SENSO FRACIONÁRIO: CONHECIMENTO INFORMAL E REPRESENTAÇÃO SIMBÓLICA

Abstract

This study aims to assess the understanding of fractions of the 6th year of elementary school about fractions, given their informal knowledge and symbolic representation. This is a qualitative research, which initially presents a review of the literature related to fractional numerical sense, indicating obstacles and considerations regarding the development of learning with understanding, in which students are able to make sense of the responses produced, arguing when it is correct and for what reason. Following, the meanings produced by 6th grade students in problems that involve an informal description and with a symbolic representation of a fraction are reported. The results guide the importance of developing a plan, when starting the content of fractions in the 6th year, that takes into account the development of the fractional sense in a work that relates the daily experiences in investigative processes. In addition, it is important that more time is devoted to the understanding of partitions and part-whole, since these ideas, arising from the students' daily knowledge, are not immediately transferable when using symbolic representation of mathematical language.