RAZEL C.

SORIANO
PhD SciEd Mathematics Student
SciEd 492 – Qualitative Research
4/18/2018

A CRITIQUE
The Effect of GeoGebra on Students’ Conceptual and
Procedural Knowledge of Function

1 Hutkemri and 2 Effandi Zakaria

1. Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangil , Malaysia
2. Institute of Space Science, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia

This research article is all about testing the effectiveness of the mathematics software
which is the GeoGebra on students’ conceptual knowledge (understating) and procedural
knowledge (understating) towards the lesson on function/s and also to the students differences
based on their gender. This was conducted to secondary students at Rokan Hulu, Riau, Indonesia
in 2012. It is being said by the authors of this research article that the software is being integrated
in the mathematics classroom instruction using computers and is downloadable from the internet
for free and can be installed in different computers. The students can use the software
simultaneously in accordance to the instruction told by teacher-researchers during classes.

What was done? (METHODOLOGY)

This research employed an experimental research design to determine the effect(s)

of a treatment. In this type of design, researchers intentionally and systematically introduce
a treatment to a natural phenomenon and then observe the string of changes that occur to
the phenomenon. In order to ensure the accuracy of the effect on the real situation, this
study employed a non-equivalent pre-test and post-test control group design. This study
used a quasi-experimental design to examine the effectiveness of GeoGebra software on
students’ conceptual and procedural knowledge. Quasi-experimental design was chosen
because the present study used the intact groups as subjects. In other words, research
subjects were not chosen randomly.
The researchers divided the subjects into two groups: the experimental and control
groups. There are four classes in the schools, and in order to decide the experimental and
 research groups, the researchers had a discussion with the school principal and teachers.
who were directly involved in the study. Both the experimental and control groups were
given pre-tests before the study was conducted. The purpose of the test was to determine if
there was any similarity between the groups and also to have statistics control over the
groups. The pre-test tested students’ conceptual and procedural knowledge on the topic of
function (composite function and inverse function).
Post-tests were administered to both groups after the lessons on function. Test items
in both the pre- and post-tests were the same and these tests used pencil and paper without
using GeoGebra software. Data were collected from the respondents that comprised Form-
Two students from Upper Secondary School in Rokan Hulu Riu Indonesia 2011/2012
session. A total of 284 students were selected for the purpose of this study, and 138 were
placed in the experimental group and 146 in the control group. Two groups were arranged
as the experimental groups and the other two groups as the control groups. Each group
was taught by the same teacher for each school. Students who were involved in this study
attended lessons as usual according to their timetables as scheduled by school.
The instrument used to measure students’ conceptual and procedural knowledge
on the topic of function consisted of five questions. These items were parallel to the
objectives of the lessons and were developed by the researchers as a result of discussion
with a school mathematics teacher who normally teaches the pupils at the upper-secondary
school. The questions were adapted from studies conducted by Bell (2001), Teachey
(2003), and Jensen (2009).

The methodology of this study was made appropriately by the authors. Since this is an
experimental study, there was a pre-test and a post-test conducted. I think measuring the
conceptual understanding knowledge and procedural knowledge of the respondents/students of
this study should not only be limited to giving questions. I think I should open-ended questions to
randomly selected students or by selecting the upper and lower five (5) ranked
students/respondents for the purpose of the deepening the gathered information from them and to
fully understand the weaknesses or strengths of the students in the existing phenomenon.
Hypotheses & Result:
1. Differences in conceptual knowledge on the topic of function between
experimental and control group based on gender
2. Differences in procedural knowledge on the topic of function between
experimental and control group based on gender
Two-way ANOVA was conducted to determine the difference in conceptual knowledge on
the topic of function between the experimental and control groups based on gender there was a
main effect of group, whereby the experimental group had a higher level of procedural knowledge
Despite the fact that females from both groups tended to score higher than males , there was no
main effect of gender, nor was there a group × gender interaction , Taken together, the results
indicate that the GeoGebra software significantly improved procedural knowledge in both males
and females.

Conclusion:
Generally, the title of the article is very appropriate to the methods used by the authors.
The literature presented and cited were also appropriate which in one way or another really made
the readers convince the result. This study can be considered to be advance the field in
mathematics, although the use of the computer is not new to all but because of the software made
the readers to have an interest because of its impact that the students will use computer which is
not only for games but it can give them the interest to learn and appreciate mathematics subjects.
In the presentation of the result, the statistical tools used were appropriate. conclusions that are
evident and are supported from their data collected. There were no opposing point of views presented
by the authors with regards to the discussion to the result of the study. The findings of this study suggest
that there is really a need to make GeoGebra as an integral part of mathematics instruction particularly
on the topic domains: geometry, graphing/functions in algebra or even higher mathematics. It also
further suggests that GeoGebra gives teacher different teaching techniques in tackling mathematics to
the students. Hence, it is important for teachers to master the use of the software-GeoGebra to enhance
their skills in integrating ICT in the class.
Suggestions:
It better for the authors to include in this article the specific Statement of Problems of the study
so that the reader will be guided in reading the results.
The presentation of the table in interpreted data should have been in an APA format since
it is now new trend in presenting tables.