Comparative study on current recommendations on technologies for the Teaching of Mathematics in Brazil and Portugal

Abstract

Background: The general guidelines of the prescribed Mathematics curricula in force in Brazil and Portugal emphasise the use of digital technologies for Mathematics Education to meet the demands of the globalised world. Objectives: To analyse perspectives expressed in the documents and speeches that circulated in the reform processes of the curricular guidelines. Design: Comparative research for the analysis of recent reforms concerning the recommendations on the use of technologies. Setting and participants: Literature review and documentary analysis of the curriculum guidelines in Brazil for the final years of elementary school in Brazil and for the last year of the 2nd cycle and the entire 3rd cycle in Portugal. Data collection and analysis: Qualitative documentary analysis, the categories of analysis emerged from the literature review and trends that are under discussion and will compose the reference framework of the Mathematics Project 2030. Results: In the Digital Literacy category, we observed an emphasis on digital applications aiming at changing the framework, representation and unclear communication of the real objectives; and in the Computational Thinking category, we observed a focus on building algorithms in a limited and very specific way and using language, aiming at the development of mathematical logical thinking in structuring digital applications, in formulating and solving problems. Conclusions: The study raised the need to discuss issues related to the clear definition of objectives, the emphasis on the adoption of software primarily for illustration, limits on the connection between computational thinking and algebraic language, and the focus on rigour in the development of skills for control and management.