2022 Volume 46 Issue 2 Pages 141-153
This study aims to examine the possibility and significance of creating learning activities to deepen mathematical understanding through the promotion of metaphorical thinking. For this purpose it analyzes and discusses a case study in the “Expressions Representing Relationships among Quantities” unit in the fifth-grade elementary school class. Three perspectives were set for the expected deepening of understanding. Viewpoint 1 (understanding with conviction related to concrete experiences), was considered by the children to be easily understandable. Viewpoint 2 (understanding of mathematical concepts with multifaceted meanings), through the activity of interpreting multiple metaphorical expressions that extracted different elements, could provide a way to organize the multifaceted meanings of mathematical concepts, including meanings that were implicit until then. For Viewpoint 3 (understanding through the diversity of base selection), we found that by listening to different metaphorical expressions, students could select the expressions that were most accurately understood by them. Regarding the role of the teacher in creating learning activities, two aspects were identified: asking questions that encourage the children to examine the differences in the elements being extracted, and asking questions that focus on the issues according to the children’s understanding.
