MAKING BAD CONJECTURES AND INCOMPLETE PROOFS WITH GOOD…做出坏结论和不完善的证明与好.pdfVIP

MAKING BAD CONJECTURES AND INCOMPLETE PROOFS WITH GOOD DRAWINGS 1 WITHIN A DYNAMIC GEOMETRY ENVIRONMENT Giuseppe Accascina*, Giovanni Margiotta**, Enrico Rogora*** *Dip. Metodi e Modelli Matematici, Università di Roma “La Sapienza” ** MIUR ***Dipartimento di Matematica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza” accascina@dmmm.uniroma1.it **g.margiotta@istruzione.it ***rogora@mat.uniroma1.it We present some experiments with pre-service and in-service math teachers which show how the use of a good drawing with a dynamic geometry system sometimes “hides” some evident properties and therefore induces to miss some conjectures and to produce “proofs” with bugs. INTRODUCTION In order to give a geometric proof, which can be mastered by a student, it is important to be helped by a good drawing. There are many good examples of faulty geometric proofs based on wrong drawings (Dubnov, 1963; Ball, Coxeter, 1987). Sometimes in a proof one has to examine all the possible cases and therefore several drawings are required for a single theorem. Dynamic geometry software is very useful because it gives several good drawings all at once. When used in a problem solving activity, dynamic geometry software displays all its strength: the student, accustomed to read in a text a geometric proof and to repeat it, begins to work and think like a mathematic researcher (Schattschneider, King, 1997; Furinghetti, Olivero, Paola, 2001; Furinghetti, Paola, 2003). A dynamic geometry software is also fruitful when used to introduce students to proof (Mariotti, 2000; Mariotti, 2001). A central role in problem solving activities is played by dra