The effect of dynamic geometry softwares on students? academic achievement level and the assessment of the students? opinions in geometry instruction at 7th grade

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of dynamic geometry softwares on students? academic achievement level and to assess the students? opinions in geometry instruction at seventh grade.The research was designed based on a pretest-posttest control group model. The research was conducted with 40 seventh grade students of Buca Ismet Yorgancilar Primary School in Izmir, studying geometry learning area during 4 weeks in the second term of 2008-2009 academic year. Computer assisted learning method was used in the experiment group with dynamic geometry softwares and traditional teaching method was used in control group.Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches have been considered in the study. The data were collected by Middle Grade Mathematics Project Spatial Ability Test, Geometric Figures Achievement Test and a survey. Research data have been obtained through using Microsoft EXCEL and SPSS 13.0. The data were analyzed using Shapiro-Wilks Homogenity Test, Independent Samples t-test, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, frequencies and percentages.According to the research findings, the achievement level of the experiment group on which Dynamic Geometry Software was used was observed to be significantly better than that of the control group who received traditional instruction. However, there is no significant difference between the experiment and the control group with respect to the spatial ability results.Key Words: Geometry, Geometry Instruction, Dynamic Geometry Software, Computer Assisted Instruction