EXPERIENCING GEOMETRY

Attracting students of different levels of education and stimulating the interest in mathematics in the youngest has been a concern of the Department of Mathematics of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon.

In this paper we report three activities that, using as starting point the Portuguese “azulejos” (tiles) and taking advantage of the interactivity associated with the GeoGebra free access program, emphasise the natural links between geometry and art.

The sessions last for two hours and take place in the newly created "Laboratory of Geometry" equipped with computers sponsored by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in the context of "Innovative Projects in the Educational Domain".

The many students who, accompanied by their mathematics teachers, come to the Faculty of Sciences to participate in these activities, and the way they engage in the challenges put to them, reinforces our conviction that the visual and interactive exploration of concepts facilitates their understanding and arouses the urge of "experiencing geometry".