Nancy Nazareth Gatzke Correa

Background

A teacher with the State Department of Education of Paraná, a Physics teacher at Colégio Elo Formação Integral (Sistema Anglo) and at Colégio Casucha (Sistema Positivo). She takes part as a (guest) lecturer in the Specialisation programme “Education, Society and Technology” (IFPR-Jacarezinho) with the course “Metacognition and Learning”. She has also worked as a collaborating Physics lecturer in the Mathematics degree at the UENP.

From an early age I was interested in understanding learning processes. As a child, at the age of 11, I already had a space at home with a blackboard and a table, where I helped the neighbourhood children who had difficulties; at school I took part in study and enrichment groups with my classmates. In the classroom, and through private tutoring focused on teaching mathematics, and in secondary school, in addition to mathematics lessons, I also taught physics.

When I finished secondary school, I looked for a programme that would allow me to keep teaching, so I enrolled in the Sciences degree at the Universidade Estadual do Norte do Paraná (UENP), and later completed my degree in Physics. After finishing my degree (2000), I began teaching Physics in the private sector, teaching Science and Physics. In 2009 I joined the State Department of Education of Paraná as a Physics teacher, where I most often work teaching Mathematics. In basic education I remain a teacher at the same schools to this day. In the 2020/2022 period I worked as a temporary lecturer in the Mathematics degree at the Universidade Estadual do Norte do Paraná, teaching the Physics course, and I am currently a (guest) Lecturer in the Specialisation programme “Education, Society and Technology” at the Federal Institute of Paraná – Jacarezinho Campus (IFPR), with the course “Metacognition and Learning”.

My research journey begins with trying to understand teaching strategies. In 2013 I completed a specialisation in “Methodology of Mathematics and Physics Teaching” at FACINTER, which did not resolve my conflicts and frustrations over students’ insufficient learning.

With years of teaching and the challenges of the teaching–learning process, together with the failure of many students in learning Physics and Mathematics, I decided to research this academically, so I enrolled in the Master’s programme in Science Teaching and Mathematics Education. At the Universidade Estadual de Londrina – Paraná (UEL), I focused on studying the concept of metacognition of Flavell and other authors and learning processes (ILIRES, 2013). Along the way I understood that in order to learn one must master a “relationship” (CHARLOT, 2000), and so I ventured into the concept of relationships to knowledge of Arruda, Lima and Passos (2011), which allowed me to understand the composition of the metacognitive process and to relate it to relationships to knowledge, as well as to outline the metacognitive profile of a group of students through a reflective group interview. This made it possible to complete my dissertation in 2017, entitled: PERCEPCIONES Y REFLEXIONES DE ESTUDIANTES DE SECUNDARIA EN EL PROCESO METACOGNITIVO DEL APRENDIZAJE EN FÍSICA.

I then continued the doctoral project on the same topic, carrying out somewhat more robust research, with data collected over three years, investigating theoretically and empirically the concepts of metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive skills and metacognitive experience, based on the studies of Anastasia Efklides and Tarricone, and on data collected from secondary-school students. In this study I present a model of the fundamental processes of metacognitive learning, inspired by Ilires (2013), which was the basis for proposing a representation of the metacognitive system, detailed through a map of the metacognitive system, understood as a complex and elaborate reflective network that acts on the cognitive system through the interaction of incentives: reflective, conative, complex problem-solving, and a feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction when solving a problem. The thesis was completed in 2021, entitled: MAPEO DE LA PERCEPCIÓN DEL SISTEMA METACOGNITIVO EN EL APRENDIZAJE EN FÍSICA: UN ESTUDIO DE INFORMES DE ESTUDIANTES DE SECUNDARIA.

After completing my doctorate, I continued my research on metacognition by taking part in the EDUCIM-UEL research group led by Dr Sergio de Mello Arruda and Dr Marinez Meneghello Passos (my Master’s and doctoral supervisor), and I began my participation in the GruPECT-UPF research group led by Dr Cleci T. Werner da Rosa and Dr Luiz Marcelo Darroz, as well as taking part in a broader discussion group on metacognition coordinated by Dr Cleci T. Werner da Rosa together with the researchers: Dr Mauricio Abreu Pinto Peixoto of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; Dr Jesús Cardoso Brabo of the Federal University of Pará; Dr Italo Gabriel Neide of the University of Vale do Taquari; and Dr Solange W. Locatelli of the Federal University of ABC.

I continue to research metacognition in learning processes, producing articles and following the progress of research in the groups in which I take part.