This article starts with a cognitive analysis of an imaginary debate – reconstructed with excerpts from historical sources – concerning the shapes of particular sections of a right cone and of a right cylinder. Our analysis, based on the theory of figural concepts (Fischbein, 1993), suggests the following hypothesis: Where conic sections are concerned, a rupture between the figural and the conceptual aspects is to be expected and is not easily compounded. We carried out an exploratory study with expert university students in order to validate this hypothesis, exploring how students could compund the rupture and restore the unity between figural and conceptual components. In particular, what kind of geometrical concepts (conceptualisation), if any, these students were able to mobilise. After reporting the findings of the study, we shift to the didactic plane and suggest which tools of semiotic mediation could be introduced in order to enable the studen
Semiotic Mediation: from History to Mathematics Classroom / Bartolini, Maria Giuseppina; Mariotti, M. A.. - In: FOR THE LEARNING OF MATHEMATICS. - ISSN 0228-0671. - STAMPA. - 19 (2):(1999), pp. 27-35.
Semiotic Mediation: from History to Mathematics Classroom
BARTOLINI, Maria Giuseppina;
1999
Abstract
This article starts with a cognitive analysis of an imaginary debate – reconstructed with excerpts from historical sources – concerning the shapes of particular sections of a right cone and of a right cylinder. Our analysis, based on the theory of figural concepts (Fischbein, 1993), suggests the following hypothesis: Where conic sections are concerned, a rupture between the figural and the conceptual aspects is to be expected and is not easily compounded. We carried out an exploratory study with expert university students in order to validate this hypothesis, exploring how students could compund the rupture and restore the unity between figural and conceptual components. In particular, what kind of geometrical concepts (conceptualisation), if any, these students were able to mobilise. After reporting the findings of the study, we shift to the didactic plane and suggest which tools of semiotic mediation could be introduced in order to enable the studen
Pubblicazioni consigliate
I metadati presenti in IRIS UNIMORE sono rilasciati con licenza Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal, mentre i file delle pubblicazioni sono rilasciati con licenza Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale (CC BY 4.0), salvo diversa indicazione.
In caso di violazione di copyright, contattare Supporto Iris
