Um estudo acerca de materiais didáticos com potencial inclusivo no contexto conceitual de frações para estudantes com deficiência visual

Abstract

This study sought to investigate how ostensive objects contribute to the teaching of fractions in the context of visually impaired students in the 6th grade of elementary school. Ostensive objects are elements that are perceptible to the human senses. The manipulation of ostensive objects evokes non-ostensive objects, which are concepts, ideas, and/or objects that cannot be perceived on their own. The research is characterized as bibliographic, and the approach adopted is qualitative. In this sense, a mapping of dissertations and theses published between 2015 and 2024 was carried out in the catalog of theses and dissertations of the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) that addressed the topic of teaching fractions to students with visual impairments. The period 2015-2024 was chosen due to the approval of the Brazilian Inclusion Law (LBI) No. 13,146/2015. We found a small number of studies on this topic, revealing a modest level of attention to inclusive education, especially regarding the inclusion of people with visual impairments. Based on the criteria established a priori – title, abstract, and keywords – we found only one study, which dealt with the use of PET bottle caps as teaching strategies for least common multiple (LCM) and fractions. The next step was to read the study in order to identify the objects used. Subsequently, we classified them considering what is proposed about teaching devices. The results obtained through data collection/production, considering the elements of didactic praxeology (task, technique, technology, and theory), showed that ostensive objects allow students with visual impairments to represent fractions as part of a whole, distinguish proper and improper fractions, and perform addition operations involving this mathematical object. We coined the term “manipulable ostensive objects” to refer to objects that contribute to the teaching of fractions to students with or without visual impairments. We consider that manipulable ostensive objects, mediated by intentional and didactically accessible teaching practices, enable the construction of mathematical knowledge even in the absence of visual perception. Thus, based on this study, we infer that the adoption of manipulable ostensive objects by teachers, integrated with a planned didactic organization based on equity and attitudinal accessibility, contributes to the process of teaching fractions to students with visual impairments. The study also reveals the scarcity of academic productions that articulate the Anthropological Theory of Didactics (TAD) with visual impairment, pointing out gaps and opportunities for future research in the area of Inclusive Mathematics Education.