From shapes to geometric figures. An educational itinerary on quadrilaterals

Abstract

This paper is addressed to primary school teachers, in order to provide an example of a didactic path which, casually born and developed through simple activities, appeared rich of suggestions and potentiality. The didactic itinerary, experimented with 9-10 years old children, is focused on the manipulation of coloured templates, with the shape of particular right-angled triangles, and on their juxtaposition to represent other geometrical shapes, mainly triangles and quadrilaterals. After the description of the theoretical background, I illustrate its phases, with comments on the students’ tasks and the related results.