06/10/2011
GeoGebra software is a powerful tool for facilitating mathematical learning, exploration and problem-solving. Arising from its richness and scope, there are, perhaps unsurprisingly, significant pedagogic issues to be addressed in order to use GeoGebra effectively in secondary classrooms. Through GeoGebra Kit (bunch of applets) we may show the potential for interactivity to support teaching and learning of mathematics, as well as considering how learners can be introduced to the considerable possibilities afforded by the software.
In mathematical endeavour we know that “Geometry” is a skill of the eyes and hands as well as of the mind. The word “Theorem” has the Greek word meaning “Vision” at its root, as well as linking to the word “theatre”: both are concerned with show, with display; both have a touch of revelatory magic about them. The GeoGebra Software’ essence lies in the way users can interact directly with geometric figures they have constructed (or that have been preconstructed for them). This interaction occurs in a continuous and dynamic way, by means of the direct control of your hand on the mouse. It is also possible to ‘animate’ a construction, so that the screen images move ‘on their own’. But, for us, the most striking and powerful impact comes when, in pursuit of a mathematical question or goal, students directly explore a geometric realm informed by hand and eye, focused by their minds.
One of the issues in trying to describe motion and its effects in text is that one necessarily has to miss out on all of the essential ingredients. Not least among these is the sense of surprise and wonder that animating mathematical diagrams and images can bring, externalizing and setting back in motion images that have been held static within the pages of textbooks.
