Introducing parameters of linear function at undergraduate level: use of geogebra

The newly founded universities increase the number of high school graduates taking a seat in a university class. Among them the ones who are not well prepared in mathematics, mostly in the social sciences students, face learning difficulties in the first y ear mathematics course at undergraduate level. The notion of the function which is the foundation of the first year undergraduate mathematics course is a difficult part of mathematics curriculum especially for the under risk new students of social science s. To overcome the problem, an intervention is applied in the course as Geogebra creating visual learning environment. Teaching of function is organized with the method of contextual teaching and learning (CTL) by using the REACT strategy. The instruction is started with the Relating, the first step of strategy, to reach each student’s background to relate it with their daily life. Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ) is used to get students’ reflection about the lecture and has used the reflections, espec ially the ones who see the point of relating, to form the sample group of the study. The activity including geogebra is developed to apply second step of strategy as Experiencing. The task is organized as to investigate the effects of change in the paramet ers of a linear function. After analysing research documents, findings reveal that students have benefits from two important words as visual and concrete in dealing with Geogebra as a member of Dynamic and Interactive Mathematics Learning Environments (DIM LE).

Mathematics Education ,

Contextual Teaching and Learning ,

Geogebra ,

Function ,