Forming critical-reflective citizens: the contribution of mathematics

Abstract

In face of the scientific-technological advance to which we are submitted, it becomes more and more necessary that the population may also, besides having access to the information about such development, have conditions to evaluate and participate in the decisions that might reach the environment where they live. Each area of knowledge needs to give its portion of contribution so that the citizen takes initiatives that may lead people to develop their evaluative sense, and consequently more critical reflections on the elements that involve science, technology and the social context. In this way, Mathematics should also be visualized as a language used by sciences in general to describe several phenomena. Thus it is appropriate to deepen its knowledge on mathematical procedures of confrontation and resolution of situations-problem, present in the scientific-technological and social context, emphasizing the relation of interdependence of this knowledge with such context. Thus, in this work, it is proposed a discussion on the possibility of bringing into the classroom an approach to the education of Mathematics, with the purpose of contributing to the formation of reflective and inquiring citizens.