonances across various domains of their graduate worlds—coursework, teaching, and non-curricular research and professionalization activities—served to clarify purposes and increase motivation. An additional aspect of this study is the way graduate students leverage their language resources in the collaborative process. This dissertation extends the disciplinary conversation by investigating ways in which language resources function as rhetorical tools within the research context. This focus on language, in concert with collaboration and rhetorical stances to inquiry, challenges persistent views of authorship, apprenticeship, and language norms, while simultaneously lending insight into how graduate students invent new ways of participating in their professional worlds. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2015

[pt] Vários trabalhos vêm apresentando soluções para tornar o ensino de língua estrangeira mais eficiente. Entretanto, deixam de investigar o entendimento dos aprendizes sobre a validade deste aprendizado na escola pública e sobre a adequabilidade das soluções que vêm sendo propostas. Ao contrário de trabalhos anteriores, este estudo busca verificar a percepção dos aprendizes sobre o ensino de línguas estrangeiras na escola pública, contrastar a prática pedagógica à realidade psicológica dos aprendizes e sugerir um material instrucional capaz de motivar a participação dos alunos e constituir-se instrumento de reflexão para professores de língua estrangeira. Combinando a moldura de uma pesquisa-ação, princípios interpretativistas e estatística descritiva, o estudo analisa questionários com perguntas fechadas e abertas, narrativas de quinze casos geradas em entrevistas e a reação dos alunos da sexta série de uma escola pública do Município do Rio de Janeiro ao material instrucional desenvolvido com base nos resultados dos questionários e entrevistas. Os resultados indicam que os aprendizes não vêm nenhuma justificativa para aprenderem uma língua estrangeira na escola pública e que vêm a experiência como um desfiar de textos e exercícios sem sentindo. No entanto, o desenvolvimento de materiais em linha com a realidade social e psicológica dos sujeitos geraram maior participação na sala de aula e possibilitaram a construção de competências que vão além da sala de aula de língua inglesa. Estes resultados sugerem que o processo de letramento talvez seja a resposta para questionamentos acerca da validade do ensino de língua inglesa neste contexto de pesquisa. / [en] Several studies have offered solutions to improve foreign language teaching in public schools; however, they do not investigate students understanding of its validity or of the adequacy of existing proposals. This study undertakes this endeavor. It investigates students views of the role of FL teaching in public schools, contrasts pedagogical practices to students psychological reality, suggests materials that are in line with such a reality, and gathers students reactions to these materials. Conjugating the framework of action-research, qualitative principles, and descriptive statistics, this study analyzes questionnaires with open and closed questions, interviews with fifteen subjects and the reaction of students enrolled in the sixth grade of a public school in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. Results indicate that the subjects do not see any reasonable explanation to learn a foreign language in public schools and that they see the experience as a sequence of non-sense exercises. However, their reaction to materials designed in line with their socio-cultural reality increased participation and allowed the development of competencies that go beyond the teaching of the English language itself. In fact, literacy development emerges as the answer to the validity of EFL teaching in this context.

Nesta dissertação apresentamos um estudo teórico que visa, a partir de uma perspectiva sócio-cultural-histórica, rever o modelo cognitivo de perfil conceitual inserindo em sua estrutura a noção de contexto. Para realizar esta conciliação teórica entre perfil conceitual e contexto, nos utilizamos da teoria da atividade e dos ferramentais teóricos que ela dispõe para entender o uso e a formação de conceitos. A teoria criada por Vigotski e posteriormente desenvolvida por Leontiev e Engeström somada a princípios de sistemas complexos, nos ajudarão na busca por uma compreensão mais ampla do processo de ensino-aprendizagem. Como indício empírico, utilizamos um questionário aplicado a estudantes do ensino médio em que eram perguntados em diferentes disciplinas sobre o conceito de energia. Este questionário tem por intenção indicar a dependência entre o conceito e as diversas disciplinas, em outras palavras, entre o perfil conceitual e os diversos micro-contextos, fornecendo elementos para repensar as questões metodológicas que envolvem a medição e construção tanto do perfil conceitual, quanto do contexto. Outro indício empírico que utilizamos foi a gravação em vídeo de uma aula de física, em que a análise possibilitou evidenciar os processos dinâmicos da atividade, o papel da negociação e suas relações com o contexto. Neste sentido, tornamos intrínseco ao processo de ensino-aprendizagem uma dinâmica peculiar que alterna entre a internalização de conceitos e a tomada de consciência dos mesmos. Esta dinâmica foi caracterizada em três níveis qualitativamente distintos: primeira ordem de aprendizagem; segunda ordem de aprendizagem e terceira ordem de aprendizagem. Estes três níveis funcionam como marcadores da dinâmica do processo de ensino-aprendizagem e podem ser ferramentas de avaliação do desenvolvimento da atividade e norteador das ações pedagógicas. / In this thesis we present a theoretical study aimed at, from a socio-cultural-historical approach, the cognitive model of conceptual profile inserting in its structure the notion of context. To accomplish this reconciliation between theoretical conceptual profile and context, we use activity theory and theoretical tools that it has to understand the use and formation of concept. The theory created by Vygotsky and Leont\"ev further developed by Engeström and added to the principles of complex systems, will help us in the search for a broader understanding of the teaching-learning process. As empirical evidence, we used a questionnaire administered to high school students that were asked in different disciplines about the concept of energy. This questionnaire is intended to indicate the dependency between the concept and the various disciplines, in other words, between the conceptual profile and various micro-contexts, providing information to rethink the methodological issues surrounding the measurement and construction of both the conceptual profile, as context. Other empirical evidence we used was the video recording of a physics class, where the analysis made it possible to reveal the dynamic processes of activity, the role of negotiation and its relations with the context. In this sense, become intrinsic to the teaching-learning process a peculiar dynamic that alternates between the internalization of concepts and conscious awareness. This dynamic has been characterized in three qualitatively distinct levels: first order learning, second order learning and third-order learning. These three levels act as markers of the dynamics of the teaching-learning process and can be tools for assessing activity performance and guiding the pedagogical actions.

Submitted by Maike Costa (maiksebas@gmail.com) on 2016-01-21T12:10:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2104001 bytes, checksum: 579051e5b5666da5737bffaa20fd37f1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-21T12:10:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2104001 bytes, checksum: 579051e5b5666da5737bffaa20fd37f1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-27 / This study proposed making an analysis, based on Activity Theory of the elements from didactic activities proposed by teachers in the 5th grade of elementary school for teaching graphics and tables. In the theoretical approach, discussed it was the relevance of the content to the formation of the student of basic education, about on the National Curriculum Standards and considering elements of the Activity Theory and work of researchers at the Education of Statistics. We conducted a qualitative nature study in an analytical perspective, and the data collection was given through the use of questionnaires and interviews with teachers, as well as direct observation of their practices. The results indicate that the teacher's commitment to good quality teaching is necessary, but not sufficient. It is necessary for the teacher to master what you intend to teach and know has to select appropriate strategies to propitiate the construction of knowledge, considering the different moments that compose an activity, starting with the motivation and ending with the control. The teachers who participated in our research did not demonstrate the proper understanding of the objectives of working with graphics and tables in the classroom, either in their specificities, and in the relations between them, which compromises the quality of education on this topic. The fact that the same school has teachers who presenting practices that bear little resemblance, either in regarding the content or the students it is not to consider it as a whole, when we discuss teaching quality. We note that, since the motivation has an important role in the educational process, it is necessary that the teacher advances in his understanding of this element, considering its specificities, whether curricular, social or other nature. / O presente estudo propôs fazer uma análise, com base em elementos da Teoria da Atividade, das atividades didáticas seguidas ou propostas por docentes do 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental para o ensino de gráficos e tabelas. No aporte teórico, discutimos sobre a relevância do conteúdo para a formação do estudante do Ensino Básico, com base nos Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais e considerando elementos da Teoria da Atividade e trabalhos de pesquisadores da educação estatística. Realizamos um estudo de natureza qualitativa, em uma perspectiva analítica, tendo o levantamento de dados se dado através da aplicação de questionários e entrevistas com os professores, bem como da observação direta de suas práticas. Os resultados apontam que o comprometimento do professor com um ensino de qualidade é necessário, mas não suficiente. É necessário que o professor domine o que pretende ensinar e saiba selecionar estratégias adequadas para propiciar a construção de conhecimento, considerando-se os diferentes momentos que compõem uma atividade, começando pela motivação e finalizando pelo seu controle. Os professores que participaram de nossa investigação não demonstraram a devida compreensão acerca dos objetivos do trabalho com gráficos e tabelas em sala de aula, seja nas suas especificidades, seja nas relações entre eles, o que compromete a qualidade de ensino desses conteúdos. O fato de uma mesma escola contar com professores que apresentam práticas que pouco se assemelham, seja na relação com o conteúdo ou com os alunos, não é possível considerá-la como um todo, quando discutimos qualidade de ensino. Constatamos que, uma vez que a motivação tem papel de destaque no processo educativo, é preciso que o professor avance em sua compreensão acerca desse elemento, considerando suas especificidades, sejam elas curriculares, sociais ou de outra natureza.