A etnomatemática encontrada nos quebradores de pedras na cidade de Milagres-CE

Abstract

In the contemporary world, established social interactions between human beings and their environment become increasingly rapid and complex. These relations, as they intensify, end up generating different mathematical languages, once each sociocultural context produces its own ways of dealing with quantities, measurements and organization of space. Consequently, the “mathematical task” transforms from group to group, because, as new demands arise over time, this everyday mathematics needs to go through modifications, ressignificações and adaptations that allow us to attend to the concrete needs of each social practice. The objective of this work is to identify the mathematics used by stone-breaking workers and to demonstrate that this set of knowledge constitutes a solid basis for the understanding of contextualized and meaningful mathematics. The investigation was carried out at the Coqueiro site, located in the city of Milagres-CE, and included the participation of one stone breaker. The outcome was obtained through direct observation and a semi-structured interview. After systematizing the gathered information, we confirm the presence of various mathematical elements, such as the intuitive use of geometric shapes, relations of measurement and proportionality, as well as the knowledge of financial mathematics involved in the marketing of the production of britas and parallelepipeds intended for paving. In this way, the study dialogues directly with the concepts of Ethnomathematics, which seek to reconfirm, value and legitimize mathematical practices developed outside the school environment - practices that emerge from different social groups and their daily experiences. Thus, it is possible to approximate the school knowledge of Mathematics experienced in the real world, reinforcing that traditional knowledge, such as the two stone breakers, constitute important sources of learning and reflection for Mathematical Education.