Problemas matemáticos contextualizados a través de signos culturales. Una experiencia con profesores en formación

Abstract

Mathematics is understood as a culturally situated practice that emerges from the needs and activities of different sociocultural groups, rather than as an isolated, universal body of knowledge. Integrating students’ cultural experiences and local environments into mathematics teaching can support understanding of concepts while promoting inclusive and humanizing education. From this perspective, teacher education should include analysis of mathematical practices of diverse groups and the study of cultural signs as a basis for designing contextually rich problems. In the study described, Costa Rican pre-service teachers analyzed cultural signs and designed word problems, which were then examined using Palm’s authenticity criteria and the notion of culturally significant contextualization. Results show that problems grounded in fieldwork with real communities (e.g., artisanal fishing, Cabécar housing, salt production) achieved higher authenticity than those based only on bibliographic information, highlighting the value of direct engagement with local practices