Approaching and developing the culture of geometry theorems in school: a theoretical framework

Abstract. This paper is based on research work regarding the approach to geometry theorems and theories in schools carried out over the last eight years by teams in Genoa, Modena and Pisa. These studies have involved students of different age groups (from grade 5 to grade 12) and different thematic contexts. Although the specific goals of these projects differed to some extent, they did share some common features such as general goals, research methodology, epistemological analysis and cultural, cognitive and educational hypotheses. A common framework has emerged as a result of a longstanding dialectic discussion dating back to the design of our teaching experiments: this framework has brought to light some of the deep yet implicit common motives and theoretical perspectives of our independent research designs. This paper provides a unified framework of the research studies which have been reported in other papers (Bartolini Bussi, 1996; Bartolini Bussi & al, 1999; Boero et al., 1996; 1999; Garuti et al., 1996, 1998; Mariotti, 1995; 1996; Mariotti et al, 1997).