Otimização da produtividade de milho: uma investigação com conceitos matemáticos do ensino fundamental

Abstract

In the far western region of Santa Catarina, one of the main crops produced is corn. This study aims to explore how mathematical concepts related to this crop can be introduced to an 8th-grade class through mathematical modeling. The objective is to develop mathematical models to maximize corn yield, using concepts and skills that are accessible to students' understanding. The organization of the work involved several stages, including soil preparation, calculating the size of land plots, the quantity of seeds and nutrients per plot, crop management during the growth and development stages, and up to the harvest. The research was conducted collaboratively between the teacher and students to solve the problem of optimal productivity. The study focused solely on plant spacing as a variable and considered the quantities of fertilizer, nitrogen, and agricultural pesticides as constants. Experiments were conducted in six plots, requiring calculations of seed and input quantities. Using the corn production data, strategies were developed to find the optimal spacing, involving different mathematical concepts, as units of measurement for area and mass, quantities in the form of rates (productivity), notions of economics (costs, revenues, profits, and economic planning), proportions (in the form of the rule of three), organization of data in tables, Cartesian plane, and notions of functions.