Dificuldades encontradas na resolução de problemas envolvendo equações do 1º grau: uma análise dos erros de uma turma do 8º ano

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the difficulties and errors of 8th-grade students, in relation to the resolution of equations of the 1st degree. To support our research, we rely on studies by Coxford and Schulte (1995) and Pinto (2000) regarding the analysis of errors, Ponte, Branco, and Matos (2009), Lins and Gimenez (1997), BNCC (2018) and PCN (1998) regarding algebra teaching. The research was developed with 14 (fourteen) students of a class in a public school in the municipality of ARAÇAGI-PB. The research methodology is characterized as a case study, qualitative approach and exploratory nature, whose instrument of data collection was a diagnostic questionnaire applied to students. As a final proposal, a didactic sequence was elaborated, composed of problem situations and thematic fiches, aiming to soften the difficulties encountered by students with respect to the content of equations of the first degree. The research showed that the difficulties of the participating students are related to the complexity of the expressions involved in the two members of the equation, especially those involving the use of parentheses. Other common errors are related to arithmetic, algebraic errors and the use of the distributive property of multiplication. These errors were also identified in the works of Barbeiro (2002) and Ponte, Branco and Matos (2009). In solving problems, students found difficulty in the interpreting of the statements and tend to use arithmetic strategies because they could not pass the statement from natural language to algebraic language by means of a first-degree equation. The inferences generated in this research allow the teacher of Basic Education, subsidies for the construction of new practices, aiming at effective learning in Algebra through the analysis of the difficulties and errors of their students.