O conceito de mediação em pesquisas no campo da Educação Matemática

Abstract

This study was motivated by the question "How has the concept of mediation, from Vygotsky's perspective, contributed to research in Mathematics Education?" and aimed to analyze the contributions of the concept of mediation, from Vygotsky's perspective, to research in Mathematics Education from 2019 to 2023. A qualitative, explanatory-descriptive approach was adopted, and the research is configured as bibliographic, assuming as methodology a systematic literature review, through searches in the CAPES Theses and Dissertations Database from 2019 to 2023. Among the results, we noticed that some works found use the term mediation in their arguments in the lexicographic sense, the one that is equivalent to intervention, and, in general, the term is used in the sense that approaches common sense, which is that of the dictionary. This meaning refers to the word's origin in Latin, mediatio, which refers to the act of intervening or placing oneself between two parties, and is related to the Latin root medius, meaning "in the middle" or "between two." In this study, we do not exclude this meaning but rather propose the perspective of Vygotsky's Historical-Cultural Theory, which expands on it. We hope to contribute to investigations on how the concept of mediation has been used in Mathematics Education research and how it differs from and/or approaches the concept grounded in Historical-Cultural Theory. We also propose reflections and provocations on how the term can contribute to Mathematics Education when treated from Vygotsky's perspective, considering the concept's depth in theory.