Students' Achievement in Trigonometry Teaching Through Geogebra
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Department of Mathematics Education
Abstract
The topic of this study is “Students’ Achievement in Trigonometry Teaching
through GeoGebra”. The purpose of this research was to find out the effect of use
of Geogebra in teaching trigonometry at grade IX. In this study, pre- test post- test
non- equivalent control group design of research was used which is one of the quasi-
experimental research design. Connectivism has been accepted as the theoretical
foundation of this research. All the students of grade IX of Ramechhap district were
taken purposively as population of study. This study was conducted on two groups of
students: control group and experimental group. By random sampling method the
students of section „A‟ who studies optional mathematics were selected for control
group and the students of section „B‟ who studies optional mathematics selected for
experimental group. A total of 50 students were participated in the study in which
control and experimental group consists 22 and 28 students respectively. Control
group was facilitated by traditional method of instruction but experimental group was
treated by GeoGebra software up to two weeks. Mathematics achievement test (MAT)
and interview schedule were used to collect data. A pilot test was conducted in a
group of students of Gokulganga Secondary School, Ramechhap for reliability
coefficient, difficulty level and discrimination index of items. To ensure the validity
of items, tool was developed being based on specification grid of optional
mathematics of grade IX which was developed by CDC Nepal and with the help of
supervisor. But for the reliability of items on interview schedule, students were asked
the same questions repeatedly and for validation supervisor helped me. A pre- test
was conducted on both groups before teaching. After quantitative analysis of pre- test,
I taught both the groups up to two weeks. Moreover, control group was taught by
traditional method of instruction while experimental group was facilitated by
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GeoGebra software being based on connectivism approach. After treatment a post-
test was administered on the same both groups using the same set of items used in
pre- test. After quantitative analysis of the result of post- test an interview schedule
was used on a group of five students of experiment group to know their perception
towards the use of GeoGebra in teaching trigonometry. The collected data were
analyzed by using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics both. Specially, t- test
was used to test for the statistical significance difference between the control and
experimental group using MS Excel 2013. The data obtained from interview schedule
was analyzed by descriptive method. The result of post- test showed that the average
achievement of experimental group which was facilitated through GeoGebra software
was better than that of control group which was taught by traditional method of
instruction. Thus, analysis of this result indicated that GeoGebra was an effective
software in teaching trigonometry. Also the analysis of interview result indicated that
most of the students gave the positive responses towards the use of Geo Gebra
software. Students of experimental group took the part in teaching learning activities
actively. Also, they took Geo Gebra as an essential software in learning other parts of
optional mathematics.