Contemporary transversal themes from a critical perspective: teachers in the process of empowerment

Abstract

This article aims to investigate how the exploration of transversal tThemes by a group of teachers, in a critical perspective, can contribute to the empowerment of each one of the participants. The concept of empowerment is taken from the theoretical framework that makes up Critical Mathematics Education and its intersections with Paulo Freire's pedagogy. The six study participants are Mathematics teachers from public and private schools in the State of Rio de Janeiro. In the seven meetings, which took place remotely due to the social isolation imposed by the covid-19 pandemic, the participants discussed cross-cutting themes and reflected on some possibilities for exploring them in Mathematics classes. As a result, mathematics questions were collectively elaborated, having the cross-cutting themes as a background. Data were collected through audio and video recordings and a questionnaire. The analysis was based on an adapted way of working with generative themes, highlighting the moments of investigation, thematization and problematization. She revealed that the teachers, throughout the meetings, went from a naive conscience to a critical conscience, with regard to the use of cross-cutting themes in mathematics classes, as a path to empowerment.