Teachers, Students and Resources in Mathematics Laboratory

This paper deals with the methodology of mathematics laboratory from two points of view: the first one concerns teacher education, the second one concerns teaching experiments in the classes. Mathematics laboratory (described in the Italian national standards for mathematics for primary and secondary schools) can be considered as a productive “place” where constructing mathematics meanings, more a methodology than a physical place. It can be associated to inquiry based learning for students. An example of mathematics laboratory with cultural artefacts such as the mathematical machines (www.mmlab.unimore.it) is discussed.