THE END OF CLASS TASK IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL THINKING IN MATHEMATICS

Problem solving, decision-making and the consequent development of critical thinking seek to foster students' autonomy and critical thinking so that they have success in their learning throughout the educational process, acquiring, in this way, necessary tools that will help them overcome the diverse and complex challenges that will arise in their daily lives.

Learning based on problem solving, seeks to promote students’ critical thinking and some essential key competences, in order to acquire necessary new techniques and knowledge to overcome the obstacles that arise during the life time of any citizen.

The end of lesson task is fundamental to encourage students' thinking in the acquisition of independent attitudes, contributing to their training as responsible and collaborative individuals. Integrated in problem solving context prepares students to acquire new skills and knowledge, which are central and necessary to overcome the obstacles that will arise in the course of their life. Thus, students develop a critical spirit that can lead them to innovation and change.

In this work we share a teaching experience carried out in a math class with 23 students of the 5th grade from the 2nd cycle of Portuguese basic education, in which was implemented three end of lesson tasks.

The methodology was qualitative and interpretative, using the case study design. In data processing related to the analysis of the end of lesson tasks, we used content analysis, and we present examples that represent each category.

The comparative study of the results of the end of lesson tasks revealed that the implementation of questioning between this tasks, allowed the students to improve their ability to interpret, as well as, their critical analysis and reflection.