Teachers' knowledge: the articulations of geometry with visual arts and cultures through symmetries

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the knowledge mobilized by elementary school teachers when articulating geometry with visual arts and cultures through symmetry. It is based on the research of Shulman (1986, 1987) and Ball, Thames, Phelps (2008), which focuses their investigations on teachers' knowledge about teaching content and how this is transformed in their teaching practice, as well as on Barbosa's theory of the Triangular Approach (1998, 2002), which defends and provides individuals with access to art as an expressive language and form of knowledge. The methodological approach was structured in four stages: workshops to discuss the articulation of geometry with visual arts and cultures; preparation of lesson plans by the teachers participating in the workshops; observation of the experiences of the planned lessons; and an explanatory interview. A group of eighteen teachers from municipal school systems in the Metropolitan Region of Recife participated in the research. The study identified that teachers mobilized knowledge that we will call intersectional knowledge when they identified conceptual and methodological elements common to the fields of geometry and visual arts and cultures. This knowledge permeates all types of teacher knowledge characterized by Shulman (1986, 1987) and Ball and collaborators (Ball; Thames; Phelps, 2008; Ball; Goffney; Bass, 2005, Ball; Bass, 2003). Therefore, the aim is to point out contributions to discussions on teachers' professional knowledge, as well as reflections on the articulation of knowledge in initial and continuing teacher training and to expand investigations of this training within the scope of research in Mathematics Education and Art/Education.

Keywords:
Knowledge; Teacher; Geometry; Arts; Symmetry