The argument of mathematical modelling and the construction of the mediator-mentor teacher in the Brazilian scenery: engendering a network of knowledges

Abstract

It is our purpose, with this article, to discuss the statement “while developing Modelling activities, the teacher is no longer a transmitter but becomes a mediator-advisor in the teaching process” with regards to the mediation-advising practice in the sphere of Mathematical Modelling, which is considered from a discursive dimension. The theoretical-methodological inputs are linked to the philosopher Michel Foucault’s theorizing, in the form of discourse, enunciation and statement. The analytical material, from which the aforementioned statement emerged, covers those theses and dissertations presented in the period of time between 1976 and 2016, which relate, describe or discuss the development of Modelling activities in the classrooms of Elementary Education. Analyses show that, with the rise of a teacher representation that is associated with mediation-advising, a set of new practices is engendered as ground for the action of mediation-advising which, by now, differ from the set of practices for the transmission of understanding, activating multiple knowledges by the teacher developing the Modelling.