A study of didactics phenomena related to arithmetic teaching in Chilean primary school

Abstract

The research presented here analyzes the topic of the low levels attained in mathematics by most Chilean students at the end of elementary school. The article focuses on the case of School Arithmetic. Using the Anthropological Theory of Didactics (Chevallard, 1999) and the Theory of Didactic Situations (Brousseau, 1990), the investigation began with the nuclear mathematical learning and contents of the current official elementary school programs in mathematics. Then, it continued with the observation and analysis of teaching-learning processes developed for arithmetics in elementary schools in the Metropolitan Region and ended with the analysis of the institutional restrictions imposed by schools for the development of those processes. We identified the phenomenon of the progressive inhibition of some mathematical abilities of students through elementary school. The students not only stop learning vital mathematical subjects for their academic and cognitive development at a timely curricular moment, but also a progressive stagnation in their development abilities is caused, especially during the second basic cycle.