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Prospective mathematics teachers often have learned mathematics through situations quite different from current curriculum recommendations. Such is the case of Fábio, who, at the beginning of his practicum, proposes mostly exercises and uses work at the blackboard. Assuming that didactic knowledge is reformulated from practice, this article analyzes the influence of a teacher education setting based on ICT (e-mail and forum) in developing aspects of such knowledge -- tasks proposed and ways of using technological materials. The qualitative and interpretative case study of this prospective teacher is based in interviews and in the analysis of the documentation generated in the teacher education setting. The results show that ICT enabled sharing and discussing classroom experiences and joint work with other prospective teachers, supervisor and mentor. Besides exercises, this prospective teacher begun proposing students tasks more open and challenging as well as the exploration of technological materials. His reflections regarding the tasks and the ways to use the technological materials in his classes contributed to enlarge his didactic knowledge and to regard his own practice as learning setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the relationship between solving exploratory and investigation tasks involving functional relationships and the development of algebraic thinking in grade 8 students, giving special attention to the way they interpret and use the algebraic language. The methodology, qualitative and interpretative, is based in two case studies of students involved in a teaching unit of 16 classes which included the study of numerical sequences, functions and first degree equations. The data collection involved two interviews (one carried before and the other after the teaching unit), the participant observation of the classes by the teacher, registered in her diary, and gathering of students' written records. The results show that the emphasis in the study of functional relationships based on exploratory and investigation tasks promotes the development of meaning for the algebraic language and the construction of a wider vision regarding the use of symbols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]