A estratégia didática de resolução de problemas na formação de professores de química

In this work it is presented a research developed in the initial training of teachers of the chemistry graduation course at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). The intervention was realized in two classes in the context of a discipline in the curricular structure with nineteen undergraduate students of chemistry. The study utilizes characteristics of the qualitative approach and uses observation, questionnaires, interviews and examination papers. The experiment involved a sequence of activities fundamented on the Problem Solving (PS) teaching strategy to approach chemical concepts. The proposal was planned and organized according to the theoretical presupposition of the work developed by the authors of the Science Education in PS, of teaching experience and from the initial hypotheses of the research. The goal was that the future teachers could experience the strategy and advance to the new meanings. The themes addressed in the activities were the difference between exercises and problems, exercises turning into problems, the steps of problem solving and some implications of the teaching strategy for the work of the teacher. The results showed evidence that through a process of collective reflection, and from the difficulties experienced in the strategy practice, the undergraduates are introduced to new perspectives of reflection and action of teaching practice, and understanding some benefits of innovative proposals for the teaching of chemistry. It also showed that, although this theme is approached, in some moments of the graduation, the future teachers don‟t know when or how to realize activities in this perspective. From the aspects that rose in research we highlighted the difficulties in the problem solving steps, the use of the strategy in school and the knowledge and skills of the teacher for planning activities in Problem Solving

Física do meio ambiente: desafios de uma disciplina focada na formação de habilidades gerais

A disciplina Física do Meio Ambiente (FMA) foi criada em 1976 no Departamento de Física Teórica e Experimental da UFRN e, atualmente, faz parte da estrutura curricular do curso de Licenciatura em Física da UFRN e é de caráter obrigatório. Tal caráter se justifica, dentre outros motivos, pelo fato de que esta disciplina representa uma boa oportunidade dos licenciandos estudarem de que forma a Física pode contribuir para a compreensão de fenômenos relativos ao nosso Meio Ambiente, sejam eles relacionados às atividades humanas ou aos fenômenos naturais propriamente ditos e que, de uma forma ou de outra, afeta a sociedade. O nosso trabalho de pesquisa teve como objetivo principal elaborar um novo programa de ensino para a disciplina de Física do Meio Ambiente adequado às necessidades da educação científica para o século XXI. A pesquisa foi conduzida inicialmente com um levantamento histórico da disciplina desde sua origem no Departamento de Física ate os dias atuais, analise dos Projetos Pedagógicos do curso de Licenciatura em Física da UFRN, revisão bibliográfica sobre as definições de competências e habilidades em um contexto de ensino e segundo o pensamento de vanguarda nesse campo de pesquisa, acompanhamento do curso durante um semestre através de aulas observacionais, aplicação de questionário para a coleta de dados e análise de alguns livros didáticos de Física do Ensino Médio. A partir do perfil ou modelo profissional para o licenciado em Física da UFRN definimos os objetivos gerais para a disciplina de FMA em termos de habilidades gerais relacionadas com as atividades que um futuro professor de Física irá desempenhar no seu dia a dia. O nosso programa de ensino foi pensado no sentido de introduzir conteúdos de didática específica ao longo da disciplina, isto é, familiarizar os professores em formação com investigação e inovação didáticas voltadas para o ensino de temas que envolvam a conexão entre Física e Meio Ambiente. Como resultado de nossa pesquisa foi proposto um novo Programa de Ensino para FMA que pode ser útil aos futuros professores desta disciplina e foi elaborado segundo uma metodologia de organização científica do processo ensino

Análise das dificuldades de aprendizagem numa disciplina de química orgânica do curso de química na modalidade à distância da UFRN

In today`s society the use of so-called information technology and communication (ICT), is promoting a revolution in the forms of teaching and learning through the methods of distance learning courses, especially in higher education. Studies show that students in this way have great difficulties in the learning process, especially when dealing with experimental subjects that require high power of abstraction as chemistry. The goal of this work is to promote improvement in the teaching and learning in the discipline Chemistry of Life offered for the Bachelor`s Degree in Chemistry in distance UFRN. For this we analyzed evidence of the semester 2011.2, in order to identify what are the main difficulties of the students on the assessments. That`s why video lessons related to matters that create the majority of difficulties for students were developed, the final product this work. Being obtained the improvements by video classes in the learning process of the students, from a questionnaire answered by the students in the virtual learning environment, and from their success rate at the end of the course

Processo identitário profissional: as experiências formativas de licenciandos do curso de Física - UFPI

In this research, we have as study object the identification process with the profession of students of the Undergraduate course for preparing professors for teaching Physics of the Federal University of Piauí. We start from the following question: - What relationships can be established among the senses given by the students to the group of the experiences lived in their initial formation and the identity construction as teacher? The presupposition is that the process of identification with the profession can contain formative experiences that are impossible to be reduced to the situations of disciplines learning. We considered that, in the development of the process of professional identification, the articulations and the connections that the students established with themselves, with the others - their formative teachers, managers - and with the world - the University, the public school - they should be understood in the interdependence relationships, consubstantiated in the experiences lived during the initial stage of their formation. Therefore, our objective is to understand the process of identification of the students with the teaching profession, based in the senses given to their formative experiences. In order to get this aim, we used the methodology of the Comprehensive Interview, and we chose as methodological and theoretical principles: the multi-referential theoretical framework, 'configuration and interdependence', the relationship among 'identity and alterity', the sensitive hearing and the 'intellectual craft'. The study is organized in two parts: the first, contains two chapters, that have introductory character. The second part is unfolded in five chapters, and it constitutes the development of the thesis. In the "paths", we revealed, starting from the actions and intentions that mobilized the students, processes involved in the choice of the course, and, this way, the initial identifications with the being an university student. We looked for to identify possible dissonances among the curriculum 'instituted and instituting', as well as the implications of its management of the formative experiences of future teachers. In short, we tried to capture, through the speeches of a group of students, the signs, the images and the senses of their formative experiences, which indicate as a vision of how their teaching profession is built. With this study, we sought to contribute for the researches on the field of degrees, taking as axis the formative processes that configure those courses. Finally, that the proposition of professor formation politics should be fundamentally based in internal demands, lived in the formative processes.

A cena contemporânea aos pedaços : observação de um experimento pedagógico

We try to relate this research with other logic, to discover a path of practical approach to approach a creation composed of fragments and a search of parameters for the aesthetics of appropriation. Accordingly, we find relationship with the theater composed of fragments, where different styles are appropriate theatrical and representational styles are merged with each other. Discusses in the first chapter on the theater composed of fragments, and stroll through lanes of the strategies of some directors in the ways of the contemporary scene. In the second chapter we seek procedures and concepts of atmosphere Mikhail Tchekhov (TCHEKHOV, 1996), and the transition from point-to-point by Scott McCloud (2005). In the third part we describe the observation of the experiment conducted by the students of the Bachelor's Degree in Regional Theatre at the University of Cariri in Juazeiro, Ceará, in 2010. Using the methodology of "pesquisa-ação", observing that the scenic writing end of the experiment, called "Toque Me", and the presentation in the cities of Crato and Barbalha, in August 2010, contained elements of the strategies from theater fragmentary scenes and conceptual contents of contemporary theater

O uso de modelos no ensino de química: uma investigação acerca dos saberes construídos durante a formação inicial de professores de Química da UFRN

In the past twenty years, there has been a significant increase of researches about teacher s professionalization. In that context, the investigations concerning teacher s knowledge represent an important contribution, as they aim to identify and to rescue the base of knowledge that sustains the teacher s profession. In particular, the reflections and propositions of Lee Shulman have been constitute a fundamental subsidy to the teacher s professionalization in the sense of harnessing the pedagogic knowledge to the content s knowledge, establishing the pedagogic knowledge of the content that characterizes and differentiates the teacher and the bachelor in a certain field of knowledge. Among the indispensable knowledge for the Chemistry teacher's professional practice, in this research we have pointed out the pertinence of the knowledge on the use of models in Chemistry classes in the middle and high school. Those knowledges regard the comprehension of students concerning the understanding and models elaborated in science and the models implemented in the Chemistry teaching, as well as the abilities to plan didactic situations that use models. In this research, we aimed to identify the contributions and barriers during the Chemistry teacher education, in UFRN, in relation to the construction of knowledge that subsidize training teachers in the elaboration of teaching activities that involve the use of models. The investigation was accomplished in UFRN, in the Course of Degree in Chemistry, along with 13 student teachers that studied the subject Practice of Chemistry Teaching. For this research, the following instruments were used: questionnaires with open and closed questions, elaboration of a plan of activities for the Chemistry teaching and an interview to answer the established study s questions. The data was analyzed in an established criteria, classified and tabled. The results showed that the student teachers representations regarding scientific knowledge contemplated, among other topics, the idea of a method for his/her construction. In some cases, the models role was emphasized in that construction, as well as the social dimension in the validation of that knowledge. The scientific models were highlighted by most of the student teachers, as a representation method to explain, understand and interpret the chemical phenomena. On the other hand, the didactic models stood out, in most of cases, as a method of aiding the Chemistry students of the Basic Education to understand the scientific models. The representations regarding those categories contemplated important aspects, although in a superficial way, reflecting the limitations of reflections during the formative process. In the elaboration of teaching activities that use models, difficulties were evidenced, in the process of plan construction, relative to the didactic structure and to the proposition of activities that contemplated models, although the student teachers have mobilized different elements regarding the pedagogic knowledge of the content. Such verifications evidence the urge for the teacher development programs to promote changes in the teacher education in order to propitiate, during this process, reflections, discussions and propositions of activities regarding categories highlighted in this research, contributing to the construction of initial elements regarding the pedagogic knowledge of the content that will be developed throughout teaching, therefore corroborating to the teacher s professionalization

Formação da habilidade de interpretar gráficos cartesianos em licenciandos em química segundo a teoria de P. Ya. Galperin

It has been remarkable among the Science Teaching debates the necessity that students do not learn only theories, laws and concepts, but also develop skills which allows them to act towards a critical citizenship. Therefore, some of the skills for the natural sciences learning must be taught consciously, intentionally and in a planned way, as component of a basic competence. Studies of the last twenty years have shown that students and teachers have plenty of difficulties about skills development and, among several, the skill of interpreting Cartesian graphics, essential for the comprehension of Natural Science. In that sense, the development of that type of professional knowledge during the initial education of future Chemistry teachers has become strategic, not only because they need to know how to use it, but also because they need to know how to teach it. This research has as its general objective the organization, development and study of a process of formation of the skill of interpreting Cartesian graphics as part of the teachers professional knowledge. It has been accomplished through a formative experience with six undergraduate students of the Teaching Degree Course of Chemistry of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte), in Brazil. In order to develop that skill, we have used as reference P. Ya. Galperin s Theory of the Stepwise Formation of Mental Actions and Concepts and its following qualitative indicators: action form, degree of generalization, degree of consciousness, degree of independence and degree of solidness. The research, in a qualitative approach, has prioritized as instruments of data collecting the registering of the activities of the undergraduate students, the observation, the questionnaire and the diagnosis tests. At the first moment, a teaching framework has been planned for the development of the skill of interpreting Cartesian graphics based on the presupposed conceptions and steps of Galperin s Theory. At the second moment, the referred framework has been applied and the process of the skill formation has been studied. The results have shown the possibility of develop the skill conscious about the invariant operation system, with a high degree of generalization and internalized the operational invariant in the mental plane. The students have attested the contributions at that type of formative experience. The research reveals the importance of going deeper about the teaching comprehension of the individualities tied to the process of internalization, according to Galperin s Theory, when the update of abilities as part of the teaching professional knowledge is the issue

Um estudo sobre a apreciação do raciocínio matemático na formação inicial de professores

The present work focused on developing teaching activities that would provide to the student in initial teacher training, improving the ability of mathematical reasoning and hence a greater appreciation of the concepts related to the golden section, the irrational numbers, and the incommensurability the demonstration from the reduction to the nonsensical. This survey is classified itself as a field one which data collection were inserted within a quantitative and qualitative approach. Acted in this research, two classes in initial teacher training. These were teachers and employees of public schools and local governments, living in the capital, in Natal Metropolitan Region - and within the country. The empirical part of the research took place in Pedagogy and Mathematics courses, IFESP in Natal - RN. The theoretical and methodological way construction aimed to present a teaching situation, based on history, involving mathematics and architecture, derived from a concrete context - Andrea Palladio s Villa Emo. Focused discussions on current studies of Rachel Fletcher stating that the architect used the golden section in this village construction. As a result, it was observed that the proposal to conduct a study on the mathematical reasoning assessment provided, in teaching and activity sequences, several theoretical and practical reflections. These applications, together with four sessions of study in the classroom, turned on to a mathematical thinking organization capable to develop in academic students, the investigative and logical reasoning and mathematical proof. By bringing ancient Greece and Andrea Palladio s aspects of the mathematics, in teaching activities for teachers and future teachers of basic education, it was promoted on them, an improvement in mathematical reasoning ability. Therefore, this work came from concerns as opportunity to the surveyed students, thinking mathematically. In fact, one of the most famous irrational, the golden section, was defined by a certain geometric construction, which is reflected by the Greek phrase (the name "golden section" becomes quite later) used to describe the same: division of a segment - on average and extreme right. Later, the golden section was once considered a standard of beauty in the arts. This is reflected in how to treat the statement questioning by current Palladio s scholars, regarding the use of the golden section in their architectural designs, in our case, in Villa Emo

Uma proposta de metodologia para o ensino de Física usando robótica de baixíssimo custo

This paper presents methodology based on Lev Vigotsky`s social interactionist theory through investigative activities, which integrates the teaching of physics to robotics, directed to students of the Physics degree course, seeking to provide further training for future teachers. The method is organized through educational robotics workshops that addresses concepts of physics through the use of low-cost educational robots along with several activities. The methodology has been presented and discussed and put into practice afterwards in workshops so that these future teachers may be able to take robotics to their classroom. Students from the last and penultimate semester of the Physics degree course of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Norte, Caicó campus participated in this project

Referência ao discurso do outro: uma análise de problemas de relações de sentido entre discurso citado direto e indireto citante no gênero monográfico

In this study we investigate the reference to other s discourse done it through the resource of direct cited discourse at background section in monographic texts produced by university students at the last phase of final work in their graduate Letras course. This work is guided in cited/related discourse studies in Bakhtin (2004), Authier-Revuz (1990, 1998, 2004), Maingueneau (1996, 2002), Charaudeau and Maingueneau (2004); in genre approaches developed by Bakhtin (2000); Maingueneau (1996, 2002); socio-discursive interaction (BRONCKART, 1999, 2003; SCHNEUWLY, 2004; DOLZ e SCHNEUWLY, 2004) and Bazerman (2005); and also in presuppositions of Textual Linguistics presented by Charrolles (1988), Van Dijk (1997), Beaugrande and Dressier (1981), Koch and Travaglia (1993, 1995), Koch (2002, 2004) and Val (2000, 2004). We have established as aims to analyze and interpret meaning relations problems in how to articulate direct cited discourse with citing discourse and at the same time explain semantic implications that comes from that articulation that compromise text meaning, at background section in that monographic genre. The analysis, by qualitative and quantitative basis in eleven monographic works that form our corpus, gave us the opportunity to achieve and see that meaning relationships in the articulation of direct cited discourse with citing discourse show problems that may be categorized into three different groups: problems related to meaning relationships with citing discourse that comes before it, problems of meaning relationships with citing discourse that comes after it, and problems with of meaning relationships with citing discourse that come before it and at the same time with citing discourse that comes after it (i.e. in relation to both). These analysis also allow us assert that, these problems, just because they occur frequently, they affect the micro level text coherence, and they also compromise the text global meaning. The results show that students at Letras Course, even in the ending process of their course do not show the real domain in relation to some ways of direct cited discourse organization and working, and also how the ideas articulation work in the construction of relations between direct cited discourse and the citing discourse that can turn those students able to produce a text that enhance acceptable patterns

Eensino de língua portuguesa: da formação do professor à sala de aula

La reflexión crítica sobre la escuela y los quehaceres docentes ha favorecido la producción y la sistematización de nuevos saberes basados en fundamentos científicos, principalmente sobre las prácticas pedagógicas. En la enseñanza de Lengua Portuguesa, las investigaciones buscan comprender lo qué y cómo se enseña y se aprende durante la escolarización. En esa perspectiva, realizamos un estudio sobre la formación del profesor de Lengua Portuguesa y sus implicaciones en la clase, buscando observar la actuación de los alumnos-maestros en el contexto escolar, durante la realización de las Prácticas. Para tanto, elegimos como objetivo general, investigar cómo la carrera de Filología de la UFRN/CERES/Campus de Currais Novos promovía la formación de futuros profesores para atender a las expectativas de las políticas públicas para la enseñanza de Lengua Materna. Como referencial teórico, estudiamos los PCN, el proyecto político pedagógico de la carrera y autores del área de enseñanza de Lengua Portuguesa y de Educación, entre ellos, Geraldi (1996), Travaglia (1996, 2003), Antunes (2003, 2007, 2009 y 2010), Lomas (2003), Figueiredo (2005), Marcuschi (2001, 2008), Oliveira (2010), Riolfi et al. (2008), Possenti (2003), Alarcão (1996, 2001) Imbernón (2011), Pimenta y Lima (2010) y Schön (1993). El estudio está situado en el ámbito de la Lingüística Aplicada y se caracteriza como investigación cualitativa de naturaleza interpretativista, a partir de un abordaje de inspiración etnográfica del ambiente de las Prácticas. En los resultados constatamos que los alumnos-maestros privilegian la enseñanza prescriptiva, fundamentado en una concepción de lengua como sistema, direccionando la enseñanza de la lengua para la dirección contraria al abordaje funcionalista (lengua / uso), distanciándose considerablemente de la propuesta de formar un alumno crítico y agente de transformación. Respecto a la visión de los alumnos-maestros sobre la carrera, fueron listadas algunas cuestiones relevantes, entre ellas, los contenidos que hacen parte de la carrera, la distribución de la carga horaria de los componentes curriculares, la revisión de las ementas, la oferta de asignaturas de inclusión social, la reorganización de las actividades de la práctica en relación al acompañamiento y orientación a los alumnos-maestros y, especialmente, la desarticulación teoría / práctica que fue considerada como responsable por muchas de las dificultades encontradas por los referidos alumnos en la fase de regencia de clase en la enseñanza de Lengua Portuguesa en los niveles de enseñanza fundamental y media. De ese modo, a partir del análisis de estos significados construidos por los alumnos-maestros sobre el proceso de formación en esa carrera de Letras, constatamos la necesidad de una revisión del proyecto de la carrera, pues éste presenta esas fragilidades que necesitan ser analizadas en función de la mejoría de la calidad de la enseñanza de la graduación

O Uso de operações linguístico-discursivas da crítica genética na reescritura de textos

As a professor in Curso de Licenciatura em Letras, from Campus Avançado Profa Maria Eliza Albuquerque Maia (CAMEAM),do Estado do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte (UERN), in the town of Pau do Ferros, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, we had the chance to carry out several writing activities , as well as guiding re-writing activities for the texts produced. From this experience, we started looking at the need of reflecting upon the writing process in higher education. Thus, we aim at analyzing, in this research, the methodology used in the moment of carrying out the writing practices activities in higher education, investigating, in particular, the rewriting practices, concerning the operations used for carrying out such activities, as well as the sense effects produced from the alterations which were made in the texts. Our theoretical foundation is grounded on a conception of text as a verbal action , what reveals a socio-interactional view of the language (MARCUSCHI, 2008; SAUTCHUK, 2003). As the production of written texts, our research focus, we assume that, for this activity, we deal with distinct figures (active writer and internal reader), so that we can, apart from writing, reflecting upon our writing and, this way, deciding about operations which are carried out to make the alterations which are necessary to the rewriting of our texts (SAUTCHUK, 2003). Still about the theoretical foundations used in this research, we made use of the theories from the Textual Analysis of Discourse (TAD) which discusses the belief on the evidence on the existence of the texts, which is opposite to the fixist view of textuality which believes that the texts exist by themselves. (ADAM, 2008; [2005]2010). Under this perspective, we have also adopted, the concepts which come from genetics criticism which is concerned about the relation between text and genesis, using as objects documents which bring traits of the text in progress, on the ground that the text is the result of work in progress, and the writing practice, on the other hand, as an activity in a continuous movement (HAY, [1975]2002; DE BIASI, [2000]2010; GRÉSILLON, 1989; [1990]2008; [1992]2002; SALLES, 2008a). The methodology in this research is an ethnography-based one, an approach which focuses on the process, as well as is meaning-based. To understand the objectives proposed in our research, we made use of different procedures of collecting data which include an ethnographic study, such as: observation, note-taking, document analysis. The data which were analyzed were collected during the semester of 2008.2, in a first term classroom of Curso de Letras from CAMEAM, when we were able to collect twenty-one written texts and all of them were rewritten based on rewriting activities, what provides a corpus of forty-two texts which will be analyzed based on the linguistics operations identified by Generative Grammar and adopted by Lebrave and Grésillon (2009). From these analyses, we were able to confirm that writing is a process, and rewriting has become an extremely important activity for this process. Still due to these data, we observed that substitution was the most used operation by text authors. We believe that this result is justified by the fact that the substitution, according to what proposes the Genetic Criticism, constitutes the source of all erasure, from which one can easily make a change in writing. Regarding the operations of addition and deletion, we found that they were used in quantitative terms, almost equivalently, which can be explained when we see that the two operations require, by the author of the text, different strategies from those used for the replacement, what includes , respectively, adding or removing a segment. Finally, we found out that the shift operation was the least used, since it works with a segment that will not be replaced, added or deleted, but transferred to another place of text, which requires a greater ability of the author to perform this operation and not compromising the meaning of his/her writing. As a result, we hope to contribute to the reflection on the teaching of writing, considering, in a particular way, those with a Bachelor in Arts. Our analysis will contribute to the teaching of Portuguese language, specifically for activities that guide the production of texts in order to explore with students the ability to rewrite their own text

A fábrica de professores e a padronização do conhecimento

This paper concern the general subject of teacher career construction, since the period of the initial formation in the teaching course of pedagogy crossing the first effectives experiences of professional performance, until the reflections about the results of the continuous formation propositions. The specifics subject is the formative quotidian in the teacher s life beyond of the traditional stereotypes about individuals and institutions bring up for discussion a micro sociological approach about the professionals uncertainty and the personal hopes, the teacher displeasures and the pedagogical satisfactions. The epistemological reflection about the different formatives experiences, taking as example the Programa de Formação de Alfabetizadores PROFA (Alphabetizers Formation Program) developed by the Secretaria Municipal de Educação of Natal City, consider the ambiguous tension between the knowledge that the teachers acquire in their formation and the concrete teachers practical since those experiences. The study methodology is based in the qualitative comprehensive research, sustained by observations, impressive reflective accounts, and also in the theoretic analyses with contemporary references to the critical pedagogical through and education sociology. I used the autobiographic reflective account by the writer-researcher in her owner academic and professional way. I propose an image of a teacher s factory in such a way for its conformist aspects to the continuity stands as much the internal contradictions of the system. Gears, pieces and manual instructions are the educational components of this factory as ideological, institutional and technical structures to aim at to limit the critics and the changes. However the teachers thinking and acting with their owner creativity to adapted uncontexted professional knowledge s to their pedagogical lives. Under those analogies I propose the problem of this research the teacher s formation and theirs pedagogical practices- and also examine briefly its theoretic-philosophical and methodological basis. From the analysis and interpretation of my owner experiential life as teacher s educator I put the necessity of re-thinking the teacher s formation in terms to rebound more meaningfully in their pedagogical actuation. I believe an important part of the teacher s formation process is the personal wish to learn more about the office, explicitly connected to human convictions and values such as to a positive professional identity. Thus, the teacher able to reflect about your owner educator life can find the best way to help the students to think critically about their culture and history, valorizing creative exits by themselves to face the conformist social stands connected with school education

Uma justificava da validade do teorema fundamental da álgebra para o ensino médio

Among several theorems which are taught in basic education some of them can be proved in the classroom and others do not, because the degree of difficulty of its formal proof. A classic example is the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra which is not proved, it is necessary higher-level knowledge in mathematics. In this paper, we justify the validity of this theorem intuitively using the software Geogebra. And, based on [2] we will present a clear formal proof of this theorem that is addressed to school teachers and undergraduate students in mathematics

O erro produzido pelo aluno no contexto pedagógico: uma luz ou uma pedra no meio do caminho?

Student’s mistakes as viewed in a didactic and pedagogical perspective are a phenomenon inevitably observed in any context in which formal teaching-andlearning processes are taking place. Researchers have shown that such mistakes are viewed most of the times as undesirable and often as a consequence of lack of attention or poor commitment on the part of the student and rarely considered didactically useful. The object of our reflections in this work is exactly those mistakes, which are born in the entrails of the teaching-and-learning processes. It is our understanding that a mistake constitutes a tool which mediates knowledge and may therefore become a strong ally of the instructor’s actions in her/his teaching tasks and thus should be taken into the teacher’s best consideration. Understanding a mistake as so, we postulate that the teacher must face it as a possibility to be exploited rather than as a negative occurrence. Such an attitude on the part of the teacher would undoubtedly render profitable didactic situations. To deepen the understanding of our aim, we took a case study on the perception of senior college students in the program of Mathematics at UFRN in the year 2009, 2nd term. The reason of this choice is the fact that Mathematics is the field presenting traditionally the poorest records in terms of school grades. In this work we put forth data associated to ENEM1 , to the UFRN Vestibular2 and the undergraduate courses on Mathematics. The theoretical matrixes supporting our reflections in this thesis follow the ideas proposed by Castorina (1988); Davis e Espósito (1990); Aquino (1997); Luckesi (2006); Cury (1994; 2008); Pinto (2000); Torre (2007). To carry out the study, we applied a semi-structured questionnaire containing 14 questions, out of which 10 were open questions. The questions were methodologically based on the Thematic Analysis – One of the techniques for Content Analysis schemed by Bardin (1977) – and it was also used the computer program Modalisa 6.0 (A software designed by faculties the University of Paris VIII). The results indicate that most of the teachers training instructors in their pedagogical practice view the mistakes made by their students only as a guide for grading and, in this procedure, the student is frequently labeled as guilty. Conclusive analyses, therefore, signal to the necessity of orienting the teachers training instructors in the sense of building a new theoretical contemplation of the students’ mistakes and their pedagogical potentialities and so making those professionals perceive the importance of such mistakes, since they reveal gaps in the process of learning and provide valuable avenues for the teaching procedures.