A TEACHING EXPERIENCE LEARNING OF ALGEBRA EXPRESSIONS FOR FUTURE MATHEMATICS TEACHERS

Abstract

The experience responds to the didactic sequence about activities developed during the Course Mathematics teaching Methodology at the Universidad Austral (Puerto Montt-Chile). The activities intended to recognize in different concrete materials the applicability in the classes of primary education, in which the students staged. Working with concrete material allowed them to develop visualization skills (visual identification, visual discrimination, position recognition and spatial relations) and visualization processes (Visual Information Interpretation and Visual Processing) in specific tasks. From the initial task, the group showed some difficulties to represent algebraic expressions using geometric representations about the concept of rectangular areas and perimeters. In addition to the learning they were able to develop in using their visual skills and processes, students also learned to communicate better with other peers in the group, to make decisions about problems, and to try to negotiate meanings in and out of mathematics.