Mathematical thinking through gestures and screen taps in the Multibase application on tablets

Abstract

The integration of tablets in the school environment can provide new ways of doing mathematics, as they allow students to deal with something that can be considered an expansion of their bodies. This relationship is treated in this article within the scope of embodied cognition, which presupposes the brain and the rest of the body as jointly responsible for the physiological operations called mind. This research aimed to analyze contributions of epistemic movements to the development of arithmetic thinking by a 2nd year elementary school student, when developing mathematical tasks inserted in the additive realm using the Multibase application. The analysis is anchored in the identification, illustration and purpose of gestures and taps on the touchscreen, considering the characteristic forms that can help to act epistemically. For data production, we used filmed records, screen recordings from Multibase, and records made by the students. As a result, types of touches on the screen were mapped and illustrated, and some epistemic actions were identified during interactions with Multibase that, consciously (or not), led the student to organize their thinking and build increasingly understandable reasoning strategies, with more autonomy and reflection.

Keywords:
Decimal Numbering System; Grouping and Ungrouping; Embodied Cognition; Epistemic Movements; Mobile Digital Devices