MEANINGFUL LEARNING IN THE TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS OF MATHEMATICS IN THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULTS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Abstract

Mathematics is present in people's daily lives and is often considered a difficult subject to understand, distant from reality. In youth and adult education (YAE), this view is no different, requiring teachers to have a variety of knowledge and skills to develop their teaching practices. Therefore, it is essential to work in a creative and engaging way, connecting content to students' everyday situations, valuing their prior knowledge, and promoting meaningful, autonomous, and participatory learning. This study aims to understand the teaching-learning process of mathematics in EJA in elementary school, in light of the principles of meaningful learning. This is an exploratory and descriptive study, adopting a qualitative-quantitative approach, with document analysis, observations, bibliographic and field research. Thirty students from two classes in the final years of elementary school, corresponding to the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th grades, from a municipal public school located in the interior of Bahia were involved. Data collection was carried out using a questionnaire with open and closed questions. The results obtained reveal that meaningful learning, a concept formulated by David Ausubel, occurs when new information is incorporated into pre-existing knowledge in a relevant and consistent manner. In the context of adult education, meaningful learning in mathematics can occur when content is contextualized with students' everyday situations, thus becoming more relevant and understandable.