The teacher-training of future educators in mathematics: thoughts arose from actions developed in school

Abstract

This article reflects upon the results of a research on the initial teachertraining carried out in a math outreach program. It aims to discuss the components of the formative process of future educators whose fields of study are mathematics, special-needs education, and pedagogy, from a teaching unit on dimensions and measures developed in the project. This article’s empirical data and the investigation that led to it were collected through fifteen meetings held during the teaching unit’s elaboration, and the analysis development was performed bearing in mind the episode selection proposal. Furthermore, the actions carried by the future educators in school were specifically emphasized, in the process of developing teaching opportunities related to the idea of measuring. Thus, underpinned by the Historical-Cultural Theory postulates, three aspects are discussed: the assignment of meaning to actions by future teachers; the needs upon which they act; and the acquisition of mathematical knowledge during the development of the teaching unit.