Learning Geometry through Dynamic Geometry Software.
Sue Forsythe · Mathematics teaching · 2007
It must be over 14 vears since I first started taking tlassfs into the computer room to work on programs such as LOGO and SMILEJ 1 have always lound llial pupils enjoved these lessons and were learning in a diltcrcnt way trom how they did in tJie classroom. Howe\er, I was often disappointed that the pupils did not transfer skills learned at the computer to tht-ir traditional pt-n and paper tasks in the classroom. Despite this drawback, I felt that pupils had an enormous amount to jiain from integrating computers into eilutation. I also felt that computers are a large part of young peoples' lives antl that school will be seen as insijniificant and backwards il it is not up-to-date with the rest of the world in using ICT. I recently tarried out a project that has been mv journev towards a better understanding of how we can learn in an enuronment that includes tbe computer (Forsvthe, 2006).In particular, I have considered the sub-environment ot dynamic geometry software (DGS). The reason for this (.hoice is that I believe tliat programs like Geometer's Skeichpad and Cabri are truly interactive; ie, there is some form of communication between tbe student and the computer which enables the student to go further with the mathematics than they would otherwise have been able to. The computer can only obey inputted instructions, and so the student must be precise about what he or she inputs. Therefore the student is forced to think clearly and logically (Goldstein, 2002) about their inputs and about the responses from the computer, When this happens, it is possible for the student plus computer to achieve more than the student could on their own. The DGS environment