Abstract

The relation and interplay between metaphors (Lakoff & Nu?n?ez, 2000) and didactical situations (Brousseau, 1998) in mathematics education has practically not been explored yet. We intend to do so using the metaphorical approach itself as a meta-theory. We propose a working metaphor, the voltaic metaphor to describe one possible relation: when “didactical tension” becomes high enough, in an ongoing didactical situation, metaphors spark spontaneously in the classroom, triggering an unlocking cognitive dynamics. These emerging metaphors are not necessarily conceptual metaphors, they might also refer to the previous life history or circumstances of the learners.