Estrutura cognitiva dos alunos e aprendizagem conceptual da Matemática: contributos para o seu conhecimento através da técnica de Redes Associativas Pathfinder

Este artigo descreve uma experiencia de aprendizagem que teve como objectivo contribuir para a compreensao da rede conceptual dos alunos no que diz respeito ao conhecimento de duas operacoes aritmeticas (multiplicacao e divisao), atraves do uso sistematico da plataforma PmatE. Antes e depois da utilizacao do ambiente PmatE os alunos participantes foram sujeitos a avaliacao dos conceitos matematicos atraves da tecnica “PathFinder Associative Networks” proposta por Schvaneveldt (1990), que gera matrizes de dados correspondentes a rede conceptual dos alunos relativas as operacoes em estudo. Estas matrizes de dados foram analisadas a diferentes niveis recorrendo ao programa SPSS. As aplicacoes CN_MeBa e PATHFINDER foram usadas como ferramentas de representacao do conhecimento conceptual relativo aos conceitos sob observacao, durante o uso sistematico do ambiente PmatE pelos alunos participantes no estudo. Os resultados sugerem diferencas ao nivel das representacoes mentais que os alunos possuem acerca do conhecimento conceptual da multiplicacao e divisao no inicio e no final da intervencao educativa. No que diz respeito a similaridade das redes dos alunos em comparacao com a rede do professor, a analise efectuada indica que a variacao entre os resultados obtidos antes e depois da experiencia com PmatE nao foi significativa. As conclusoes e limitacoes do estudo sao discutidas sendo que os resultados sugerem que esta abordagem pode constituir um metodo util para estudar e compreender as redes conceptuais dos alunos durante os processos de aprendizagem dos conceitos matematicos, permitindo ao professor fazer a observacao do progresso do aluno. -- Palavras-chave: Inteligencia artificial, metodos de representacao do conhecimento, estrutura cognitiva, redes semânticas, Pathfinder Associative Networks. -- ABSTRACT: This paper describes a learning experience, which took place in a 4th grade Portuguese classroom and involved an educational intervention using a mathematical learning platform, named PmatE. The study aims at contributing for a better understanding of the student’s conceptual networks while learning two mathematical operations: division and multiplication. Before and after the use of the PmatE platform, participating students were subject to an evaluation of their mathematical concepts using a technique proposed by Schvaneveldt (1990) “PathFinder Associative Networks”, which generates arrays of data corresponding to the students’ conceptual network. These data matrices were then analyzed at different levels using the SPSS software. The CN_MeBa and the PATHFINDER software were used as tools for capturing students’ knowledge representation while solving mathematical problems by using the PmatE environment systematically. Results suggest differences in student’s mental representations of mathematical concepts related with division and multiplication operations in the beginning and at the end of the educational intervention. Regarding the similarity of students’ networks compared with the teacher’s networks, the analysis indicates that the differences between the results obtained before and after the intervention with PmatE were not significant. Conclusions and limitations of the study are discussed. The results suggests that this approach can be an useful method to understand students’ mathematical conceptual knowledge during the learning processes and help teachers’ to better analyze and observe students’ progress. -- Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, knowledge representation, cognitive structure, semantic networks, Pathfinder Associative Network. -- Para citar este texto: Carvalho, J. L., Ramos, J. L., Casas, L., & Luengo, R. (2010). Estrutura cognitiva dos alunos e aprendizagem conceptual da Matematica: contributos para o seu conhecimento atraves da tecnica de Redes Associativas Pathfinder. Educacao, Formacao & Tecnologias, 3 (1), 15-30. [Online], disponivel a partir de http://eft.educom.pt. --

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