This communication focuses on the mathematical potential of pupils identified as having difficulty in solving a situation-research «paving of squares» (Grenier and Payan, 2003) tested with pupils from the beginning of secondary school (12-13 years old) in the Quebec context. The concept of mathematical potentialities is approached from the writings of some educational researchers (Radford, 2011; Mary and Squalli, 2021, Mary et al., 2011). The Teaching Experiment serves as a methodological framework. An analysis grid of the results is proposed followed by a discussion of the results.