USING ARTIFACTS AND DYNAMIC GEOMETRY SOFTWARE IN PRIMARY SCHOOL INSPIRED BY MONTESSORI METHOD

Latest interactive and dynamic geometry software introduces new practices in Mathematics education, adding virtual 2D or 3D animated graphs to traditional artifacts and compass-and-straightedge constructions. This work presents the results of a teaching experiment in primary school, realized using Montessori method and setting math education through perceptual-sensory inputs. Cheap material was exploited to introduce pupils to one of the most important deductive process: the geometric proof. An all brand-new artifact was realized in order to explain Pythagorean Theorem using a hydro-mechanical system. The proof was performed starting from practice, direct observation by real and virtual tools. Pupils used GeoGebra, a dynamic geometry freeware: they built shapes, determined areas and verified the equivalence. Pupils repeated the proof using crayons, producing pictures full of creativity. Finally, we show a comparison between new technological tools and traditional real tools. Teacher’s role was to involve students in an educational project with real and virtual tools