10,014 research outputs found
Cabri's role in the task of proving within the activity of building part of an axiomatic system
We want to show how we use the software Cabri, in a Geometry class for preservice mathematics teachers, in the process of building part of an axiomatic system of Euclidean Geometry. We will illustrate the type of tasks that engage students to discover the relationship between the steps of a geometric construction and the steps of a formal justification of the related geometric fact to understand the logical development of a proof; understand dependency relationships between properties; generate ideas that can be useful for a proof; produce conjectures that correspond to theorems of the system; and participate in the deductive organization of a set of statements obtained as solution to open-ended problems
Dynamic geometry, implication and abduction: a case study
In this paper we illustrate the role of dynamic geometry as an environment that propitiates the use of empirical explorations to favor learning to prove. This is possible thanks to abductive processes, related to the establishment of implications that university students of a plane geometry course carry out when, supported by a dynamic geometry program, they solve a problem in which they must discover a geometric fact, formulate a conjecture and prove it
Towards Ranking Geometric Automated Theorem Provers
The field of geometric automated theorem provers has a long and rich history,
from the early AI approaches of the 1960s, synthetic provers, to today
algebraic and synthetic provers.
The geometry automated deduction area differs from other areas by the strong
connection between the axiomatic theories and its standard models. In many
cases the geometric constructions are used to establish the theorems'
statements, geometric constructions are, in some provers, used to conduct the
proof, used as counter-examples to close some branches of the automatic proof.
Synthetic geometry proofs are done using geometric properties, proofs that can
have a visual counterpart in the supporting geometric construction.
With the growing use of geometry automatic deduction tools as applications in
other areas, e.g. in education, the need to evaluate them, using different
criteria, is felt. Establishing a ranking among geometric automated theorem
provers will be useful for the improvement of the current
methods/implementations. Improvements could concern wider scope, better
efficiency, proof readability and proof reliability.
To achieve the goal of being able to compare geometric automated theorem
provers a common test bench is needed: a common language to describe the
geometric problems; a comprehensive repository of geometric problems and a set
of quality measures.Comment: In Proceedings ThEdu'18, arXiv:1903.1240
Improving QED-Tutrix by Automating the Generation of Proofs
The idea of assisting teachers with technological tools is not new.
Mathematics in general, and geometry in particular, provide interesting
challenges when developing educative softwares, both in the education and
computer science aspects. QED-Tutrix is an intelligent tutor for geometry
offering an interface to help high school students in the resolution of
demonstration problems. It focuses on specific goals: 1) to allow the student
to freely explore the problem and its figure, 2) to accept proofs elements in
any order, 3) to handle a variety of proofs, which can be customized by the
teacher, and 4) to be able to help the student at any step of the resolution of
the problem, if the need arises. The software is also independent from the
intervention of the teacher. QED-Tutrix offers an interesting approach to
geometry education, but is currently crippled by the lengthiness of the process
of implementing new problems, a task that must still be done manually.
Therefore, one of the main focuses of the QED-Tutrix' research team is to ease
the implementation of new problems, by automating the tedious step of finding
all possible proofs for a given problem. This automation must follow
fundamental constraints in order to create problems compatible with QED-Tutrix:
1) readability of the proofs, 2) accessibility at a high school level, and 3)
possibility for the teacher to modify the parameters defining the
"acceptability" of a proof. We present in this paper the result of our
preliminary exploration of possible avenues for this task. Automated theorem
proving in geometry is a widely studied subject, and various provers exist.
However, our constraints are quite specific and some adaptation would be
required to use an existing prover. We have therefore implemented a prototype
of automated prover to suit our needs. The future goal is to compare
performances and usability in our specific use-case between the existing
provers and our implementation.Comment: In Proceedings ThEdu'17, arXiv:1803.0072
Analyzing the proving activity of a group of three students
We present an analysis and outline an evaluation of the proving activity of a group of three university level students when solving a geometrical problem whose solution required the formulation of a conjecture and its justification within a specific theoretical system. To carry out the analysis, we used the model presented by Boero, Douek, Morselli and Pedemonte (2010) that centers on the arguments and rational behavior. Our analysis indicates that the student‘s proving activity is close to the one we used as a reference
Use of dragging as organizer for conjecture validation
In this article, we report on a study centred on the teaching and learning of proof in which there is evidence that dragging becomes a source for significant student participation in the validation of conjectures. The findings highlight the teacher’s use of dragging as an organizer of the activity, in cases when there are conjectures that students consider acceptable but for which they do not have the theoretical elements to validate them
On development of students' abilities in problem posing: a case of plan geometry
The paper reports on results of the training, which was aimed at the formation of skills and habits of posing problems of different complexity levels in the course of plane geometry using the drawing as the primary source for students’ activities in problem posing process. The paper describes and analyses some tasks, which were developed to enable the researchers to look into the thinking processes used by students when they are involved in problem posing activities. The author stresses role of students’ skills to inquiry work and important features of the use of technology in the different stages of the training
Integrating DGSs and GATPs in an Adaptative and Collaborative Blended-Learning Web-Environment
The area of geometry with its very strong and appealing visual contents and
its also strong and appealing connection between the visual content and its
formal specification, is an area where computational tools can enhance, in a
significant way, the learning environments.
The dynamic geometry software systems (DGSs) can be used to explore the
visual contents of geometry. This already mature tools allows an easy
construction of geometric figures build from free objects and elementary
constructions. The geometric automated theorem provers (GATPs) allows formal
deductive reasoning about geometric constructions, extending the reasoning via
concrete instances in a given model to formal deductive reasoning in a
geometric theory.
An adaptative and collaborative blended-learning environment where the DGS
and GATP features could be fully explored would be, in our opinion a very rich
and challenging learning environment for teachers and students.
In this text we will describe the Web Geometry Laboratory a Web environment
incorporating a DGS and a repository of geometric problems, that can be used in
a synchronous and asynchronous fashion and with some adaptative and
collaborative features.
As future work we want to enhance the adaptative and collaborative aspects of
the environment and also to incorporate a GATP, constructing a dynamic and
individualised learning environment for geometry.Comment: In Proceedings THedu'11, arXiv:1202.453
Proof in dynamic geometry contexts
Proof lies at the heart of mathematics yet we know from research in mathematics education that proof is an elusive concept for many mathematics students. The question that this paper raises is whether the introduction of dynamic geometry software will improve the situation – or whether it make the transition from informal to formal proof in mathematics even harder. Through discussion of research into innovative teaching approaches with computers the paper examines whether such approaches can assist pupils in developing a conceptual framework for proof, and in appropriating proof as a means to illuminate geometrical ideas
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