The App Amplia Mente as a digital resource enabling the development of mathematical concepts in students with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

In this article, the authors analyze the contributions and the possibilities provided by the use of an educational software, named App Amplia Mente, in the learning process of mathematical concepts in students with the diagnosis of intellectual disabilities (ID). The study emerged by the key question: which are the contributions of App Amplia Mente in the process of teaching and learning of mathematical concepts to people with ID, during distance learning? Two students with ID diagnosis who frequented the mainstream education in one period and in the other the Specialized Educational Service (SES), participated the research remotely, due to the coronavirus pandemic - Covid-19, from which the data were collected. The research is characterized as qualitative by approach of pedagogical intervention in case study, underpinned by the Historical-Cultural theory. The data records, shown here, were generated by the resolution of multiplicative situations which were made available in a first moment by the software Amplia Mente and restarted subsequently, with the students, synchronously during the services. The data analysis occurred through the theme category denominated: evidences of conceptual assimilation, social interactions and symbolic mediations. The results indicate that: a) The App Amplia Mente contributed so the students kept motivated to perform their tasks during the distance learning; b) The social interaction and the interventions made by the teacher were necessary for the students to advance in the process of mathematical concepts’ assimilation.