Instrumental genesis of students’ comparison strategies in a digital environment of dynamic Geometry

Abstract

This paper reports on how a different learning approach in the context of digital environment of dynamic Geometry contributes to the construction of a variety of comparison strategies by students, according to the theory of instrumental genesis. We explore how the tool is shaping students’ actions and simultaneously how students shape the tool by attributing to it new uses. In our experiment participated 48 pupils (13-14 years old). From the qualitative analysis of the data comes that the students have dynamically exploited the tools of the educational software Cabri-Geometry II and approached the comparison of lengths in many different ways, most of them unusual for school practice.