The UNISI ReMath Team

University of Siena - Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

The team is affiliated to the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of the University of Siena.

One of the main research interest of the team concerns the use of artefacts (both ICT tools and traditional tools) in mathematics education. More specifically, the focus is on the study of the role of artefacts in the development of students' personal meanings which can evolve towards mathematical meanings. Drawing from a Vygotskijan perspective, a specific theoretical framework has been developed in collaboration with other Italian researchers, in order to address that issue: the theory of semiotic mediation. The general research method of the team can be classified as "research for innovation": theoretical and experimental studies maintain a dialectic relationship. The theory of semiotic mediation has been elaborated, put to the test and refined through a number of empirical studies involving different artefacts and different mathematics domains (algebra and geometry). Some of these studies have been carried out in the frame of national research projects (PRIN 2007, PRIN 2005; http://prin.miur.it/).

Currently two lines of research are opened:

• the analysis of specific artefacts, aiming at a deeper knowledge of the artefact functioning as well as of its possible exploitation in didactic activities in order to establish its semiotic feasibility with respect to specific curricular objectives;
• the analysis of the actions of the teacher whose role is crucial for guiding the generation and evolution of meanings related to the activity with the artefact towards the target mathematical meanings.

Website (of the Dept. of Mathematics and CSCI): http://www.mat.unisi.it