Revista Diálogo Educacional
Print version ISSN 1518-3483On-line version ISSN 1981-416X
Abstract
OLIVEIRA, Maria Cristina Araújo de. Professores de matemática ao tempo do Movimento da Matemática Moderna: perspectivas de pesquisa. Rev. Diálogo Educ. [online]. 2006, vol.06, n.18, pp.79-89. ISSN 1981-416X.
This article aims to raise questions related to teacher education during the Modern Mathematics Movement in Brazil. Has this movement, which represented an international initiative to reform mathematics teaching, left marks that can still be seen in the practice of today’s teachers? What heritage is this? On the basis of dissertations and theses produced in Brazil about the MMM, we formulate the hypothesis that the proposal was presented to teachers in primary and secondary schools as a “fait accompli”, and that teachers were “trained” by supporters of the movement, such as GEEM (Study Group of Mathematics Teaching) in São Paulo, to cover in their classrooms the new content and the new working proposals. The existence of realities so distinct, on the one hand young mathematicians and mathematics teachers, graduates of USP and under the strong influence of the Mathematics produced in the most famous groups of the epoch, such as the Bourbaki group and on the other hand lay teachers who taught Mathematics in various regions across Brazil, meant that the appropriation of the MMM and the teaching practices that developed under its influence were also very diverse. The stories told about the Modern Mathematics Movement in relation to teacher education and teachers’ actuation tell us very little about the teachers who were in the schools and who participated, or not, in the “improvement” courses (as they were called at the time) or about their practices.
Keywords : History of Mathematics Education; Modern Mathematics Movement; Mathematics Teacher Education.