Javier García-García, Catalina Navarro Sandoval
y Flor Monserrat Rodríguez Vásquez
Abstract: This article presents some results of research conducted with the Ñuu Savi (mixteca) population of the state of Guerrero, Mexico. The objective is to show some strategies identified in the productions of students of sixth-grade students (elementary school) when solving arithmetic problems: formal and practical. The study is important because there are no researches with the same objective focused in the ethnic population, and because of the importance that interculturality takes in the programs of study (sep, 2011). The research is a case study, with five children aged between 11 and 13 years old. The instruments to collect data used are the following: questionnaires (written in Spanish) and group interviews (in the child’s native language). The results confirm the following: Tee Savi (mixtecos) children present difficulties and errors in solving arithmetic problems for purely mathematical questions and also show a poor understanding of Spanish, the language used at school, as a factor that hinders the understanding of the problem.
Keywords: solving problems, Ñuu Savi, solution strategies, elementary school.
