CONSERVATION STRUCTURE IN CHILDREN WITH MATHEMATICAL DIFFICULTIES

Abstract

Considering the contributions that Piaget's theory offers for the understanding of learning and the learning of logical structures, the present research aimed to analyze the effects of an intervention aimed at building the conservation structure in students with complaints of learning difficulties in mathematics. The study included 12 students regularly enrolled in the second, third and fourth year of elementary school one, from municipal schools located in the interior of the state of São Paulo, indicated by their teachers as being students with difficulties in mathematics. The research had a qualitative approach with a pre-experimental design - pre-test, intervention, post-test and post-test postponed in a single group. To evaluate the effects of the intervention, the Operative Test of Conservation of the Quantities of Liquid and Matter (pre-test, post-test and post-postponed) was used. The intervention reproduced situations elaborated by the Geneva team that aimed at creating cognitive conflicts and the equilibration process, organized in 2 or 3 sessions of 15 to 45 minutes each, depending on the child's interest and motivation, and developed over 6 weeks. The results of the post-test and postponed post-test indicated advances in the development of the structure, through the construction of operational arguments. This advance was corroborated by teachers who pointed out ten students with improvement in school performance after the intervention period. It is suggested that further studies be carried out with a larger number of participants at the same time that it is intended, with these data, to contribute with the reflection on useful interventions in the context of learning difficulties.