This year we participated for the first time in the OBMEP Junior Mathematics Olympics, a national project aimed at Brazilian public and private schools carried out by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics – IMPA. The results from our students were very positive, showing how much a curriculum concerned with logical, creative and authorial reasoning makes a difference in the learning process.
Doing math is more than getting the correct result. It is by formulating problems; investigate and explore different possibilities; create models and plan routes; anticipate, estimate and interpret results; look from different points of view; deal with successes and mistakes; know how to record and communicate reasoning for comparing ideas.
What the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) says
The guiding principles of the mathematics curriculum in the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC) are based on valuing differences, respect for the dignity of the human person, promoting equity and excellence in learning, from the perspective of a plural, inclusive school committed to the comprehensive training of students (BRASIL, 2017).
According to Nunes et al. (2005), Brandt and Moretti (2016), the teaching of mathematics must allow students to understand that it is not a body of rigid and rigid knowledge, but rather a living science, whose evolution is fed by knowledge from other scientific fields.
Thus, quality mathematics education must be led by a vision of science, present in different contexts, in order to contribute to problem solving.
How we teach mathematics at Infanzia
Preserving the meaning of mathematical knowledge and promoting contact with this way of producing knowledge is one of the principles of our work.
Mathematics education begins from the first years of life. The acquisition and construction of the concept of number by children is a complex and long process, involving different variables.
Young children already demonstrate the need to count, quantify, order and number. However, knowing how to count, or better yet, “sing” the numbers until reaching ten, for example, does not necessarily mean that the child knows that within the number ten there are several subsequent terms that can be decomposed.
It is necessary to consider the ability of children, from early childhood education, to explore and formulate hypotheses. Conceive mathematical activity as a production activity and not simply as a reproduction of something created by someone else.
We want our students to have the possibility of beginning to relate to a particular way of thinking, doing and producing knowledge, typical of mathematical knowledge. This means that they are placed in situations where they need to solve problems, anticipate solutions, test them, tell their colleagues how they solved a certain problem, listen to how their colleagues solved it, etc. The different solutions and their justifications fuel classroom conversations.
Games, everyday situations and space recognition
Games with rules, everyday situations in the school context and sequences are organized considering the characteristics and demands of different age groups. Games, fun and entertainment are included in the various proposals carried out at the school.
Consult the calendar, identify “today” or the date of an important event, consult the index in books, find out who got the most points on the dice to start a game, organize groups for a game and distribute materials for a specific activity. They give rise to important mathematical conversations in the classroom.
Knowing and recognizing space also constitutes mathematical knowledge. Spatial sense is related to geometric knowledge and obviously to mathematical thinking, from the perspective we adopt at Infanzia. Children, from babies onwards, explore the space in which they are inserted, pick up objects, throw them, crawl, walk, and through these interactions, many signs of the development of spatial perception become evident.
Forming positive links with knowledge and mathematics
We encourage children to solve unconventional problems, based on everyday situations or themes that spark their curiosity. In this way, we collaborate both so that children advance and so that they see themselves advancing. They feel capable of using knowledge in situations that give them meaning and, especially, they establish a good bond with knowledge and the discipline of Mathematics.