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Abstract

In this paper, we analyse the processes through which students come to negotiate mathematical meanings for reflective symmetry. We describe a microworld, Turtle Mirrors, designed to provide tools to help students focus simultaneously on actions, visual relationships and symbolic representations. Through a detailed case study of one student‘s thinking-in-change, we examine how the interactions with her partner and with the machine support a fusion of spontaneous and scientific concepts. Other examples of students‘ work further illustrate how the microworld tools offer a means to supplement local understandings of symmetry with those with more explicit, mathematical formulations.

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Hoyles, C., Healy, L. Unfolding Meanings for Reflective Symmetry. International Journal of Computers for Mathematical Learning 2, 27–59 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009721414546

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