After surveying high-attaining 14and 15-year-old students about proof in algebra, we found that students simultaneously held 2 different conceptions of proof: those about arguments they considered would receive the best mark and those about arguments they would adopt for themselves. In the former category, algebraic arguments were popular. In the latter, students preferred arguments that they could evaluate and that they found convincing and explanatory, preferences that excluded algebra. Empirical argument predominated in students' own proof constructions, although most students were aware of its limitations. The most successful students presented proofs in everyday language, not using algebra. Students' responses were influenced mainly by their mathematical competence but also by curricular factors, their views of proof, and their genders.

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The study discusses the development of theoretical ideas and constructs related to digital microworlds within the mathematics education community and their implications for interpretations of mathematics learning. Starting from Papert's introduction of the concept during ICME 2 in 1972, we trace the evolution of theoretical approaches concerning the essence of the idea in an attempt to situate the notion of constructionism in the light of contemporary frameworks. We argue that microworlds, and the search for a learnable mathematics, have a continued relevance to mathematics education, but that the lens research attention has shifted over time, with the current foci on communal design, situated and embodied approaches and artefacts whose use crosses boundaries between different practices. To illustrate these shifts and the challenges that still remain, we present examples from our current work involving the use of microworlds for learning and teaching through communication, design and construction.