“I know how to do it in practice, but I don't know how to do it in grammar”: reflections on the different mathematical knowledge of elderly people in the literacy process.

This article is the result of a study with seniors enrolled in a literacy class belonging to Youth and Adult Education (EJA) in the city of Uberaba - MG. The main objective was to know the reasons for leaving and returning to the school context of these literacy students and to highlight the different mathematical knowledge manifested by them during the research. To this end, an empirical study of a qualitative nature was developed, whose main data production tools were participant observations and semi-structured interviews. Both the records present in the field diary and the statements of the research subjects were objects of analysis in this study. The results indicate that these subjects have not previously experienced schooling processes due to a convergence of numerous factors, the main of which resided in the absence of an educational system that guaranteed their right to education, and currently, in the search for the realization of this right, they return with the variety of mathematical knowledge produced and mobilized through their social practices in different situations. We conclude by highlighting the need to move forward with new pedagogical practices in which these different mathematical knowledges are the focus of discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]