Demonstrations in the Teaching of Geometry: discussions on teacher education through the use of new technologies

Abstract

This paper describes research conducted with mathematics teachers aiming to investigate the contribution of environments of dynamic geometry in their education, to encourage them to use demonstrations in the teaching of geometry. Considering demonstrations, which are by nature a key element in the construction of geometric knowledge, the proposal was that difficulties typically encountered in the necessary passage from empirical knowledge to formal knowledge, can be minimized or overcome through work in environments that allow experimentation, viewing, conjecturing, generalization and demonstration, as proposed by environments of dynamic geometry. The analysis was based on studies of Piaget (1983), Van Hiele (1959) and Didactic of Mathematics (BROUSSEAU, 1986, DUVAL, 1995). Didactic engineering was developed in the proposed environment, and the results suggest that such work is an effective alternative in the process of teacher education to encourage them to use demonstrations. Keywords: Teacher Education. Demonstrations. Dynamic Geometry.