TEACHING COMPOUND INTEREST AND FINANCING WITH HP12C: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT IN THE CLASSROOM WITH COMPUTER MAINTENANCE STUDENTS

Abstract

The integration of financial mathematics into technical courses faces challenges such as the abstraction of concepts and the lack of practical contextualization, making it difficult for students to engage and understand. In order to overcome these barriers, the research aims to investigate how the HP12C calculator can contribute to the teaching of compound interest and financing in a high school class in Computer Maintenance, promoting more meaningful and contextualized learning. The guiding research question was: How can the use of HP12C facilitate the learning of compound interest and financing in a technical context, making the concepts more accessible and applicable to students on a computer maintenance course? In order to achieve the proposed objective, the action-research methodology combined with didactic engineering in mathematics was used. The research was applied to a second-year vocational high school class of 36 students in Itamaraju, Bahia. The stages of didactic engineering included preliminary analysis (identifying students' difficulties and reviewing the literature), conception and planning (practical activities linked to real-life situations, such as financing and investments), experimentation (carrying out the activities in class with the support of HP12C) and evaluation (analyzing the impact of the activities using questionnaires, observations and performance data). The HP12C financial calculator proved to be an effective tool for simulating real situations, making it easier to calculate complex formulas and connecting mathematical concepts to students' everyday lives, such as loans and investments. This approach promoted not only a greater understanding of the topics covered, but also an increase in student interest, contributing to a more contextualized and meaningful technical and civic education. In this way, the research reinforces the relevance of using pedagogical technologies to teach financial mathematics in technical courses, highlighting the role of HP12C as a resource that facilitates active and contextualized learning, in line with the technical and professional demands of students.