Effectiveness of geogebra application on geometrical mathematics among secondary schools students in delta state

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of GeoGebra application on geometrical mathematics among secondary school students in Delta state. Dynamic mathematics software (GeoGebra) is a freely available interactive dynamic software for the teaching and learning of mathematics that combines geometry and algebra into a single package. A descriptive survey and quasi–experimental design was used, specifically, the pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group. The population consists of all the SS 2 students and mathematics teachers in all the public and private schools in Delta State.  Fifteen mathematics teachers participated in the online workshop and that form the sample size of the teachers and 600 students were sampled, but 516 scripts were returned. Three (3) research questions guide the study. Two instruments were developed for the study; Mathematics Ability Test (MAT) and a Questionnaire on Mathematics Teacher's Attitudes toward GeoGebra Software (QMTAGS) were used for data collection. MAT was administered as a pre-test and post-test to the experimental and control groups which have 15 objective questions, while QMTAGS was administered to teachers after the workshop exercise on the GeoGebra software which contained 14 multiple-choice items. The data obtained were subjected to mean and standard deviation. The result of the findings showed that GeoGebra makes the teaching and learning of mathematics fun and enjoyable and factors responsible for mathematics teachers’ non-access to digital teaching of mathematics are lack of computer-literate skills, non-availability of computer lab software, lack of power supply, and lack of professional development. Male students performed better than their female counterparts; private schools also performed better than public school students. It was recommended that GeoGebra should be fully integrated into Nigeria’s education curriculum.