The concept of rational numbers in secondary and higher education: a systematic review of the literatura in latin america.

This article brings results from a doctoral research, focusing on teaching and learning of the concept of rational numbers, relevant both in the school context and in everyday living activities. The complexity of the subject has aroused the interest of several researchers over the years, considering that high school and college students still do not understand the concept, although it has been introduced in the early grades. The main objective of this research is to conduct a Systematic Review of the Latin American Literature in the last ten years, on the concept of rational numbers after its study in elementary school, that is, in high school and in higher education. Among the purposes of the research is the pursuit to identify which themes are present in the investigations, with the intention of knowing the nature of the issues perceived in the classroom while using the concept, as well as the gaps left and recent trends in the field of mathematics education research. By observing the stages of a Systematic Review of Literature, the analyzed corpus consists of 45 articles. With this analysis it was possible to identify 4 main themes: Ratio and Proportional Reasoning; Rational Number Operations; Rational Number Representations; and The Concept of Rational Numbers and their Interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]