Revista Latinoamericana de Etnomatemática (Apr 2014)
What field school teachers say about the teaching of mathematics: A study in the Northeast of Brazil
Abstract
The majority of research in mathematics education in Brazil focuses on aspects related to urban schools. Although there has been a discussion for decades about the need for a curriculum in schools located in rural areas that considers the importance of the local culture and the concept of context-based knowledge, there is still precarious teaching of mathematics in these schools. This paper discusses research data that addresses the teaching of mathematics in rural schools located in Pernambuco, Brazil. The method used is a qualitative research method based on interviews and discourse analysis. We focus on the discourse of teachers who participated in the empirical study by analyzing their views on rural education, the conceptualization of resources, and on their performance in mathematics teaching. Although most teachers positively evaluate their performance when they teach mathematics, they do not identify differences between teaching in the city and in rural areas. Generally, the teachers were unaware of the field schools' specificities. The results lead us to reflect on the possibilities of teaching mathematics to empower rural communities.
