Conjecturing and Proving as Rational Behaviors

My contribution relies on the research work carried on in the last fifteen years by the Genoa Research Group in Mathematics Education, which mainly concerned the early approach to conjecturing and proving (grades VII-VIII) and related cognitive and epistemological issues. Our results have been presented at the PME Conferences in Lisbon (1994, PME-XVIII: research report presented by Boero), Recife (PME-XIX, RR pres. by Garuti), Valencia (1996, PME-XX: RRs pres. by Boero and Garuti), Lahti (1997, PME-XXI: research forum pres. by Maria Alessandra Mariotti; Genoa, Modena and Pisa teams involved), Stellenbosch (1998, PME-XXII: RR pres. by Boero), Haifa (1999, PME-XXIII: RRs pres. by Boero and Douek). A comprehensive description of the experimental and theoretical investigation carried on by the Genoa Group in the period 1993-2005 is presented in the book "Theorems in school: from history, epistemology and cognition to classroom practice" (see Chapters 7, 10, 12, 13) edited by me and published by Sense Publ. in 2007.