O ensino de geometria euclidiana : possíveis contribuições da história da matemática e da resolução de problemas de George Polya

Abstract

The primary goal of this dissertation was to evaluate possible contributions that History of Mathematics and Theory of Problem Solving, by George Polya, allied, can offer to the teaching and learning process of some concepts of plane Euclidean geometry, primarily aiming at awakening logical reasoning, visual perception, and geometric thinking of students completing Primary Education. The research was motivated by the need for a more practical, realistic approach of geometry concepts. According to such purpose, a didactic sequence was built and a questionnaire was completed by subjects previously selected, involving a historical, non-routine, challenging problem, in order to lead the students to the historical solution or to other one(s), with the help from the teacher and Polya’s heuristics. We sought to answer the following question: what knowledge is produced by students involved in mathematical tasks inserted in the historical context? In the written records of students we found knowledge of geometric nature, such as visualization, representation, and broadening of mathematical vocabulary regarding use adequate geometric terms.