Learning Geometry Online: A Creative Individual Learning Experience

Abstract

The increasing influence of technology in education has made us want to understand how teachers will view its use when teaching Euclidean geometry. Teachers’ technological knowledge, skills; competence and readiness are crucial, in their preparation to integrate technologies in their future classrooms. This paper is part of a larger study that looked into the experiences of student teachers when using a form of online technology, which utilised meaningful interactions to teach and learn high school geometry. The study was conducted with ten mathematics student teachers at a South African university using a mix methods approach using worksheets, interviews, surveys and observations. This case study sought to capture the students’ knowledge of technologies when teaching circle geometry through a careful implementation of Geometric Habits of Mind and an Instructional Design model. The intention of the support programme was that students will reproduce their learning experience, during this study, in their classrooms. According to results the perceptions of technology can be categorised as: Knowing the essentials, A tool in learning geometry and A catalyst to learning geometry. It can be clearly stated that all of students liked the readily available learning tool online.