STUDY OF LOGICAL RELATIONS USING TREES AND GRAPHS IN TASK WITH CLASSIFICATION TABLES

Resumo

In this work, the symbolic diagrams are drawn up of the logical relations established by children of between 3 and 5 years old during the resolution of a classification task on a table using symbolic codes that was set out in two forms: as the application and as the discovery of rules. Empirical data collected from 211 children provide graphic explanations of the significative difference found in the results between the answers in direct and inverse mode task. In mathematics the coexistence of two different but interrelated processes of thought to be highlighted: direct and inverse. However, the tasks in inverse mode should be standard practice in the preschool classroom. Moreover, the great success at the task in direct mode, recommended in some textbooks for children between 7 and 9 years old, underlines that the programming of activities designed to build up mathematical thought process at this stage should be reviewed.