From using artefacts to mathematical meanings: the teacher’s role in the semiotic mediation process

The didactic potential of artefacts for learning have
been extensively studied, with a main focus on their possible
use by students and the subsequent benefits for them.
However, there has been the tendency to underestimate
the complexity of exploiting this potential, and specifically the
complexity of the teacher’s role orchestrating the teaching
and learning process. Following Vygotskij’s seminal idea of
semiotic mediation, the theoretical framework of Theory
of Semiotic Mediation (TSM) has been developed (Bartolini
Bussi & Mariotti, 2008) with the aim of providing a teaching
and learning model, where attention is focused on the
semiotic processes related to the use of cultural artefacts.
Through the semiotic lens it is possible to analyse the classroom
discourse and highlight specific patterns in the teacher’s
action that make students’ personal meanings evolve towards
the mathematical meanings that are the objective
of the didactic intervention. The paper presents a first model
of the teacher’s action and provides some examples drawn
from long term teaching experiments carried out at the primary
school level.