Abstract
Recent researches on the development of geometrical thinking stress the role of communication, of different languages and systems of representation as novel and important elements in education. This paper focuses on recognition of geometrical shapes and on the development of geometrical and metaphorical languages in 10-11 year old pupils.
The scenario selected is an artistic context: a Kandinsky painting, where the painter employs geometrical shapes, becomes an instrument for analysis of pupil's description of the figures and their mutual positions. The analysis of 120 individual interviews stresses the fundamental role of metaphors in geometrical learning.
Moreover, the results show the need of working also with shapes without axes of symmetry, in primary school.