Why Is GeoGebra Important?

GeoGebra is:

 a transformative tool in mathematics because it allows learners to visualize and manipulate

 an open source application with a very active developer community

 available to all learners using any type of computer

 an award-winning educational application that has an impact around the world

 a call to action to invigorate mathematics instruction

 a means to enhance any type of mathematics instruction

GeoGebra empowers teachers and learners of mathematics.

An Hypothesis: Interactive Learning Correlates With Achievement

If active learning correlates with achievement, GeoGebra can, potentially, make a significant impact
on student achievement for any type of mathematics instruction. Meaningful interactivity can
benefit every student as a Universal Design component of any mathematics curriculum. Over time,
this hypothesis may be tested.

How Can Geogebra Benefit Students?

GeoGebra:

 makes learning an abstract concept much more meaningful

 visualizes related concepts and how they affect each other

 allows everyone equal access to an outstanding learning tool

 the price is right

 anyone can use applets created with GeoGebra without restriction

 anyone can use this tool to create applets

 conceptual understanding is enhanced

This handy geometry package is free, cross platform, and very easy to use. It allows for the creation
of geometric objects, which have various properties (including position, color, size, etc…) and which
can be either a dependent or an independent object. Independent objects can have associated
dependent objects, and when you modify the independent object, the dependent geometric object
is modified as well.

For example, suppose we created two points in the plane as independent objects, and then created
an associated line through the two points as a dependent object. When we move the position of
either of the two points the line will change to match this movement. This allows students to end up
with a deeper understanding of the relationship between geometric objects.
This program is very flexible, and can be used to show simple geometric relationships (like for
instance the geometric fact that the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is 180 degrees) to very
complex geometric properties (the limit of the sum of rectangles which approximate the area
underneath a curve is equal to the exact area under the curve). Geogebra is then therefore useful in
a wide variety of different contexts and branches of mathematics.

When students are using dynamic geometry software, such as Geogebra, they invariably end up with
a deeper understanding of the material (Pütz 2001). This is probably because they are given a strong
visual representation of the object, that comes associated with a more tactile impression that comes
with using the mouse to move and adjust the object. Obviously there is a "wow" factor involved in
the use of any new program, where the students are engaged with an activity simply because it is
new, but it has been my experience that the use of these geometry packages ends up leading to a
long lasting understanding of geometry.

Another advantage of Geogebra is that it allows the user to export the current file into a web ready
format (a java applet) which can then be uploaded to a web server. This provides the ability for
students and teachers to discuss and analyze each other’s work, and allows for the creation of a
social discussion about the work.

Geogebra also allows a "construction protocol navigation bar" to be added to the file, which means
that users can step the geometric construction process, one piece at a time. This is a tremendous
advantage of Geogebra as it allows a user observing someone else’s work to have some insight into
the process they went through to create it.

Geogebra allows students to actively and through the sharing of the work online, socially construct
an understanding of geometry. This program allows for simple visualizations of possibly complex
geometric concepts, and helps enhance a student’s understanding of those concepts.

In its simplest use, GeoGebra allows students to “see” what they are doing with their maths. For
example when doing something abstract such as solving a pair of simultaneous equations – it is
quick and easy to graph both equations so that students can visualise what the solutions to the
equations mean. GeoGebra may be used to give students the opportunity to establish
relationships in maths for themselves – for example the fact that a tangent to a circle is always at
right angles to the radius at the point of contact. The dynamic nature of GeoGebra makes it easy
for students to see how changes in one quantity affect other quantities. For example, when
learning about standard deviation or correlation coefficient students can change one item in the
data and see what effect this has on each quantity.
Wertheimer [22] lists six positive outcomes that are related to the incorporation

of technology in the classroom:

1. Technology motivates students to be more interested in exploring, investigating,

conjecturing, creating, and discovering principles and making generalizations.

2. Technology helps students produce connections between different branches of

mathematics.

3. Technology helps students become mathematical problem solvers and gives

them a chance to solve problems in real life situations, rather than just doing

routine problems.

4. Technology enhances students’ conceptual understanding of geometry.

5. Technology encourages teachers to involve students in various instructional

activities that facilitate the learning process.

6. Technology enables teachers to focus their attention on students in need of

extra assistance or additional stimulus.

KAEDAH PENGAJARAN

Kaedah Eksplorasi - Penemuan

Kaedah eksplorasi–penemuan bertujuan untuk meningkatkan pembelajaran murid melalui

penemuan kendiri. Peranan guru adalah menyediakan peralatan tertentu. Murid dibenarkan
menggunakan alatan mengikut kesukaan masing-masing dengan pemantauan rapi daripada guru
terutamanya apabila menggunakan peralatan berbahaya seperti parang, cangkul dan sebagainya
semasa aktiviti di kebun.

Melalui kaedah ini, murid akan lebih mengetahui apakah kegunaan sesuatu alatan dengan membuat
aktiviti menggunakan alatan itu. Kaedah ini juga bertujuan untuk meningkatkan rasa ingin tahu
murid, keinginan untuk mencuba dan kebebasan melakukan aksplorasi. Jika sebelum ini mereka
(murid) tidak berpeluang untuk cuba menggunakan peralatan ini atau menggunakannya secara
nyata atas alasan dibimbangi akan memudaratkan mereka sendiri, namun dengan kebebasan diberi
oleh guru serta dengan pemantauan rapi oleh guru, maka mereka akan merasakan berkeinginan
untuk mencuba menggunakan peralatan tersebut dengan cara yang betul.

Bagi pelajar khas, sebelum penggunaan alatan itu dibenarkan untuk digunakan semasa aktiviti, guru
haruslah menerangkan cara penggunaannya yang betul dan menjaganya agar tidak mendatangkan
bahaya kepada diri dan rakan sekelas. Melalui kaedah ini, pembelajaran berlaku secara spontan dan
dapat mengukuhkan pengetahuan mereka daripada pengajaran guru. Supaya pembelajaran lebih
berkesan, guru perlulah:
 menyediakan alatan.

 memberi masa yang cukup untuk murid melakukan aktiviti.

 bertanya kembali tentang kegunaan alat itu selepas aktiviti selesai.

 menggalakkan mereka melakukan sendiri menggunakan alatan supaya mereka lebih faham
akan kegunaannya.