Active Learning Methodologies in Pre-Service Primary Teacher Education for Mathematics: An Analysis of BNCC-Aligned Lesson Plans and Practices

Mathematics teaching in the early years of Brazilian elementary school is still characterized by transmissive practices and the repetition of algorithms, which are associated with low achievement and negative attitudes toward the subject. Pre-service education of pedagogy students, who will be responsible for this teaching, is a strategic space to break this cycle. This study analyzed how active learning methodologies were mobilized by pre-service teachers when planning and enacting, through peer simulations, mathematics activities aligned with the Brazilian National Common Curricular Base (BNCC). This is a qualitative, descriptive-interpretive study conducted in the course Mathematics Teaching Methodology II of a Pedagogy program. The corpus comprised 11 lesson plans produced by two groups of pre-service teachers, observation records, student productions, and reflective reports. Lesson plans underwent documentary analysis, with coding of eight elements of active methodologies and descriptive statistics; three interventions (multiplication board game, mathematical market, and challenge wheel) were examined in depth through categorical-thematic content analysis. The plans covered all five BNCC thematic units, mainly Numbers and Algebra (27.3% each), and included on average 4.7 (SD = 1.1) of the eight elements analyzed. Playfulness (90.9%), collaborative work, and concrete materials (72.7% each) were the most frequent; planned oral argumentation and digital technology were the least frequent (27.3% each). Content analysis yielded four categories: engagement and participation, logical-mathematical reasoning, collaborative learning, and pedagogical mediation. The activities fostered participation, the use of diverse strategies, such as numerical decomposition and comparison of quantities, and the collective validation of solutions, especially when the teacher educator asked participants to explain their reasoning. Active methodologies in pre-service education broaden future teachers' didactic repertoire, provided they are combined with intentional planning of mathematical argumentation and skilled teacher mediation.