Storytelling, synergy between artefacts and play to construct the natural number sense

Abstract

The didactical experimental path here presented has been designed on the basis of the semiotic mediation theory and of the storytelling. This research and experimental work, carried out in a first grade class of primary school, aimed to build the sense of natural number and the number line, through the potential offered by the narrative structure of fairy tales, the aid of game and the use of artefacts, in a vertical curriculum perspective. Through the narration, the synergy of three artefacts and the game, the construction of the natural number sense was promoted in its three aspects cardinal, ordinal and recursive, encouraging students to acquire the teaching objectives expressed in the National guidelines and – from a more long-term perspective – in the goals for the development of skills set out in the same document.