Mathematical Modelling and Environmental Education: an Experience with Elementary School Students

Abstract

This research has the objective of understanding how students’
participation takes place within an environment where get involved with their
own reality problems, plan and collect related information, build models, make
forecasts and validate the models built. This pedagogical strategy, named
Mathematical Modeling (BASSANEZI, 2002), has been widely used within
classrooms, mainly on works by Biembengut, 1997; Borba, Meneghetti and
Hermini, 1999; De Corte and Verschaffel, 1997, among others, with meaningful
results. However, when reviewing the bibliography, we have not found works
from such perspective at Mathematical Modelling and that tried to understand
which social and pedagogical element were present, when the process actors -
students and teachers - act within such environment. Such situation, then,
became our questioning on the development of this work, which followed the
path of qualitative approach, with the Elementary School students from a
Public School. The pedagogical action involved subjects such as Water,
Garbage, Electrical Power and Deforestation, with the construction of some
models, such as, population growth forecast and water consumption.
Environmental subjects allowed students to discern a field that’s rich in
applications, allowing the integration of the students experience with
mathematics, allowing and encouraging them to question, to make decision
and, at the same time, to become aware of some of the environment problems
closer to their day to day