GAME OF EXPRESSIONS: AN ANALYSIS FROM A PRACTICE IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

Abstract

Extension actions in the context of teacher education have proven to be a relevant initiative for the professional development of those involved. This is because, by connecting social demands, such as those from public schools, to initial training courses, a productive formative environment can be established, consisting of teachers from primary education, teacher educators, and prospective teachers. The aim is to build more democratic practices within the university and schools. In this perspective, the ÁGORA/UFPR Jandaia do Sul extension project has been conducting actions to create spaces for teacher training that consider the demands and knowledge of teachers and future teachers teaching Mathematics in Jandaia do Sul – a city where a UFPR campus exists – and the surrounding region. In this context, in 2023, responding to the requests of public school teachers in the city, the project members, in collaboration with these teachers, planned and conducted Mathematics lessons based on an educational game titled the "game of expressions" for elementary school classes. The objective was to address elementary operations and, more specifically, the concept of numerical expressions. In this text, we report on the experience in elementary school classes in a rural school. The analysis of the practice indicates that the use of the game contributed to the mathematical exploration of concepts such as numerical expressions, elementary operations and their properties, and the approach to mental calculation. Above all, the game's features sustained student engagement, facilitating the conceptual approach to the content inherent to the game.