TechQuest Annotated Resources

I decided to make GeoGebra the dynamic software for my TechQuest. You can read my prior two posts to gain some insight into the design of my TechQuest. I will provide a description of my research method along with an annotated bibliography containing five the of the resources that are shaping additional research and the further implementation of my project.

Research method: After identifying GeoGebra as the tool i would use to address my educational concern, I refined my research by using a simple Google search to see the common results related to using GeoGebra to help aid in my quest to have students gain a deeper understanding of the mathematical concept of the function. This attempt of a basic search did not yield anything that I would later cite; therefore, I moved on to using Google Scholar to focus my search on scholarly articles and periodicals. I am comfortable using Google Scholar and find easier to use than some of the university engines used. GeoGebra is a relatively new product and is gaining momentum as an educational tool; therefore, research is slowly amassing to analyze its effectiveness. I limited my parameters to include only articles related to mathematical functions. A funny thing happened during my search for sources; I found that several of the articles were linked to a publication index that GeoGebra has on the wiki-page that they host on the organization's website. I found many great articles that related to the nature of my individual research (the function). I found only a handful of instances where the pedagogical shortcomings of GeoGebra were discussed using Google Scholar. I will continue to research for GeoGebra centric lesson plans, because I did not find any detail lesson plans related to what I am attempting to do. I did find examples of other technologies used to tackle similar situations, but I have not included them below.

Surprises: The software is used internationally and research is being done across the globe. I did encounter several articles that seemed to have grammatical errors in their titles, but the content was appropriate and did not contain these types of errors throughout. I found it interesting that some of these articles were published in periodicals. For example, I found the article Applications GeoGebra into Teaching Some Topics of Mathematics at the College Level by Diković. The article is from Serbia and I am sure that the translation is responsible for the awkward title.

I believe that my strategies were successful, and was aided by the My annotated bibliography follows below.

TechQuest Annotated Resources:

Hohenwarter, M. (2006). Dynamic investigation of functions using GeoGebra. Proceedings of Dresden International Symposium on Technology and its Integration into Mathematics Education 2006. Dresden, Germany: DES-TIME. Retrieved from http://www.geogebra.org/publications/2006-DES-TIME.pdf.

From the abstract: "This article describes the mapping and covariation aspects of functions and shows the dynamic ways of investigating functions with the free educational mathematics software GeoGebra." The abstract provided in this article is a near summation of my TechQuest. The content of Hohenwarter's article contains explicit use of GeoGebra's software to explore the mathematical function. The exploration of the different function types is germane to the educational concern I am addressing with my project. Hohenwarter's name appears on several resources related to the use of GeoGebra as an educational tool. GeoGebra offers advantages to students than traditional methods. Hohenwarter is the creator of the software and he understands the educational concern and how his software can help alleviate the problem. The content of this article will help shape my project due to its understanding of the concern and examples of how to use the software effectively.

Sangwin, C. (2008). Geometrical functions: tools in GeoGebra. In: MSOR Connections Vol 8, No. 4, 17-20. Retrieved from http://ltsn.mathstore.ac.uk/headocs/84Sangwin_C.pdf.

This article discusses GeoGebra's dynamic approach to the mathematical function. The free software allows both the Algebraic and Geometric representations to be displayed simultaneously. Mathematics is said to contain two main components: algebraic representation and graphical representation. The concept of the function is taught throughout a student's mathematical career and involves teaching and reteaching of the concept of mathematics with these two representations. Students often struggle with the relationship between the graphical and algebraic representation of the mathematical function. This article describes an experience with teaching the concept of function using GeoGebra. This article helped me gain insight into the functionality of GeoGebra as it relates to my TechQuest.

Karadag, Z., McDougall, D. (2009). Visual Explorative Approaches to Learning Mathematics. Retrieved from http://www.pmena.org/2009/proceedings/workinggroup90649replacement.pdf.

This article discusses the agenda from a focus group focused on mathematical representation and its shift from static to dynamic with the advent of technology such as GeoGebra. The article discusses the creation of dynamic worksheets in relation to GeoGebra. Students will explore an object created using GeoGebra and have to answer questions related to the mathematical object. An object in GeoGebra is akin to a manipulative that can be posted on a website or in a file off-line. The article contains an example of the unit circle and the graphical representations of the trigonometric functions. The result provided an interactive applet that addresses the connection between the two concepts in a way that pen and paper simply cannot do.

Böhm, J. (2008). Linking Geometry, Algebra, and Calculus with GeoGebra. TIME 2008 conference, South Africa. Retrieved from http://www.geogebra.org/publications/2008-TIME-Boehm.pdf.

This article introduces the features of GeoGebra and discusses the software's use to link the content contained in Geometry, Algebra, and Calculus. This document provides real examples of the educational tool used to address issues within mathematics. The idea of a function is universal throughout each of the sects of mathematics and the presentation contained highlights many different function types being addressed with GeoGebra. Furthermore, the article discusses the probable evolution of this software of the next few years. Functions are represented using algebra, tables, graphs, and mapping diagrams. An object created in GeoGebra can get very complicated if you are attempting to introduce many of these representations at the same time. Spreadsheet software (tables) will become integrated with the tools currently available to create software that is even more dynamic.

Diković, L. (2009) Applications GeoGebra into Teaching Some Topics of Mathematics at the College Level. In: ComSIS Vol. 6, No. 2, 191-203. Retrieved from http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1820-0214/2009/1820-02140902191D.pdf.

From the abstract: "This paper presents new trends in technology and learning through Geogebra, which could be especially important for the future development of e-learning for College mathematics. Also, contribution of this paper is presentation of methodological frames on several specifics examples for teaching mathematics at the college level on interactive and creative way. Discussed in this paper are the findings of a didactic experiment where some number of undergraduate students were exposed to an innovative (to the departments) method of teaching and learning a part of calculus supported by GeoGebra. Statistical analysis confirmed the fact that the use of the applets created with the help of GeoGebra and used in differential calculus teaching had a positive effect on the understanding and knowledge of the students."

This article was aimed at college level mathematics, but the content of math courses in college and high school are very similar until you get past Calculus. The article lists the strengths of the software for representing mathematics using the interactive software and compares it to other methods of visual mathematics. The article does discuss the shortcomings of the software, but are relatively obvious in nature. Research is limited on the software at this point, and it does lack some functionality that will eventually come in time. Pedagogical strategies need to be paired with technology in order for successful student learning. This article addresses the pairing of cooperative learning with GeoGebra and the benefits that would result. Diković provides examples of the use of educational objects created in GeoGebra that tackle concepts in algebra and calculus. Furthermore, he describes a study done in a college calculus classroom that resulted in positive growth for students that were exposed the use of GeoGebra. This article provided me with insight into the effective use of objects created and actual research that was done to validate its use as an educational tool. The implementation of the TechQuest is dependent on research such as this article. The development of educational tools using GeoGebra is time consuming and can be quite involved, but the possibility for improved learning opportunities makes this software a viable tool.