Significados institucionales de la demostración. Implicaciones para la educación matemática

Abstract

In this paper the following main features of the meaning of proof in different institutional contexts, logic and foundations of mathematics, professional mathematics, experimental sciences, daily life and teaching of mathematics are analysed.This analysis suggests that the study of the epistemological and didactical problems involved in the teaching of proof in school mathematics should be carried out within the most general framework of human argumentative practices. A possible explanation for some students’ cognitive conflict and difficulties with mathemat­ical proof is the fact that at the different teaching levels and various stages of personal mathematical activity, the institutional meanings of proof are intertwined.