Framing geometric representations and practices in culturally diverse settings

Abstract

In Argentina, compulsory education covers children and young people from 4 to 18 years of age. In the province of Santa Fe, these 14 years are divided into 2 years of Initial Education, 7 years of Primary Education and 5 years of Secondary Education (6 years in technical-vocational schools). At the curricular level, the mathematics area is present in all these years (and even in numerous higherlevel courses: university and tertiary). With respect to geometry education, compulsory education deals with geometric, linear, plane, and spatial forms, their characteristics and properties, providing a connection with aspects of daily life while training in observation, visualization, representation, estimation and deduction, among other mental operations. Measurements of different magnitudes are also developed, with their systems of units, conversions, and procedures. The Ministry of Education of the Nation is responsible for guaranteeing comprehensive, permanent, and quality education for all the inhabitants of the country, setting the educational policy and controlling its compliance. The Ministry of Education of the Province of Santa Fe, in concert and concurrently with the first one, is responsible for planning, organization, supervision and financing, and guaranteeing access. For the coordinated planning and academic organization of educational actions, and in harmony with the Priority Learning Nuclei at the national level, the provincial Ministry prepares Curriculum Designs in which it establishes general guidelines for teaching, as well as specifications of topics to be developed in each area along with methodological considerations. Focusing on Primary and Secondary Education, the topics are organized into four axes: Numbers and Operations; Geometry and Measurement; Statistics and Probability; Algebra and Functions.