Developing conceptual understanding with GeoGebra

Richard Andrew

GeoGebra & Archimedes Method & the area of a circle.

(The original GeoGebra file used for the dynamic image above was created by Pamela McGillivray, ​Broome Senior High School, WA, course participant, December 2012)

Teaching for conceptual understanding is one of the strong themes running through many of the articles on this site. There is a world of difference between students being able to ‘do mathematics’ and students understanding the mathematics they are “doing”. It is clearly advantageous for learners to be both proficient in mathematics as well as to understand the mathematics conceptually. As is argued by many commentators, simply practising routines is not an effective way to develop conceptual understanding. However, there are some methodologies that are particularly effective when it comes to promoting mathematical understanding.

The article Procedural knowledge vs conceptual knowledge in mathematics education sheds some light on a conceptual approach to teaching mathematics. Stated in the article is that mathematical understanding is fostered through the use of activities and strategies specifically designed to engineer ‘aha moments’ within students and that through using a conceptual approach, metacognition and other higher-order thinking processes are encouraged. To quote J.E.Schwartz from his article:

"In a conceptually oriented mathematics class, the bulk of time is spent helping the students develop insight. Activities and tasks are presented to provide learners with experiences that provide opportunities for new understandings."

Introducing GeoGebra

GeoGebra is a fantastic tool for fostering understanding in mathematics students. However, it is not a substitute for practice. Rather, when used well, GeoGebra allows students to gain insight into the mathematics at hand so that when they engage in mathematical practice they understand what it is they are doing.

Consider now a very simple demonstration of developing conceptual understanding with GeoGebra. Cast your eyes on the dynamic image (gif) at the top of this article. Observe the image for 30 seconds or so. The gif is essentially a short, repeating video of the dynamic GeoGebra file in action. The power of this file should be self-evident. Of course, students still need to crunch the numbers underpinning the principle. However, to watch the two area sums change dynamically with changes in ‘n’ – and to witness the summed area triangles approach the area of the circle as ‘n’ increases – is stunningly powerful.

Demonstrating via a data projector isn't a change in pedagogy!

My point is this: In the 21st Century, to teach students such a principle without giving them a dynamic, visual representation is, in my view, unacceptable. It is selling students short. And we are not even calling for a change in pedagogy. Simply by plugging in a data projector and demonstrating cleverly made files can bring a significant and new level of understanding and engagement to students. There are an almost limitless number of mathematical situations to which GeoGebra can be applied – even when only used as a demonstration tool.

Developing conceptual understanding with GeoGebra files

A well constructed GeoGebra file will, ideally, have the ability to enable the viewer to gain insight into mathematical principles prior to teacher intervention. I think you’ll agree that the parabolas as a locus file below achieves this well.

(The original GeoGebra file used for the dynamic image above is one of the 50+ files which participants create)

“What can you see going on here?
​What principle can you see at work”? 

Such files offer an excellent way to summarise or revise a principle after covering the underpinning mathematics. An arguably more powerful application of such a file, however, is to project the file PRIOR to teaching the mathematics. In this way, the file provides a stimulus to pique students’ interest and to foster enquiry. Questions can be posed such as “What can you see going on here? What principle can you see at work”? Students can discuss their ideas in pairs prior to sharing with the whole class. Using a well-constructed file to foster enquiry BEFORE teaching the mathematics is very easy to do and offers advantages over the more traditional - skill-and-drill-only - approach, including superior student engagement, more ‘aha moments’, deeper student questions, and increased understanding. Of course, there are superior applications of GeoGebra which enable students to investigate mathematical systems. However, for teachers who do not want to disrupt their regular approach to teaching, they can reap powerful benefits by simply utilising GeoGebra as a demonstration tool. All that is required is 1) plug in a data projector and 2) demonstrate the file!

An example of a conceptual approach - The surfboard file

Another excellent demonstration of a file designed to foster conceptual understanding is the Surfboard file, originally created by December 2013 participant Anne Wolkowitsch. You will find it half way down this article along with a suggested conceptually-based approach for demonstrating it. And you can download the updated version of the GeoGebra file! 

A comment from the online guided learning journey

"The online course was fantastic. I had (in the past) found Geogebra to be a not 
very intuitive piece of software, so learning some advanced applications was 
great. Using GeoGebra in class has greatly improved students' ability to visualise 
tricky concepts - like locus, linear and non-linear functions, trig relationships, etc."
Kathy Howard, Bathurst High Campus, 15.9.14 (2010 participant)

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​​Do you use GeoGebra extensively? Are you able to create files 'on the fly'? Or are you mostly limited by files created by others? ​Would love your thoughts below! (Your email address will not be required)

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Student engagement    Student-centred learning    Blended-flipped learning    Concept-based mathematics teaching    GeoGebra