Características dos Problemas que os Alunos Constroem a partir do Enunciado de uma Questão Aberta de Matemática

The present paper shows characteristics of problems that students in the 4(th), 8(th), and 12(th) grades built in response to the enunciation of an open-ended question, taken from their written work in the common question of AVA-2002 (Parana State Large-Scale Assessment-2002). These problems are characterized, in part, by a linear resolution structure constituted based on students' interpretation of individual bits of information contained in the enunciation, one by one, without establishing relations between them; and partly by a non-linear resolution structure constituted based on relations established among the bits of information in the enunciation. Analysis of students' written work is one alternative for teachers to know students' mathematical activity, as well as their particular ways of interpretating enunciations.