Toward a didactical practice based on mathematics laboratory activities

The introduction of computer technology in teaching has created the conditions for new teaching modalities of the constructive type. Nevertheless, the transformation of didactic practices is not guaranteed only by interaction with the tool. As a matter of fact, it requires the creation of the necessary conditions to the point where the pupils can, by means of the tools, conduct effective experiences with regard to the “mathematical objects ” of teaching and then utilise them as a basis for the internalising of appropriate mathematical meanings. These conditions bring us to a particular didactic activity that, in this paper, will be called mathematics laboratory activity (MLA). At the centre of the analysis of this report there is the definition of MLA and the study of what characterises it