Untying knots: developing visualization from twisted string experiments

• Autor(a) principal: Leivas, José Carlos Pinto
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Mathias, Carmen Vieira
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Zetetiké (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/zetetike/article/view/8661730
• topic: Knots theory; Ropes; Geometry; Teoria de nós; Cordões; Geometria

This paper presents the results of a qualitative research, whose design fits the strategic principle experiments and quasi-experiments', carried out in 2019, with the aim of investigating how participants in a geometry research group would construe in a intuitive, imaginative and creative way 'knots' in ropes randomly dropped onto a flat surface. Through a rhetorical analysis of the group participants' records, taking into consideration the proposed activities, it was possible to conclude that visual skills can be explored in both initial and continuous action with the group participants, starting from the imagination and intuition when raising a hypothesis. Using the cords available the participants could prove or reject their hypotheses. We conclude that even more advanced content, such as homotopy alongside with knot theory, can be explored at different levels of education, which can be a facilitating element not only in geometry studies but also in different fields of mathematical knowledge.