The Dimensions of Making Sense: The Understanding of Exponential Functions from an Investigative Activity

Resumo

This research is part of the ongoing Master's dissertation entitled "From the Carbon Atom to the Great Populations: Teaching Exponential Functions under the perspective of Problem Solving" of the Post-Graduation Program in Teaching Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the Regional University of Blumenau (FURB), which sought to verify the contributions of the Teaching-Learning-Assessment Methodology through Problem Solving and the use of GeoGebra software for learning exponential functions. In this specific work, we seek to relate Problem Solving as a theme of the actual current of teaching Mathematics called Making Sense and to verify its implications for the learning of exponential functions. For this purpose, an activity was developed and applied involving Newton's Cooling / Heating Law with the purpose of relating the tabular, algebraic and graphical representations of the exponential functions, validating the results from an experimental practice based on the dimensions of the Making Sense. This activity was applied in a 1^st year high school class and it was verified that this problem allowed to contextualize the program content, as well as to promote the learning of new concepts from a practice in which the student becomes the main agent of his learning and the teacher acts as a mediator in this process, encouraging and instigating when necessary. In the end, it was noticed that the students have understood the involved concepts without needing the direct intervention of the teacher.