Evaluation of a didactic unit on teaching and learning the perimeter and area concepts

Abstract

This paper presents the analysis of a didactic unit designed with the purpose of guiding students toward building their own meaning of the mathematical concepts: perimeter and area. The didactic unit also aimed to develop students’ ability to solve problems by presenting challenging situations through the use of strategies and contextualized mathematical tasks. These challenging situations engaged students to use their knowledge, skills, and abilities to get to results instead of applying procedural methods such as formulas or algorithms. The didactic unit was designed following the framework of Didactic Analysis, which allows the sequencing of tasks according to conceptual and cognitive aspects that are related to issues of perimeter and area. After its design, it was implemented in fourth grade primary students and the results of its implementation were evaluated. The main contribution of this work was the creation of teaching material that associates two mathematical topics that are usually taught in isolation.