Cálculo diferencial e integral: um estudo sobre estratégias para redução do percentual de não aprovação

Abstract

This present paper aims to investigate the methodological interventions conducted by public and private universities concerning the strategies to reduce students failure rates (reprobation and abandon) on the discipline Differential and Integral Calculus. The investigation for the main factors that influence the low performance in this area are conducted with the help of teachers, students and researchers of mathematics, mainly focusing on this discipline. Having identified these factors, this work analyzed the methodological interventions carried out by institutions and exposed its consequences. Qualitative surveys were realized with teachers and students and historical data were collected from course secretaries. Survey shows that, although students failure rates in private schools are high, they are relatively smaller than those in public schools. We verified that the number of interventions done by private schools are higher than those presented by public schools, a factor that may have contributed to this difference. We also verified that that these interventions are seen, by the majority of the interviewed teachers and students, as being incapable of solving the problems for the subject's content comprehension. Another point that the results show is in fact interventions carried out by institutions they are considered by most of the teachers and students interviewed as unable to solve the problem of understanding of content. Although the results showed a reduction in the percentage of failure rates, the research was not able to verify a significant improvement in learning, and thus, the interventions were considered as palliatives.