Mathematical machines: from history to mathematics classroom

The chapter is composed of four sections. The first section presents some elements concerning the idea of mathematical laboratory connected to teacher education, then the theoretical background developed within a Vygotskian perspective. The other three sections propose three different activities about van Schooten’s ellipse drawing device, according to three different dimensions: in particular, the second session focuses on historical sources (historic-epistemological dimension); the third section on the manipulation of the mathematical machine (manipulative dimension) and the fourth section on the construction of a model of the same mathematical machine by a DGE (digital dimension).