Argumentação e resolução de problemas: habilidades cognitivas de estudantes do ensino médio de duas escolas de Toledo/Pr

Abstract

Considering the school as a socio-cultural locus that favors the development of students' cognitive abilities, and based on Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory, we analyze the Written Discussion and Problem-Solving of students in the second year of high school, from two schools in Toledo, a city from Paraná. One of the schools is in the countryside (Escola do Campo – Countryside school) and the other is in the city (Escola Urbana- Urban school). This qualitative research was carried out with 25 high-school students and aimed at investigating if the students from both analyzed schools can construct written arguments and solve problems, from socio-scientific ones based on daily problems, respectively. Thus, these students’ performance was analyzed concerning the construction of written arguments and problem solving. The data collection of this research was obtained by a questionnaire and complementary data such as technical visit, analysis of the School's Political Pedagogical Project, field observation and Sociocultural questionnaire. The questionnaire was composed of socio-cultural demands, socio-scientific and daily problems. Sociocultural questions aimed at knowing the studied public, their personal, professional and cultural interests, while additional data allowed us to know the contexts of both surveyed schools. But, this research focused on analyzing the problems (socio-scientific and daily ones) that the students answered when we offered them these questionnaires. Data analysis was obtained by Toulmin (2001) standard and Bardin (2009) content analysis. Our results point out that the studied students present difficulties to build written arguments and low performance in solving everyday problems. Few students were able to construct written arguments containing the basic elements of an argument from the Toulmin standard. Likewise, few of them could solve daily problems. In general, we conclude that the students from both surveyed schools have not developed skills about written argumentation and problem solving, and we stand up for those skills that should be exercised in school.