Estudo exploratório sobre dificuldades de estudantes do curso de ciências biológicas da Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará na compreensão do conceito de função
Abstract
This work consists of a study conducted with students from the Universidade Federal do Oeste do
Pará, whose objective was to map difficulties faced in understanding the concept of function.
Records from two groups of students were analyzed, the first being students from a biology
undergraduate class and the second is comprised of bachelor students in biology and health
engineering. The methodology used was based on content analysis, a method also used in
qualitative data analysis, and was based on the theory of conceptual fields, a cognitive theory of
the concept. The main obstacles encountered were associated with the absence of mathematical
knowledge, explanation of elements and mathematical properties and their relations, reduction of
the resolution of a situation to an algorithm, and difficulty in establishing a relationship between
different forms of representation of a situation involving the concept.