The present article is an extract of a thesis submitted for the earning of the doctorate degree in Mathematics Education (Silva, 1997). The research remarks on the possibilities, consequences and epistemological reflections of the implementation of an alternative pedagogical proposal termed Solidarity Assimilation (SA). It was carried out during the academic year of 1995 in a Calculus Course in the formation of Mathematics teachers at UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista - Bauru Campus, in Brazil. According to Baldino (1995a) the SA, in contrast to the so-called "traditional teaching in force", modifies the concept of merit by applying values going beyond those attributed to the achievement of abilitiy in content. Besides awarding achievement, the SA takes into account the work in small groups as well as the work collectively performed in the classroom by all students. This is a kind of qualitative research, belonging to the Research-Action line (Thiollent, 1992), according to which the teacher is also a researcher drawing on her/his own classroom as the theme of investigation.
Solidarity Assimilation; assessment; evaluation; cooperative work; intervention in the classroom