Research indicates that a more hands-on education in mathematics could improve how students relate to mathematics. Laboratory mathematics is a way of making mathematics more concrete.  How is the purpose of laboratory mathematics perceived? This thesis has its focus on the pupils’ perceptions of the purpose of laboratory mathematics, but the intention of the teacher involved is also investigated. The main research questions asked were: What is the teacher's definition of laboratory mathematics? Which is the teacher's purpose in using laboratory education? How do the students perceive the purpose of the laboratory teaching of mathematics? To answer the questions, I conducted a series of qualitative interviews. Data has been collected in a 3rd grade in Stockholm.  I interviewed a teacher and 17 students.  Results show that the teacher uses laboratory materials to ease the learning of mathematics and to concretize the content of mathematics. By using the phenomenographic method, I got five different preconceptions that students have about the purpose of laboratory education: Laboratory mathematics is for students who have difficulty with mathematics, laboratory mathematics allows more concentration in the classroom, using laboratory materials makes it easier to calculate, laboratory mathematics will help me when I calculate mathematics in every day situations and, finally when I use laboratory mathematics, I work with my hands. The study reaches the conclusion that teachers need to a highlight better the pedagogic purpose for the pupils to use laboratory mathematics.  Laboratory mathematics is in need of a higher status so that more students want to work with laboratory materials.

Submitted by Anderson Silva (avargas@icict.fiocruz.br) on 2012-05-10T19:27:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 rachel_s_belmont_ioc_ebs_0018_2010.pdf: 3285162 bytes, checksum: 77acec73f8a7cba411cf3cef99502a56 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-05-10T19:27:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 rachel_s_belmont_ioc_ebs_0018_2010.pdf: 3285162 bytes, checksum: 77acec73f8a7cba411cf3cef99502a56 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil. / A Biomecânica é uma disciplina de natureza interdisciplinar, comumente percebida como de difícil compreensão pelos graduandos e, parece ser pouco utilizada no cotidiano profissional de professores de Educação Física. Assumindo que tal conhecimento seja essencial para a prática desse profissional, o presente estudo qualitativo, sob a forma de estudo de caso, teve por objetivo compreender o processo da aprendizagem significativa dos 13 alunos matriculados na disciplina Biomecânica, do curso de Licenciatura em Educação Física da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, no segundo semestre de 2008. Assumimos a Teoria da Aprendizagem Significativa como principal referencial teórico, tanto para orientar a observação participante, que foi nossa principal estratégia metodológica, como para proceder à análise dos dados. Os registros, além das notas de campo da investigadora, compunham-se de transcrições das gravações de aulas e de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, realizadas com alunos e professor, de um questionário sobre o perfil dos alunos e, também, das atividades escritas inerentes ao desenvolvimento da disciplina. O conjunto dos dados coletados a partir desses registros integrou a descrição interpretativa do processo de aprendizagem dos alunos, ao longo da disciplina e, dependendo da natureza de tais registros, compôs o conjunto dos dados apresentados, ou em tabelas ou em categorias elaboradas através de Análise de Conteúdo, cujo enfoque privilegiava aspectos semânticos das respostas dos alunos. Apesar do caráter qualitativo deste estudo, alguns dados foram quantificados e, em uma determinada parte da investigação, calculou-se o coeficiente de correlação de Pearson. Assim, procedemos uma triangulação dos dados obtidos. Visando à compreensão do processo de aprendizagem dos alunos, optou-se pela análise de um tema trabalhado ao longo de diferentes momentos da disciplina. Os resultados sugeriram que a aprendizagem tendia mais a uma aprendizagem mecânica, apesar de evidente avanço do conhecimento, o qual, em relação ao conjunto das atividades realizadas, parecia mostrar-se aquém de nossas expectativas. Além disso, os alunos demonstraram pouca intencionalidade para aprender e, dentre aqueles que a apresentavam, a qualidade da aprendizagem significativa ficara prejudicada, porque tais alunos pareciam priorizar uma aprendizagem mecânica ou porque seus conhecimentos prévios estariam ausentes e/ou fragmentados, ou porque esses seriam de natureza alternativa. Assim, com este estudo, esperamos poder colaborar para a melhoria do conhecimento sobre processos de ensino e de aprendizagem da Biomecânica. Esperamos, além disso, aprimorar conhecimentos sobre a formação do profissional de Educação Física, contribuindo com essa pesquisa tanto para a formação do profissional da área, como para a investigação em ensino das Biociências e Ciências da Saúde, em geral, e da Biomecânica, em particular. / Biomechanics is a discipline characterized by its interdisciplinary nature, so that undergraduate students often perceived it as a discipline that is quite difficult to understand. Thus, physical education professionals do not use it much in their everyday teaching events. As its knowledge is essential to the improvement of their practice, this qualitative study, which has a case study format, aims at understanding the students' meaningful learning process of the discipline Biomechanics, in the Physical Education course at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, during the second semester of 2008. The Meaningful Learning Theory constituted our main theoretical framework, and it guided participant observation, which embodied our main methodological strategy for data analysis. The records of events, in addition to the researcher’s field notes, were: the recordings of interviews, together with transcriptions of the classes and of the semi- structured interviews of students and teacher; a students’ profile questionnaire; the written activities related to the development of the discipline during that semester. This set of data integrated the interpretative description of the students’ learning process along the ongoing flow of the discipline. According to the nature of these records, data were presented in tables or categories, which were developed according to the parameters of content analysis, focusing on semantic aspects of the students' answers. In spite of the qualitative character of this study, there was a quantification of some data in a particular instance of this investigation. We tallied Pearson’s correlation coefficient and, then, triangulated these data. As we aimed at understanding the students' learning process, we decided to analyze a topic that had been already studied at different moments of that semester. Findings suggest that, in spite of what could have indicated an apparent progress, in relation to the overall knowledge conveyed by the set of performed activities, the learning process seemed to favor rote learning, since it pointed out to data that could indicate that there had not been enough students’ knowledge evolution in relation to the concepts involved in Biomechanics. Furthermore, the students did not show much willingness to learn and, because of this, meaningful learning might have been hindered inasmuch as students emphasized rote learning. Our research suggests that there might be three explanations for the occurrence of rote learning: some students did not seem to care much about what they already knew about the area/ discipline; their prior knowledge could be either absent or fragmented; or their previous knowledge was of an alternative nature (misconception). We look forward to offering, with this study, some sort of support so as to help improve the processes of knowledge construction in the teaching and learning of Biomechanics in physical education and/or kinesiology professionals, and also to have contributed for further research on the teaching of Biosciences and Health Sciences, in general, and of Biomechanics, in particular.