Sémantique et Résolution de Problèmes Arithmétiques Simples

This paper concerns an experiment which begun four years ago (1984) in the province of Bologna, and is still in progress. It deals with a residential community (which we called an «apartment group» because it is, housed in normal city apartments) for seriously deprived children. The integration of two theoretical perspectives: the ecology of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), and the interactional-constructivist approach (Schaffer, 1984) has provided the theoretical frame of reference. We described how the regulation and stability of everyday life as well as the «scaffolding» activity of educators, became the crucial factors in promoting the developmental processes.