Investigating the Effectiveness of Using a Technological Approach on Students’ Achievement in Mathematics–Case Study of a High School in a Caribbean Country

Abstract

It has always been a challenge for teachers to engage and motivate students to learn mathematics, due to the abstractness of some topics and the need for visual representation and technological resources. This study explores the effectiveness of using a technological approach on student achievement in mathematics, in general. A pre/post-test design was followed with a control and experimental group both learning the same topic over a 3-week period. A sample size of 35 (Experimental group = 18 and Control group = 17) high school students of 4th form level (Grade 10/Senior High) was taken with experimental group students taught using an interactive technological approach—GeoGebra software, in particular; while the control group learned the same material using the traditional approach without technology. GeoGebra is free software which can be used to teach different topics in mathematics education. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) is applied in the study, and the findings shows that technology is an effective tool in teaching the topic of Coordinate Geometry concepts. It can be concluded that the student who was taught with the use of technology showed a higher level of conceptual understanding compared to the students who learned using the traditional method.