Circumferences and spirals in an informal mathematics education path between school and museum

Abstract

The work presented in this article is inspired by the perspective of informal mathematics education, in which mathematical activity is free from the constraints imposed by curricular traditions, textbooks and assessment tests. From this perspective, a learning path has been designed integrating classroom mathematics teaching-learning activities and a visit-workshop to the museum of Palazzo Madama in Turin. The path focuses on the theme of circumferences and spirals. The article discusses the design choices in the light of the theoretical framework and presents the results of an experimentation carried out through the methodology of the teaching experiment in two 6^th grade classes of lower secondary school, with particular attention to the teacher’s role, the integration between the museum activities and the class curriculum and the formative assessment methodology implemented.