What is the measure of this magnitude? A literature review on Quantities and Measures

Abstract

The aim of this study is to understand how the most recent literature, published in journals in the field of Mathematics Education, presents the topic of Quantities and Measures. The need to investigate this theme is justified because it is a field of School Mathematics recognized in the last 30 years both by scientific production and by school curricula, and should no longer be confused as a content or annex of Geometry. With a qualitative approach, it made use of bibliographical research, using the method of systematic literature review to analyze the articles published between 2009 and 2019 that made up the corpus of analysis. It was observed that the focus of research has been on the approach of length, area and volume geometrical quantities. Research has shown that activities that propose the use of manipulative materials and software, through a differentiated and playful approach, provide better results in understanding the properties of Quantities and Measures. Finally, it was found that, in general, the works present length, area and volume as attributes of geometric objects, focusing on activities of comparison, production, composition and decomposition, subjectively enabling the dissociation between the frame of quantities, the frame geometric and numerical frame. Such an approach is important because it can contribute to the learning of Basic Education students when studying this topic at school, especially in the recognition of magnitude not as a number or a measure, but as a property of a geometric object or a natural phenomenon that can be compared or measured.