NU prof studying technology-enhanced math education
Dr. Daniel Jarvis, professor in the Schulich School of Education, is one of nine international experts in a research study examining the collaborative use of interactive GeoGebra software in the learning of geometry.
GeoGebra, an interactive, open source software platform that combines geometry (Geo) and algebra (Gebra) within a powerful user interface has been described as the 'world's most rapidly expanding dynamic geometry software,' with over 20 million users and40 institutes around the globe.
The study titledInteractive geometry problems for the development of students' skills and the acquisition of mathematical knowledge will receive approximately $440,000 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Insight Grant over the next five years.
Principal Investigator, Dr. Philippe Richard of the Université de Montréal, will head up the nine-member team that includes GeoGebra creator, Dr. Markus Hohenwarter (Austria); GeoGebra R&D specialist, Dr. Zsolt Lavicza (UK/Hungary); Experimental Teaching Methods (ETM) experts, Dr. Alain Kuzniak and Dr. Laurent Vivier (France); Chair of Didactics of Mathematics, Dr. Josep Maria Fortuny (Spain); and fellow Canadians, Dr. Viktor Freiman (Université de Moncton) and Dr. Michel Gagnon (École Polytechnique de Montréal).
The research project will focus primarily on the implementation of geogebraTUTOR, Dr. Richard's interactive online learning environment in which students collaboratively explore mathematical problems using GeoGebra.
Dr. Jarvis has served as a member of the Steering Committee of theGeoGebra Institute of Canada (GIC) since its inception in 2009. He has also represented Canada, with Drs. Richard and Freiman, at the Colloque de L’Espace Mathématique Francophone (EMF) in Geneva, Switzerland in 2012, where they presented as part of a special project examining the teaching of mathematics in French-speaking countries. Dr. Jarvis looks forward to working with this unique group of mathematics education researchers.