Resignification of the Concept of Linear Inequality Through Graphic Argumentation – The Case of the Noise Emission Norm

Abstract

The objective of this research was to analyze the construction of mathematical knowledge associated with the linear inequalities that Chilean students carried out through graphic argumentation, in a modelling process framed in the Socioepistemological Theory of Educational Mathematics. To fulfill this objective, the methodology was qualitative and consisted of a case study in which 28 Chilean 12th grade students participated in a classroom situation where a modelling process was applied through the use of a mobile phone application called Sound Analyzer that designs graphs of a sound in decibels according to time. The students described the number of decibels of a certain song and identified the time intervals in which that song exceeded the number of decibels established by regulation by the Ministry of the Environment of Chile. As a result of the investigation, it was found that the students were able to generate, in a modelling process and through graphic argumentation, a resignification of mathematical knowledge associated with linear inequalities.

Keywords

• graphic argumentation
• socioepistemology
• modelling
• resignification
• inequality