From Grounding Metaphors to Technological Devices: A Call for Legitimacy in School Mathematics

The mutual relationship between real objects and mathematical constructions is at the very base of studies concerned with making sense in mathematics. In this wider perspective recent research studies have been concerned with the cognitive roots of mathematical concepts. Human perception and movement and, more generally, interaction with space and time are recognized as being of crucial importance for knowledge construction. A new approach to the cognitive science of mathematics, based on the notion of ‘embodied cognition’ assumes that mathematics cannot be considered as mind free. Accordingly, mathematical concepts derive from the cognitive activities of subjects and are highly influenced by the body structure. This article reports some examples of teaching experiments based on body-related metaphors. Some of them are carried out by means of technological devices. A call for legitimacy in school mathematics is made, both for an embodied cognition perspective and for a related use of technology. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.