Mathematical Investigation in Teaching Activities Proposed by Teachers in the Exploration of the Pythagorean Theorem in Elementary School

Abstract

This article describes and analyzes mathematical investigation processes in teaching activities about the Pythagorean Theorem, mediated by a Virtual Learning Object (VLO), created by a teacher from the public education system, during the Training Course in partnership SBEM/UFFS. With a qualitative approach and using Content Analysis, the teacher's statements were investigated, based on the history of ways of developing mathematical knowledge and current conceptions of the use of school mathematical research. As an exercise in Pedagogical Imagination, other possibilities for generalizing the aforementioned theorem were created, testing its veracity for particular cases through the VLO and finally, arguing in mathematical language. The study highlighted the importance of technological resources in investigative processes, in the application of algorithms and in the visualization of numerical and graphical results. In this way, mathematical investigations tend to become more viable as teaching activities in school spaces and times.