Abstract:

This research aimed to analyze the social representations of mathematics among Agronomy undergraduates using the Free Word Association Test (FWAT) combined with prototypical analysis. Data collection consisted of a questionnaire in which participants were asked to write five words spontaneously associated with the inductive term “mathematics” and to hierarchize their answers. This spontaneous technique allowed the identification of meaningful elements rooted in students’ memories and perceptions, which were later organized, tabulated in Excel, and processed in CSV format for lexical analysis. The corpus comprised 570 words, 235 evoked by beginners (1st–2nd semesters) and 335 by seniors (9th–10th semesters), later standardized and grouped by semantic similarity. The openEvoc software was employed to process frequencies and mean order of evocation (OME), enabling the identification of central and peripheral elements of the students’ representations. Prototypical analysis crossed two fundamental indicators—frequency and order of evocation—generating four zones that characterize the salience of each element. The results revealed that both beginners and seniors, despite declaring that they like mathematics and consider themselves capable of following math-related disciplines, still associate the subject with negative feelings. Words such as “pain,” “fear,” “suffering,” “tears,” and “despair” emerged prominently, outweighing neutral or positive terms. This paradox demonstrates that although students consciously recognize the importance of mathematics to their academic and professional training, their subconscious representations remain strongly linked to difficulty and negative experiences. These findings highlight the persistence of affective barriers in mathematical learning and reinforce the need for pedagogical approaches that address not only cognitive but also emotional dimensions of students’ experiences in higher education.

Keywords:

Mathematics education, social representations, Agronomy students.