Micro-evolution of documentational work in the teaching of the volume of revolution

In this paper, we draw on the documentational approach to analyse the evolution of one experienced secondary teacher’s work towards the teaching of the topic of “volume of revolution”. He used a range of paper and computer based resources in- cluding the software Autograph. Data were collected in observations of three lessons on this topic taught to two different groups of 16-18 years old students and a follow up interview with the teacher where he was asked to reflect on his choices in these lessons. The findings illustrate teacher’s documentational work with the used resources, and his schemes of use – aims, rules of actions, operational invariants and inferences – and identify the micro-evolution, namely the small changes and the rationale behind these changes, of these schemes across the lessons.