Guía didáctica para prismas y pirámides rectos en geometría plana para la Carrera de Matemáticas y Física

Abstract

This study was carried out at the Department of Mathematics and Physics of the School of Philosophy, University of Cuenca. This work is about the challenging understanding of the subject of prisms and straight pyramids in geometry. In order to conduct this study, several techniques like interviews, surveys, and document revision were taken into account. All of them were carefully applied to obtain accurate results. Those results indicate that 54.55% of the students feature low academic performance in in the subject previously mentioned because three-dimensional topics are considered in two dimensions. The objectives is to enhance the students’ understanding of prisms and pyramids by using a handbook for teachers as well as teaching materials with three-dimensional figures, so that the student can see, feel, and use them. Therefore, a teaching handbook was produced for teachers, which is designed with in eight classes in a systematic way.It is necessary the support of teaching materials, experimental practices and the use of technological resources. The teaching handbook is based on the constructivist and cognitivist theories of Bruner, who states that learning is more meaningful and useful when students learn through action; in this way, they can acquire new knowledge from previous learning. Through this approach, the purpose is to persuade the students to participate actively in the teaching-learning process. It is expected that the students can deduce by themselves concepts, procedures, and formulas by organizing them to include them into their cognitive systems with playful activities and problems related to real life.