PLAY AS A MEANS OF MITIGATING LEARNING DIFFICULTIES IN MATHEMATICS: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

It is known that Playfulness is an excellent resource for adolescent development. The use of games in mathematics classes has significantly contributed to a better quality of teaching and learning in this discipline. With the objective of observing and discussing contributions of the “game of rules” in mathematics education for the recovery of learning, a survey was carried out with a sample of students with difficulties in mathematics in the 8th of Elementary School at the Municipal School José Alcides, located in the city from Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. For this, observations were made through systematic and dialogical daily monitoring, establishing an educational context, as well as identifying the general conceptions about mathematical learning of students through a questionnaire, identifying the student's initial predisposition to mathematics. Subsequently, a planning seminar was held and the research action plan was built. A selection of games used in interventions in the classroom was made looking for Piagetian assumptions as the basis for interventions. In the last stage, ten interventions were carried out in the classroom with mathematical games of rules, where an investigative questionnaire was applied. In addition, students were asked to write a textual production describing their experiences, perceptions and opinions about the workshops. The research results revealed that games enhance socialization in a pleasant and fun way through competition, while developing logical and critical reasoning in a motivating way. It was concluded that the “rule game” is capable of mitigating the consequences of the error; it contextualizes the content and brings students with difficulties in learning mathematical language closer together, providing the development of their autonomy and consequent recovery from difficulties.