Abstract
Four potential modes of interaction with diagrams in geometry are introduced. These are used to discuss how interaction with diagrams has supported the customary work of ‘doing proofs’ in American geometry classes and what interaction with diagrams might support the work of building reasoned conjectures. The extent to which the latter kind of interaction may induce tensions on the work of a teacher as she manages students’ mathematical work is illustrated.
Kurzreferat
Vier mögliche Formen der Interaktion mit geometrischen Darstellungen werden aufgezeigt. Diese Formen werden thematisiert um deutlich zu machen, wie visuelle Darbietungen im am erikanischen Geometrieunterricht das alltägliche Geschäft des Beweisens, unterstützen. Dadurch soll auch gezeigt werden, welche Art der Interaktion mit geometrischen Darstellungen es erlaubt, das Herstellen begründeter Vermutungen zu unterstützen. Zugleich wird das Ausmaß illustriert, mit welchem die letztere Art von Interaktion Spannungen innerhalb der unterrichtlichen Arbeit, der Lehrerin hervorruft, die sich darum bemüht, die mathematischen Beiträge, d.h. die mathematische Arbeit, der Schülerinnen und Schüler zu organisieren.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arzarello, F., Micheletti, C., Olivero, F., Robutti, O., and Paola, D. (1998): A model for analysing the transition to formal proofs in geometry.—In: A. Olivier & K. Newstead (Eds.),Proceedings PME 22 (v. 2). Stellenbosch, South Africa, pp. 24~31.
Bachelard, G. (1938):La formation de l’esprit scientifique.— Paris: Vrin.
Balacheff, N. (1999): Contract and custom: Two registers of didactical interactions.—In:The Mathematics Educator, 9, 23~29.
Brousseau, G. (1997),Theory of didactical situations in mathematics: Didactique des Mathematiques 1970~1990 (N. Balacheff, M. Cooper, R. Sutherland, and V. Warfield, Eds. and Trans.).—Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Kluwer.
Chauvenet, W. (1898):Treatise on elementary geometry (Revised and abridged by W. Byerly). Cambridge, MA: Lippincott. (Original revision published in 1887)
Chazan, D. (1995):Where do student conjectures come from? Empirical exploration in mathematics classes. National Center for Research on Teacher Learning, Craft Paper 95-8. E. Lansing, MI: Michigan State University.
Christiansen, I. (1997): When negotiation of meaning is also negotiation of task.Educational Studies in Mathematics, 34, 1–25.
Duval, R. (1995): Geometrical pictures: Kinds of representation and specific processings. In R. Sutherland and J. Mason (Eds.),Exploiting mental imagery with computers in mathematics education (pp. 142–157). Berlin: Springer.
Fregona, D. (1995):Les figures planes comme “milieu” dans l’enseignement de la geometrie: interactions, contrats et transpositions didactiques. Thesis, Université Bordeaux I.
Hadas, N., Herschkovitz, R., and Schwartz, B. (2000): The role of contradiction and uncertainty in promoting the need to prove in Dynamic Geometry environments.Educational Studies in Mathematics, 44, 127–150.
Herbst, P. (2002a): Establishing a custom of proving in American school geometry: evolution of the two-column proof in the early twentieth century.Educational Studies in Mathematics, 49, 283–312.
Herbst, P. (2002b): Engaging students in proving: A double bind on the teacher.Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 33, 176–203.
Herbst, P. (2003a): Using novel tasks in teaching mathematics: Three tensions affecting the work of the teacher.American Educational Research Journal, 40, 197–238.
Herbst, P. (2003b):Geometry, reasoning, and instructional practices.Unpublished raw data. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Herbst, P. (2003c): Descriptive and prescriptive interactions with diagrams and customary situations of proving in geometry. In N. Pateman, B. Dougherty, and J. Zilliox (Eds.),Proceedings of the 2003 Joint Meeting of PME and PMENA (Vol 1, p. 229). Honolulu: University of Hawaii.
Herbst, P. and Brach, C. (2004):Proving and proof in high school geometry: What is ‘it’ that is going on for students and how do they make sense of it? Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, California.
Herbst, P. (forthcoming a): Conceptualizing ‘equal area’ while proving a claim about equal areas. In revision forRecherches en Didactique des Mathématiques.
Herbst, P. (forthcoming b): Building reasoned conjectures while working on problems: Tensions in teaching geometry. Accepted atJournal for Research in Mathematics Education.
Hilbert, D. (1971):Foundations of Geometry (L. Unger, Trans., P. Bernays, Rev.), Open Court, La Salle, IL. (Original work published in German in 1899)
Jacobs, H. (1974). Geometry. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and company.
Jaworski, B. (1988): ‘Is’ versus ‘seeing as’: Constructivism and the mathematics classroom. In D. Pimm (Ed.),Mathematics, Teachers and Children (pp. 287–296). London: Holder & Stoughton.
Laborde, C. (2000): Dynamic geometry environments as a source of rich learning contexts for the complex activity of proving.Educational Studies in Mathematics, 44, 151–161.
Lakatos, I. (1976):Proofs and refutations: The logic of mathematical discovery: Cambridge University Press.
Mariotti, M. A., Bartolini-Bussi, M., Boero, P., Ferri, F. and Garuti, R. (1997):Approaching geometry theorems in contexts: From history and epistemology to cognition. In E. Pehkonen (Ed.),Proc. PME 21 (v. 1, pp. 180~195). Lahti, Finland.
Moise E. (1975): The meaning of Euclidean geometry in school mathematics.The Mathematics Teacher, 68, 472–477
Netz, R. (1998): Greek mathematics diagrams: their use and their meaning.For the Learning of Mathematics, 18(3), 33–39.
Netz, R. (1999):The shaping of deduction in Greek mathematics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Quast, W. G. (1968):Geometry in the High Schools of the United States: An Historical Analysis from 1890 to 1966. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Rutgers—The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick.
Richards, E. (1892): Old and new methods in elementary geometry.Educational Review, 3, 31–39.
Schoenfeld, A. (1987): On having and using geometrical knowledge. In J. Hiebert (Ed.),Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge: The case of mathematics (pp. 225–264). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Schultze, A.: 1912,The Teaching of Mathematics in Secondary Schools, MacMillan, New York.
Simon, M. (1996): Beyond inductive and deductive reasoning: The search for a sense of knowing.Educational Studies in Mathematics, 30, 197–210.
Usiskin, Z. (1980): What should not be in the algebra and geometry curricula of average college-bound students? The Mathematics Teacher, 73, 413–424.
Yerushalmy, M. and Chazan, D. (1993): Overcoming visual obstacles with the aid of the Supposer. In J. Schwartz, M. Yerushalmy, and B. Wilson (Eds.), The Geometric Supposer: What is it a case of? (pp. 25–56) Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.