Mathematics Educational Software Research Articles

How can GeoGebra support physics education in upper-secondary school—a review

Recently, GeoGebra, a mathematics education software, has entered the scene of physics education; however, research on how the software can be used to support teaching and learning physics is limited and scattered. The aim of this article is to present a review of the current literature on how GeoGebra can be used to support physics education in upper-secondary schools. The general conclusion that comes from these studies is that GeoGebra is a user-friendly software that can be operated intuitively by teachers and students. It provides an environment in which the underlying mathematical structures are always at hand, enabling users to see connections between physical phenomena and their formal representations. In addition, teachers with or without programming skills can use the software to design custom-made computer simulations and augment real experiments with virtual objects. Our intention is to help teachers who would like to start using GeoGebra or to broaden the use of the software in physics education.

استخدام الاستقصاء التعاونی المتمرکز حول التکنولوجیا فی تدریس محتوى الهندسة لتنمیة المقدرة على الحس المکانی والفهم الهندسی Using Co-operative Inquiry based on Technology in teaching geometrical content to develop spatial sense, and geomtrical understanding

بالتدقيق في محتوى هندسة المرحلتين الابتدائية، والإعدادية نجد أنه يتمثل بدرجة کبيرة في مناشط استقصائية حول العلاقات الهندسية من خلال القيام ببعض العمليات الرياضياتية کالنمذجة، والتصور، والتحويل، والمقارنة، وتصنيف الأشکال الهندسية، والتي تعتمد بدورها على الحس المکاني، و تعتبره مستهدف أساسي من مستهدفات هذه المرحلة العمرية. وتعد المقدرة على الحس المکاني هدفا لکثير من الدراسات، والبحوث التي استهدفت تحديد طبيعتها، وکيفية التعرف عليها، وقياسها من جانب، ودراسة سبل تنميتها من جانب آخر؛ ومن الدراسات والبحوث التي حاولت وصف تلک المقدرة، والمتغيرات المرتبطة بها، فضلا عن بناء اختبارات مقننة لقياسها: دراسة تزريل، وإيجوزي TzurielE Among the studies and research that attempted to describe this ability, and the related variables, as well as building standardized tests to measure it: Tzuriel & Egozi (2010) and Young, et al. (2018). It is also planned to engage learners into investigative activities centered on mathematical education software; Such as: GeoGebra, Cabri, Sketchpad are contemporary trends emphasized by the workshops and conferences concerned with the endoing of educational technology in the context of learning school mathematics. So, the current research came as an attempt to develop spatial sense and geometrical understanding using investigative activities designed in light of some modern mathematics education software. More specifically, the current research is an attempt to identify the feasibility of using the technology-based collaborative Inquiry in teaching sixth-grade geometrical content for developing level of spatial sense and geometrical understanding among a sample of sixth-grade primary school students in Alexandria Governorate. The results of the research indicated that there is a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of students in the experimental and control groups with regard to both spatial sense and geometrical understanding, and that this difference amounts to the degree of effectiveness; Where the values of the Eta square is greater than 0.15, which in turn confirms the significant effect of experimental Modeling (collaborative Inquiry activities centered on mathematical education software) in the variables of the research

A study on the changes on teachers’ knowledge and beliefs after a workshop based on mathematics education software, by relying on fuzzy method

In this paper, the effect of holding a math training workshop using GeoGebra software has been studied on the changes on teachers' knowledge and beliefs . The selected sample is 40 male and female teachers in Iran. Before and after the intervention were administered a pre and post questionnaire with two components: TPACK knowledge and teachers’ beliefs. Fuzzy logic and Fuzzy TOPSIS methods were used to analyze the data. The results of this method showed a significant difference between the results before and after the workshop.Un estudio de los cambios en el conocimiento y creencias de docentes, después de un taller con software educativo matemático, analizado mediante el método FuzzyEl estudio contempla el efecto de un taller de matemáticas con GeoGebra sobre los cambios en el conocimiento y las creencias de los docentes. La muestra seleccionada considera 40 docentes en Irán. Se administró un cuestionario, antes y después de la intervención, enfocado en dos componentes: el TPACK y las creencias. Los datos se analizaron aplicando herramientas del método Fuzzy mediante el cual se evidencia una diferencia significativa entre los resultados antes y después del taller.Doi: 10.30827/pna.v13i1.6593 Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10481/53994Scopus record and citations

Mapping Free Educational Software Intended for the Development of Numerical and Algebraic Reasoning

Educational software has significantly changed how mathematics is taught and learned. One challenge for educators is choosing the most appropriate software among numerous options. Therefore, we mapped free mathematics education software according to number and operation content. The study was carried out with public elementary school teachers (grades 6 - 9). The teachers watched a presentation on the features of each software type and filled out a checklist about the software and its content. The results showed that 63% of the 32 software titles were appropriate for developing numeric and algebraic reasoning. According to the teachers, these titles were appropriate for developing and consolidating concepts related to the number system, operations and properties of natural and whole numbers, numeric expressions, divisibility, prime numbers, decomposition into prime factors, GCD, LCM, operations with rational numbers in fraction and decimal form, comparison and operations on equivalent fractions, first degree equations, and first and second degree polynomial functions. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.16.11.3

Evaluation of Using Mathematics Educational Software for the Learning of First-Year Primary School Students

The use of educational software offers many advantages but may also become a frustrating experience for teachers and students that lack experience of its use. We presented an evaluation of the use of Maths educational software to support the learning of first-year primary students in the city of Mazatlan, Mexico. One of our reasons was to determine whether the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) would motivate students and make learning easier, more interesting and even fun. Three surveys were conducted wherein the following people participated: teachers who teach Maths in the first-year of primary school; managers of the computing facilities used in this study; and first-year primary students. Due to time constraints, the three surveys were only applied in three schools, in two shifts in each school. Overall, our study suggests three key aspects for learning to be improved through ICTs, namely: (1) learning activities should be designed considering the use of educational software; (2) learning materials and activities should include guiding material to facilitate learning; and (3) promote learning through play. We propose a few design principles for educational software to support learning better and more effectively.

DEVELOPING EVALUATION INSTRUMENT FOR MATHEMATICS EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE

The rapid increase and availability of mathematics software, either for classroom or individual learning activities, presents a challenge for teachers. It has been argued that many products are limited in quality. Some of the more commonly used software products have been criticized for poor content, activities which fail to address some learning issues, poor graphics presentation, inadequate documentation, and other technical problems. The challenge for schools is to ensure that the educational software used in classrooms is appropriate and effective in supporting intended outcomes and goals. This paper aimed to develop instrument for evaluating mathematics educational software in order to help teachers in selecting the appropriate software. The instrument considers the notion of educational including content, teaching and learning skill, interaction, and feedback and error correction; and technical aspects of educational software including design, clarity, assessment and documentation, cost and hardware and software interdependence. The instrument use a checklist approach, the easier and effective methods in assessing the quality of educational software, thus the user needs to put tick in each criteria. The criteria in this instrument are adapted and extended from standard evaluation instrument in several references. Keywords: mathematics educational software, educational aspect, technical aspect.

Proposal for General-Purpose Graphic Interface in Mathematics Education Software

Proposal for General-Purpose Graphic Interface in Mathematics Education Software

Primary teachers' embedding educational software of mathematics in their teaching practices

Eight teachers of third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades participated in a one-year-long in-service training on embedding the mathematics software approved by the Greek Pedagogical Institute (PI) in their teaching practices. During this training programme we explored – through grounded theory (GT) research method a the ways that the teachers embedded the software in their teaching practices b the impact of teachers' embedding educational software (ES) on their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) (Shulman, 1986) during their in-service training. Data analysis revealed that the participating teachers improved their PCK practices and they also embedded the mathematics educational software supportive material in their teaching practices in ways that depended on the softwares' 'open-or not exploratory' types.

Learning by Seeing by Doing: Arithmetic Word Problems

"Learning by doing" in pursuit of real-world goals has received much attention from education researchers but has been unevenly supported by mathematics education software at the elementary level, particularly as it involves arithmetic word problems. In this article, we give examples of doing-oriented tools that might promote children's ability to "see" significant abstract structures in mathematical situations. The reflection necessary for such seeing is motivated by activities and contexts that emphasize affective and social aspects. Natural language, as a representation already familiar to children, is key in these activities, both as a means of mathematical expression and as a link between situations and various abstract representations. These tools support children's ownership of a mathematical problem and its expression; remote sharing of problems and data; software interpretation of children's own word problems; play with dynamically linked representations with attention to children's prior connections; and systematic problem variation based on empirically determined level of difficulty.