Possíveis indícios de discalculia em Anos Iniciais: uma análise por meio de um Teste piloto de matemática

Abstract

This study is part of the project “Learning Disorders Risk Children Learning Assessment” – LDRCLA which began in 2013 in Rio Grande do Sul Brain Institute – INSCER, the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul - PUCRS. The research aims to examine possible evidence of dyscalculia in Early Years through a math test pilot. To describe precisely dyscalculia, Kocs (1974) presented six different categories: verbal; practgosis; lexical; graphics; ideagonis; operational. A pilot test was conducted based in this organization which consists of different activities that approach the mathematical skills involved in each category. From this categorization was conducted a pilot test consisting of different activities that approach the mathematical skills involved in each category. Professors and students from six teams of the First Year of Elementary School were the subjects of this research. The schools involved in the project randomly selected six teachers and 100 students. In order to verify the perceptions of teachers in relation to mathematical concepts, teaching, learning difficulties and dyscalculia, we applied a questionnaire. The verification of the mathematical skills of university students, were made by two instruments applied at different times of their schooling. Brazil’s Assessment was applied in 2013, when attending the 1st year of primary education and in 2014, when they were in 2nd Year, the Mathematics Pilot Test. The analysis method chosen was Textual Analysis Discourse, from considerations of Moraes and Galiazzi (2011). From the analysis, by means of emerging intermediate categories, it was shown that most of the teachers who participated in the study did not receive theoretical subsidies that allow the least hint of suspicion of students with such difficulties. Moreover, it presents misconceptions regarding the mathematics, especially as regards the construction number and other concepts. According to the results obtained through the reviews it appears that a significant number of students have difficulties specifically in skills involving the resolution calculations, mental arithmetic and problem solving. Other difficulties were also observed in relation to geometric shapes, showing that more than half of the participants showed a superficial knowledge and little previous contact with geometric shapes, showing difficulty in recognizing and naming basic concepts of mathematics.