We are presenting the didactic-educational software package MatCos 1.0 aimed at mathematical instruction in primary schools. MatCos was conceived and created in the Interdepartmental Centre for Didactic Research of the University of Calabria in 2005.
The reasoning behind this software product is not that of pre-programmed instruction where pupils follow a pre-defined didactic programme. On the contrary, within the MatCos environment pupils operate independently in a ‘programming environment’ made easy.
The software programme, in fact, offers two alternative modes of operating: either the use of icons with pre-defined commands, or the chance to type in the commands independently. In both cases each command includes one or more (relative) parameters essential to the mathematical concept to be represented.
This option has a dual educational value: it facilitates the learning of fundamental mathematical concepts on the one hand, while on the other it gradually introduces pupils to programming through the use of mathematical notions suitable for their age group. The software programme, written in the pupils’ native tongue, gives them the opportunity to operate in a virtual environment through a graphic interface. As far as Geometry is concerned, for example, the geometric properties of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes can be highlighted and/or discovered.
Based on its didactic potential and educational aims, the software package MatCos 1.0 has been tested in various schools in the region Calabria (Italy). It is also being studied in the didactic laboratories of the Degree Course in Primary Education Science at the University of Calabria.
Therefore we will present some of the activities suggested to the teachers that tested the programme, as well as some interesting experimental results.