GeoGebra Ambassador #8

Who are you, what are you doing?
My name is Fabián Vitabar. I am a Maths teacher, from Uruguay. I work in a teachers training institute in Montevideo (IPA), I teach those who will be high school teachers.
I am really interested in Mathematics Education, specially in how can teachers help students to learn Maths. I think that GeoGebra is a wonderfull tool, but we still have to learn how to use it in the best way to reach our goal.

When did you first try GeoGebra?
It was in 2005. Someone talked to me about a new open source project involving dynamic geometry, and I tried it at home that night. I felt it was interesting and promising, but it wasn’t enough yet for my high school students. My sense changed soon. I followed each version since that year, and nowadays I use it more and more in my classroom.

What do you hate in GeoGebra?
There is something I really hate: GeoGebra is always giving me a challenge. It makes me think about my lessons, It makes me doubt about what I do in the classroom, or even about what i’ve been doing for many years and I never asked myself about. I can’t give a lesson just as I did it in the previous course, because I get a new idea using GeoGebra and I can’t avoid it: I have to plan a new lesson. I hate GeoGebra because It leads me to a permanent didactical thinking.

What do you love in GeoGebra?
I love that it’s always surprising me. There is always something new. But the most I love is it’s so easy for my students, and they love it immediately. They start working on it, and in a few minutes they are learning mathematics, playing, exploring, and teaching me! It’s amazing.

What are the GeoGebra related activities you participate?
I am the chair of the GeoGebra Institute of Uruguay, and I lead the Laboratorio GeoGebra experience in Montevideo, offering workshops and courses. We’ve recently hosted the annual Latin American conference in our institute, and I’m trying to keep in touch with every colleagues in our region. GeoGebra is growing really fast, too much people want to know about GeoGebra, and I’m doing my best for show them why it delights me.