A Student's Learning of Geometry Using the Computer

• Published in: The Journal of educational research (Washington, D.C.) Vol. 92; no. 5; pp. 301 - 311
• Main Author: Choi-koh, Sang Sook
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Taylor & Francis Group 01.05.1999; Heldref Publications; Public School Pub. Co. for the University of Illinois, Bureau of Educational Research; Taylor & Francis Inc
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Case studies; Computer Assisted Instruction; Computer Software; Curricula; Deductive reasoning; Educational psychology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geometric shapes; Geometry; Learning; Learning Processes; Mathematical concepts; Mathematics; Mathematics education; Mathematics Instruction; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Pupil and student. Academic achievement and failure; Reasoning; Research methodology; Secondary Education; Secondary School Mathematics; Secondary School Students; Secondary schools; Software; Students; Symbols; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Thinking Skills; Triangles; Visualization; New York; United States > US; South Korea; Human; Case study; Geometry; Reasoning; Computer assisted teaching; Cognition; Mathematics; Child
• ISSN: 0022-0671; 1940-0675
• DOI: 10.1080/00220679909597611

A secondary school student's development of geometric thought during instruction was investigated using the P. M. van Hiele (1986) model and dynamic computer software, the Geometer's Sketchpad (Key Curriculum Press, 1993). During a 21-hr study, the author used a clinical interview procedure to determine a student's predominant level of thought and to gain an in-depth understanding of the developmental process of geometric reasoning. Ordered from the simplest to the most complicated, the 4 learning stages-intuitive, analytical, inductive, and deductive learning-were identified in terms of symbol, signal, and "implicatory" properties. The use of active visualization with the dynamic software facilitated the movement from symbol to signal and then to implicatory character.