The main purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of
a dynamic instructional environment (based on use of Geometer&rsquo / s
Sketchpad) on 7th grade students&rsquo / understandings of lines, angles,
and polygons and their retention. Besides that, the students&rsquo / attitudes
towards computer instruction and its relation with students&rsquo / performance on geometry and retention were investigated.
The study was carried out with 63 7th grade students from two
classes taught by the same teacher in a state elementary school. One
class was assigned as the experimental group (EG), the other as the
control group (CG). Students in CG received the instruction on lines,
angles, and polygons by the regular traditional method used at the
school. In the EG, students worked on the computer activities named
as &ldquo / Sketchsheets&rdquo / , prepared by the researcher, with computers
provided at the computer-lab. The usage of GSP with Sketchsheets
enabled students to create the shapes first and after they explored and
discovered the properties of shapes and make generalisations for the
development of conjectures.
Geometry Performance Test (GPT) and Computer Attitude
Scale (CAS) were used in this study. The GPT was administered to
both groups of students as a pre-test, post-test, and a delayed post-test.
CAS was administered only to the EG students as a post-test.
Furthermore, interviews were carried out with three students from EG
in order to get their feelings about the dynamic instructional
environment. Besides that, both of these classroom and computer
sessions were observed and recorded with camera.
The results of t-test suggest that GPT mean scores in EG and
CG did not significantly differ in pre-test, but EG achieved
significantly better than the CG in post and delay-post tests. CAS
mean scores and interviews showed that students had positive feelings
and decisions towards computer instruction and they preferred
computer instruction to traditional instruction. Furthermore, Pearson
product-moment correlation coefficient was performed in order to
investigate the relationship between GPT scores and CAS scores.
From this analysis, a significant correlation was observed between the
GPT scores and CAS scores. This means that the students who had
positive attitudes towards computer instruction, achieved significantly
better at GPT.
The results of this study revealed that Geometer&rsquo / s Sketchpad
for learning and teaching geometry in elementary school level is an
effective tool.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/4/1206523/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 January 2003 |
| Creators | Ustun, Isil |
| Contributors | Ubuz, Behiye |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.S. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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