Abstract:

Nowadays we live in an ever-changing society. The educational context is no exception, and requires a renewal of paradigms. Profound changes to the role and function of the professor and the students are particularly vital.
Active, cooperative and participative methodologies of learning must be privileged, breaking with magisterial education and the mere transmission of knowledge.
Informatics tools, mainly those allowing remote use, can become a major element in the educational context, promoting significant and self-regulated learning by the student, always under the adequate orientation of the Professor.
In this context, the Mathematical Project Education (PmatE) was created in the University of Aveiro, with the main objective of identifying and fighting the causes of school failure in mathematics in an innovative manner. Within the scope of this project, a platform of computer aided education has been developed, aiming to support education and learning, and allowing: management of the groups involved; elaboration of tests; research of student performance; analysis of results and, consequently, regulation of the process of education and learning.
However, this platform has not yet been subject to a systematic evaluation, especially at the higher education level, that will allow us to conclude whether its goals have been achieved.
Thus, the question underlying this investigation is: What impact does the platform of assisted education developed by PmatE have in the learning of mathematical subjects at the higher education level?
We proposed to evaluate the impact of the platform developed in the scope of PmatE in students of Superior Education regarding:
- the development of appetence towards mathematics, manifested through a higher interest in the discipline;
- the development of autonomy abilities;
- the process of learning regulation;
- the ability to transfer acquired knowledge to other mathematical situations, involving tasks of the same or different nature.

The empirical part of the case study, in an investigation-action context, encompassed students of the curricular unit of Mathematical Analysis I (2008/2009 1st semester), of the plan of studies of the Science Food Engineering of the Superior School of Tourism and Sea Technology (ESTM), of Leiria's Polytechnical Institute.
Preliminary analysis of the data collected through several techniques, using diverse data collecting mechanisms, indicates there are interesting alternatives to the dominant pedagogies in higher education (where education assumes a form almost exclusively magisterial and is based on the transmission of knowledge), with greater advantage in the construction of knowledge on the part of the students, centered in a logic of skill development.
Moreover, it allows us to reflect on the conditions that will enhance the implementation of a model that has the learning of the students as the basis, respecting their individual rhythm, and favoring an education centered in pupil’s body of work, including that not accomplished in non-formal environments through the PmatE platform.
Finally, it motivates a discussion on the relevancy of evolving from a logic still very based on a behaviorist paradigm, that characterizes the PmatE, to a less structured environment, more complex and whose challenge is intrinsic to the individual task.

Keywords:

computer assisted learning, curriculum development, education, mathematics.