O ensino de estatística no ensino médio através de projetos

Abstract

The aim of this study was to reveal the results of a teaching experiment involving the efforts made in order to validate the teaching of Statistics in secondary school through projects and practices, which were contextualized and close to the reality of the students. The experiment is based on group work so as to provide students with significant cognitive advance. Didactic engineering was the methodology applied. During the experimentation, we developed a didactical sequence for teaching Statistics in secondary school, presenting the student with practical activities in which he could be the protagonist of the teaching-learning process. The results collected with the didactical proposal as well as the students participation in the activities were faced with the addressed hypotheses for the purpose of process validation. Although the National Curriculum Parameters - PCN for Primary School (Brazil, 1997 and 1998), PCNEM (Brazil, 2000) and PCN+ (Brazil, 2002) for Secondary School suggest that Statistics should be taught since the early grades, this subject is regarded as unimportant. In the state of São Paulo, the contents of Statistics are in the student's notebook, 4th volume of 3rd year of secondary school. However they are rarely addressed in class due to several factors, such as: students indiscipline, the resistance of some teachers to teaching that subject, the location of the content in the notebooks and insufficient time to properly work on the contents. Through the comparison of the results obtained with the analysis of the activities and the students participation, we conclude that the instructional sequence presented favored the development of the teaching and the learning of Statistics in secondary school.