Teaching Mathematics: Epistemological foundation, meaning and learning

Abstract

Part of the research Epistemology Underlying Teaching Work is presented, with data collected in Peru, Chile and Uruguay, through interviews with 17 teachers. It aims to identify epistemological conceptions that underlie the teaching of Mathematics and verify whether such conceptions are similar to those found in Brazil. The objective is to apprehend the epistemological conceptions underlying the answers to questions 20-23 of the research. The result is the almost total lack of understanding that mathematical knowledge results from constructive processes. They attribute learning to teaching, without thematizing the origin of such capabilities or structures; they widely believe in its achievement by memorizing algorithms, putting creative processes such as problem solving in the background. The basic theoretical reference is Piagetian Genetic Epistemology.