The effect of GeoGebra supported instruction of lines, angles and polygons on the academic achievement and permanence of 7th grade students

Geometry, which is one of the elements that contribute the most to understanding, perceiving and shaping the world we live in, is the most important sub-branch of mathematics. It is obvious that those who know mathematics and geometry have a much greater share in shaping the constantly developing world. Teaching mathematics and geometry courses, which are very important to learn, is equally important. Research shows that students' concretization and spatial thinking skills are not sufficient. Research on dynamic mathematics and geometry software that emerged with the development of technology shows that they contribute to the development of students' spatial thinking skills and abstract thinking skills. In this context, the use of dynamic geometry software in teaching geometry is considered very important. In this research, it is aimed to investigate in depth the effect of teaching materials prepared with GeoGebra software on the success of students and the permanence of teaching in the teaching of "Lines, Angles and Polygons" subjects in the 7th grade of secondary school in the learning environment created using the dynamic geometry software GeoGebra. The research group consists of a total of 49 students, 25 students in the experimental group and 24 students in the control group, at a public school in Artvin in the 2022-2023 academic year. In the control group of the study, teaching was carried out with the method required by the current curriculum, while in the experimental group, GeoGebra-supported teaching was given in order to measure the effect of teaching with GeoGebra on success and permanence. In this context, GeoGebra teaching materials were developed by the researcher. Achievement tests developed by the researcher on the subject of "Lines, Angles and Polygons" were used as data collection tools. Additionally, student opinions were consulted before and after the research. According to the analysis results of the data obtained after the applications made in the "Lines, Angles and Polygons" sub-learning areas of the "Geometry and Measurement" learning area, a significant difference was detected between the success scores of the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group. As a result of the permanence test conducted 8 weeks after the completion of the application, it was revealed that there was a significant difference between the success scores of the experimental and control groups in favor of the experimental group. As a result of the interviews conducted with the experimental group students taught with GeoGebra before the research, it was seen that the majority of the students had misconceptions, could not explain the concepts and were prejudiced against mathematics. As a result of the interviews held after the research, it was observed that the students understood the subject and concepts better, liked the GeoGebra software, their prejudices about mathematics lessons were broken and they were willing to continue the lessons in this way.