TRIGONOMETRY IN RIGHT TRIANGLES WITH THE TRIGONOMETRIC MANDALA: A PLAYFUL AND INTERACTIVE APPROACH

Abstract

In the current educational context, it is evident that the difficulties faced by high school students in the learning process of trigonometry are particularly noticeable in the classroom, especially in understanding concepts such as arcs, angles, sine, cosine, and tangent in the trigonometric circle. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of a didactic intervention based on the use of the Trigonometric Mandala game in the teaching of trigonometry. This is a quantitative and qualitative research study. The Trigonometric Mandala game was presented by students from the Institutional Scholarship Program for Teaching Initiation (PIBID), linked to the Mathematics Degree Course at the Federal Institute of Piauí (IFPI), Floriano Campus. The research was conducted on the same campus, with 50 students from two classes in the 2nd year of the Integrated High School program in Building Construction participating. The procedures for carrying out the study were developed from a mini-course on Trigonometry and, as data collection techniques, a pre-test and a post-test. The analysis and discussion of the results were presented in graphs and tables and discussed according to relevant literature. The results of the pre-test showed significantly low scores, indicating the need to develop strategies that would contribute to improving the work developed in the classroom in the teaching of Trigonometry. With the development of the mini-course in Trigonometry, an increase in the average scores of the participating students was observed, which allows us to affirm that the use of the Trigonometric Mandala game positively influenced the students' academic performance. In the final questionnaire, 52% of the participants indicated a considerable improvement in their understanding of the content, while 42% reported a partial improvement. Finally, the results were overwhelmingly positive, indicating a significant improvement in student performance regarding their understanding of Trigonometry concepts.