Óscar Molina, Patricia Perry,
Leonor Camargo y Carmen Samper
Abstract:The purpose of this article is to present the meaning that pre-service teachers give to the Point Localization Theorem, a Euclidean plane geometry theorem. We infer the meaning from the students’ use of the theorem when they try to justify a procedure for which it is not adequate. We point out that the error this mistake entails becomes a path used deliberately by the teacher to favor semiosis with respect to the meaning of the theorem; we expose how the teacher recognizes the importance of this incident and therefore opens a space so that the students can explicit their meanings, possible genesis of the inadequate use, as a means to approach the desired shared meaning of the so said theorem. To describe the semiosis and identify the meanings, we use the semiotic perspective inspired in Peirce’s idea of triadic sign.
Key words: Making meaning, Point Localization Theorem, semiosis, Peirce’s idea of triadic sign.