Use of Geogebra in Enhancing Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Circle Theorems: An Action Research Study

Abstract

This research study aimed to determine how GeoGebra can improve the Grade 10 students’ conceptual understanding of circle theorems. The research was motivated by the consistent decline in the mathematics performance of the students in Nepal's Secondary Education Examination (SEE) by the Ministry of Education (MOE, 2016). As a subject teacher and researcher, I created a 15-day intervention that employed one of the ICT tools, GeoGebra, to examine how the simultaneous visualization through technology helped in motivating, reasoning, and understanding the students. The study was conducted within 15 days at an Institutional English Boarding School in the Kaski District, in which 32 students were involved. I purposely selected six students as key participants who had to be very different from each other to watch carefully how each learner interacted with GeoGebra and how each one grasped the circle theorems valuation, and at the same time, to give all 32 students full intervention and an equal chance to learn. I used an interpretivist paradigm with a qualitative data approach, used pre- and post-tests, observed students in the classroom, used parts of reflective journals, and interviewed six purposefully sampled students who vary in ability level. The findings displayed specific progress in the way students improved their conceptual understanding, the ability to perform well on tests, and the way they engaged with and felt about geometry. They showed that they could argue better, and they could read a diagram more correctly about theorems of circles. When employing thematic analysis, I could interpret those changes by looking at what students did with GeoGebra: they moved objects, they tested theorems, they perceived relationships, and they developed significance as a result of their work in groups. These creation of meaning processes showed how lively settings for math helped learners to move away from just memorizing theorems to knowing in a deeper way why they work. The research found that GeoGebra helps teaching circle theorems by making the learners understand more, encouraging them to ask questions and answers, and fostering a good attitude. It also changed how I, as a teacher, used to be. I moved from being a person who only told to a person who helped learners find their own answers and allowed them to make a classroom where different ones play a part. Findings from this study reflect the importance of GeoGebra tools in mathematics classes, listening to lessons on GeoGebra pedagogy, and using GeoGebra in lessons based on the curriculum. Another research might build on this work with more detailed, extended time frames to determine the amount that persisted, in comparison with lessons that involved computers and lessons that didn't, and how useful GeoGebra is in other areas of math, such as when employing Sets, Algebra, Transformations, and Coordinate Geometry.