Abstract:

This article is the result of a Project carried out in classes of the Higher Technical Courses in Management and Accounting in Portugal aiming to involve students in mathematics related subjects, more precisely, in the curricular unit of Quantitative Methods. This project focused on showing students where in their daily lives and professional lives they can make use of the methods learned in the discipline. With the aim of making the students' experience more beneficial in relation to the Quantitative Methods discipline and bringing more to the students' reality to the contents of Linear Algebra, more specifically, linear systems and matrices, the Problem-Based Learning methodology was included in the course as one of the forms of assessment.

From December 6th to 16th of 2020, increasing solving difficulty problem situations with closed questions were shared in classroom, giving the option to students to respond individually or in a group. Students were supervised by teachers, but they had complete autonomy in carrying out the work if they decided to do so. Four groups were created and each one chose a different problem situation. Resolutions of the problems were submitted online on the Higher Education Institution administrative management tool called Nónio.

The project intended to evaluate and understand whether students were capable of absorbing, assimilating and interpreting the data from the problem situation statements and then extract all the information that would help them obtain the desired answers. The learning methodology proposed implies the application of the methods learned in the classroom both manually and through the use of computer software Excel and the its auxiliary tool: Solver.

The results obtained revealed that the students felt comfortable with the proposed problem situations linked to their daily lives and that they brought them closer to reality, bringing them a greater connection with the discipline. This indicates that the introduction of a teaching model that is more focused on reality is currently one of the best ways of working with students in a given subject, because students see its applicability resulting in a faster and more consolidated learning. Furthermore, students feel more motivated, important, even more curious and interested.

This article intends to inspire other teacher in innovative and active learning methodologies, renewing the interest of students in mathematics and other related subjects.

Keywords:

Innovative active learning methodologies, Problem-based learning, Quantitative Methods, Linear Algebra, Excel.