Statement of the Problem

1. Methodology The adopted methodology is based in case study procedures and it includes multiple techniques: The participants are 18 students, of my sixth year Mathematics class, from the Escola E. B. 2, 3/S de Barroselas, Viana do Castelo, Portugal. The data is being collected, in the above indicated school, since September of 2003 until July of 2004. • questionnaires to all the participants. • participative systematic classroom observation of pupil work and learning activities (with audio and video recording); • document analysis; • semi-structured interviews with selected pupils; The Internet in the “second cycle” Mathematics Classroom Luís Pedro Fornelos – Escola E. B. 2, 3/S de Barroselas pedro_fornelos@alunos.ese.ipvc.pt Statement of the Problem The influence of technology in education is one of the priority subjects in Educational Research, in particular, the creation of learning environments and its impacts on students and teachers (English, 2002). What is the influence of the Internet use in the “second cycle” Mathematics classroom and his impact on the students? - What sort of activities, using Internet resources, can be done in the “second cycle” Mathematics classroom? - What is the students role? Literature Review The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can be used in the learning process making the students construct their own knowledge (Papert, 1980). Relevant documents about the learning and teaching process recommend the use of ICT in Education, and in the Mathematics Classroom also, since the 80s (NCTM, 1989; NCTM, 1991), and the early 90s in Portugal (Ministério da Educação, 1991a; Ministério da Educação, 1991b). Later, the use of Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) in the Mathematics Classroom, was recommended by the NCTM (2000), who indicates that teachers should use the information and the resources of the Internet and the WWW to create activities, and by the Portuguese Department of Basics Education (Departamento da Educação Básica, 2001), who proposes that the students should use the educational potentialities of the Internet. With the Internet and the WWW students can construct more knowledge through the information exploration and the communication (Papert, 1999). The Internet makes possible to find information, software, applets, examples of tasks, ideas for the classroom and stories of experiences; allows the publication of students productions; and makes possible the synchronous and asynchronous communication, therefore plays a very important role in education (Ponte, Oliveira & Varandas, 2003). Study Progress Until this moment, the participants have answered the questionnaires, learned to use the e-mail, created and used one newsgroup and carried through four activities. The activities involved the mathematical subjects: Geometric Solids, Mathematic History – Mathematicians, Mathematical Investigation – Geometric Figures, and Areas and Perimeters. The participants are still carrying out two long term WebQuests. One involves a research work about a free mathematic subject of the affability of the participants. The other implies the creation, application, statistical treatment and results publication on the Internet, of a questionnaire about the tobacco consumption by the school community. Internet resources used in the Mathematics Class Search for information in the WWW; Interactive Applets; Tasks proposed in the WWW; Electronic Mail and Newsgroup  http://pagpessoais.iol.pt/fornelos/matematica • References: • Departamento da Educação Básica (2001). Currículo Nacional do Ensino Básico. Competências Essenciais. Lisboa: Ministério da Educação – Departamento da Educação Básica. • English, L. (2002) Priority themes and issues in international research in Mathematics Education. In L. English (Ed). Handbook of international research in mathematics education (pp. 3-16). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum associates publishers. • Ministério da Educação (1991a). Organização Curricular e programas, volume I. Ensino básico 2º ciclo. Lisboa: Ministério da Educação - DGEBS. • Ministério da Educação (1991b). Programa de Matemática. Plano de organização do ensino-aprendizagem, volume II. Ensinobásico 2º ciclo. Lisboa: Ministério da Educação - DGEBS. • NCTM (1989). Curriculum and evaluation standards for school mathematics. Reston: NCTM. [Portuguese translation: Normas para o currículo e a avaliação em matemática escolar. Lisboa. APM/IIE, 1991]. • NCTM (1991). Professional standards for teaching mathematics. Reston: NCTM. [Portuguese translation: Normas profissionais para o ensino da matemática. Lisboa. APM/IIE, 1994]. • NCTM (2000). Principal and standards for school mathematics. Reston: NCTM. [Available Online: Retrieved May 13, 2003, from http://standards.nctm.org/document/index.htm]. • Papert, S. (1980) Constructionism vs. Instructionism. Retrieved May 20, 2003, from http://www.papert.org/articles/const_inst/const_inst1.html. • Papert, S. (1999) Ghost in the Machine: How Computers Fundamentally Change the Way Kids Learn. Retrieved May 20, 2003, from http://www.papert.org/articles/GhostInTheMachine.html • Ponte, J. P. (1994) Relatório do Projecto Minerva, Introduzindo as NTI na Educação em Portugal. Lisboa: DEPGEF. [Available Online: Retrieved May, 13, 2004, from http://www.educ.fc.ul.pt/docentes/jponte/docs-pt/03-Ponte-Oli-Var(TIC-Dario).doc]. • Ponte, J. P., Oliveira, H., & Varandas, J. M. (2003). O contributo das tecnologias de informação e comunicação para o desenvolvimento do conhecimento e da identidade profissional. In D. Fiorentini (Ed.), Formação de professores de Matemática: Explorando novos caminhos com outros olhares (pp. 159-192).Campinas: Mercado de Letras. [Available Online: Retrieved July 01, 2003 from http://www.educ.fc.ul.pt/docentes/jponte/docs-pt/94-Ponte(MINERVA-PT).doc].