Effect of Geogebra on the academic performance of students of Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong Aakuapem

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of integration of GeoGebra into the teaching and learning of circle theorem on students’ performance at the Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong-Akuapem, Ghana. A sample of 390 level 100 students was selected purposively from a population of 490 level 100 students for the study. The main instruments for data collection were test and questionnaire. The four points Likert rating scale was used in administering the questionnaire and it was analysed using percentages. Data collected from the test were also analysed and presented by the independent sample t –test. Two tailed test was used in the descriptive statistics to test the null hypothesis. The reliability coefficient of the instruments was ascertained using Kuder–Richardson KR20 for the pre-test and Cronbach Alpha for the post-test. The reliability coefficient for the pre test was 0.66 and that of the post-test was 0.65 indicating the instruments were accurate and reliable. The findings showed that there was significant difference between the mean score of students who were taught circle theorem using GeoGebra and those taught without the use of GeoGebra in favour of the GeoGebra group but no significant difference were found with respect to gender. Lack of instructional aids, students’ psychological fear, poor foundation of students in basic school mathematics, poor preparations on the part of some mathematics teachers and large classes were identified as the main causes of students’ difficulty in learning circle theorem. The study recommended among others that enough mathematics software especially GeoGebra should be provided in schools.