Matemática, que tensão é essa? Representações sociais de estudantes de um Instituto Federal Mineiro

Abstract

Starting with the question: “Mathematics, what is this tension?”, this article summarizes a study with the objective of unveiling the social representations of Mathematics and understand how a group of first year high school students at a Federal Institute in Minas Gerais relate to this discipline. We sought support in Serge Moscovici's Social Representations Theory, complemented by Denise Jodelet, and used a questionnaire and interviews to obtain information about their experiences, beliefs, intuitions and feelings with Mathematics throughout their school life. The results indicated that depending on the tensions experienced in this discipline, students represent it in different ways. We consider the importance of these representations as something that affects their way of thinking, feeling and acting. They can enjoy it or not, feel afraid or not in the face of this discipline, be more or less dedicated to studies, as a result of the social representations they have of Mathematics.