Formation of mathematical concepts by the intellectually disabled by means of soroban

Abstract

The aim is to assess contribution provided by soroban – or Japanese abacus – not only for the students’ learning of number and operations content, but also in the development of their higher psychological functions. As an applied nature, it was developed under a pedagogical intervention for data collection and analysis. The eight participants were adult students, aged 19 to 47 years old, who attended a special education school in a city in the countryside of the state of Paraná - Brazil. The data was analyzed through assessment of the conversation. The students with intellectual disabilities participating in the study had limited knowledge regarding the use of numbers and operations in school situations and in different contexts of everyday life, so these concepts were taught to them. After the pedagogical intervention, they showed advances in this knowledge, appropriating both the concept of numbers and the use of soroban as a tool for performing mathematical calculations. As it is a human right to appropriate the knowledge produced historically and culturally by mankind, which in turn leads to development, teaching the use of soroban to students with intellectual disabilities promoted the learning of mathematical concepts, developing superior skills such as thought, defending the thesis proposed by this study that cognitive limitations of the intellectually disabled are not barriers to learning of an array of educational concepts.