Mathematics Education in a Digital Culture

Abstract

This article discusses teacher training that can help schools to become the best of their time. Meeting this challenge involves understanding the lifestyles of people immersed in digital culture. We investigate the authoring process of digital learning materials developed by students pursuing Teacher Certification degrees in Mathematics at the Federal University of Uberlândia. The productions chosen to present in this paper were: "Educational robotics: a study of the Ferris wheel" and "Rotating knowledge." Both of these deal with the study of mathematical content based on Ferris wheels. These productions are located in three sets of interwoven theoretical and experimental knowledge by simulation: Theme, Mathematical Model and Information Technology and Communication (ICT). The movement between these three areas is based on decisions, understanding variables and learning previously unimagined perspectives. In other words, simulation between themes, mathematical models and ICT is the act of choosing "paths" in mathematical knowledge. We conclude that, in a digital culture,  the concept of mathematical modeling is actually a simulation environment in which interaction is simulated in four dimensions: Dialogical, diverse, dated and dynamic. We have also come to understand that simulation is one of the ways in which to work with mathematical modeling in the digital culture of a teacher.