Study of the mathematical and didactic organizations of the conics in the curriculum of secondary schools in the Republic of Mali

Resumen

This work analyzes the mathematical and didactic organizations concerning the conics, from the standpoint of the history, epistemology, concept, and the teaching and learning of the conics. The curriculum of the Secondary School (High School) and the most used didactic books for this level were studied from the perspective of the Anthropologic Theory of Didactics by Chevallard (1999). More specifically, we want to understand how conics are configured in the educational system in the Republic of Mali, how the subject is approached in didactic books, and what the conditions of their existence in the educational system are. The historical and epistemological examination led us to identify several approaches used to study the different aspects of conics. Our analysis enabled us to situate the study of the Conics in the scope of both the affine Euclidean Geometry and the Analytical Geometry; to identify the different aspects of conics that are studied in both areas; and highlight the relationship between their differences (epistemological and didactic relationships).