Cryptography and High School Textbooks:

An Analysis of the New 2021 PNLD Specific Didactic Works

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the new specific didactic works approved by the Programa Nacional do Livro e do Material Didático, public notice of 2021, referring to the works of  ‘Applied Human and Social Sciences in dialogue with Mathematics’. For this analysis, we delve into the topic of Cryptography, since it relates mathematical concepts to interdisciplinarity from social and human perspectives, that is, it is a topic that would be in accordance with the principles of the didactic works cited. From a qualitative approach, the documental research portrayed in the text presents the results of the investigation from the horizontal and vertical analyses of the textbooks. As discussions, we present four nondisjoint categories that emerged from the data: definitions of cryptography; types of ciphers, mathematical concepts, and applications; technologies and entertainment; and information security and interdisciplinarity. We point out as main results little presence of Cryptography in the analyzed didactic works, being prominent in only one book among the nine investigated; the lack of articulation between the areas of knowledge when we look at the theme; and some conceptual and application inconsistencies of Cryptography. We reflect that other themes, contents, and discussions can be observed in these didactic works, mainly to bring subsidies to teachers who will use these materials in the coming years.