Effect of Teaching with GeoGebra on Secondary School Students’ Performance in Geometry in Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

Most secondary school pupils in Kenya need help to construct, visualize, and defend geometrical concepts despite the benefits of geometry as a subject. Children who receive education using this approach become passive learners with weak geometrical and analytical reasoning abilities. These challenges persist even though many pieces of software, including GeoGebra, have been developed to help teach and learn mathematics. Besides, few secondary school mathematics teachers in Kenya know how to use GeoGebra; most only know that it may be utilized. On this basis, the current study sought to determine the effect of GeoGebra on geometry learning in secondary schools in the Ndeiya sub-county of Kiambu County, Kenya. The study objective was to determine the difference in geometry performance between students taught through GeoGebra and those through a conventional method. In addition, the study targeted 200 Form 2 students in public primary secondary school teachers in Ndeiya Sub-County, Kiambu County. A response rate of 184 respondents was attained, and data was gathered using mathematics achievement tests. The quasi-experimental Solomon four-group research design and independent t-tests were used to determine the effect of teaching with GeoGebra on secondary school students' performance in geometry. The ensuing findings showed that GeoGebra improved students' geometry performance. The study concluded that secondary school students taught through GeoGebra had better geometry performance than those taught through conventional approaches because the software enhanced their logical thinking, representation, abstract thinking, generalization, analytical thinking, and understanding of the subject.