[Maths-Education] review of interactive geometry software

[Tomalin, Jo]

Hi Kate,

At Sheffield Hallam for Initial Teacher Training we use Geogebra a lot. We used to use Cabri, but this was limited, simply because
a) students did not have access to Cabri on their own machines at home so could not practise and acquire fluency; 
and
b)very few secondary schools had copies, so the students didn't see it as something that they could use in their teaching.

Since we have been using Geogebra, I have seen a much larger proportion of students get to grips with dynamic geometry as an idea and then go on to use it in the classroom. I would, however, conjecture that the proportion of new teachers actually using dynamic geometry packages of any kind in the classroom (as opposed to dynamic single use resources pre-prepared by someone else) is still less (possible considerably less) than 50%.

>From the perspective of wanting to get student teachers and so, eventually, school pupils using dynamic geometry of any kind, Geogebra is free and user-friendly enough (lots of help on the web) to be a good-enough starting point. I would hope it would equip people with transferable skills to move onto better packages if they reach points in their mathematical trajectories where these would be helpful. John and Alexander's arguments about the merits of other packages for more sophisticated thinking are powerful. 

Regards,


Jo Tomalin 
Senior Lecturer 
Sheffield Hallam University 

 Room 947 Owen building

Postal address:
Maths Education Centre 
Room 946 Owen Building (DASMATHS)
City Campus 
Howard St 
Sheffield 
S1 1WB
 
0114 225 6013