Proceedings of The International Conference on New Approaches in Education
Year: 2019
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/icnaeducation.2019.07.402
An Action Research for Improving Spatial Reasoning Ability of Grade 7 Students
İlknur Kasapsaraçoğlu and Asuman Duatepe-Paksu
ABSTRACT:
Curriculum has identified a number of skills that students need to acquire such as reasoning, questioning, critical and reflective thinking, spatial reasoning, problem-solving. However, it is recommended that educators can use materials or technological tools to create learning environments. In the mathematics curriculum of our country, it is addressed that 7th-grade students should transform 2D and 3D representations and make geometrical drawings. In order to have such skills, students need to develop spatial reasoning skills. In this direction, the purpose of the study was to develop the spatial reasoning skills of 7th-grade students. In this study, the students’ spatial reasoning skills were examined with the focus of spatial visualization and spatial orientation components. The action research method was used as a research methodology. The tasks designed on the basis of the Geocadabra Dynamic Software were practiced interactively in a computer environment. In this process, observation, interview, document analysis, Bandicam recording, and voice recording were used as data collection tools. The students were observed according to the contents of spatial visualization and spatial orientation skills. The analysis of this study is still ongoing. The observations in the classroom implementation indicated that the students enjoyed using the software and the software affected their three-dimensional thinking positively.
Keywords: Secondary Education; Dynamic Geometry Software; Spatial Visualization; Spatial Orientation.