Ninth Grade Students' Perception of Function Transformations in a Dynamic Technological Environment
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Abstract
Learning the topic of transformations helps students understand deeply the function concept that is a fundamental subject in mathematics. School and college students find learning the topic of transformations difficult, especially when these transformations are performed on non-basic functions. The current research attempts to examine 9th grade students' understanding of the transformations concepts when these concepts are learned in a technological environment, specifically Geogebra environment. Nineteen 9th grade students participated in the research. These were excellent students who used Geogebra to solve mathematical problems involving three transformations: translations, reflections and stretching. To analyze the students' perceptions of the three transformations, the APOS (action, process, object and schema) was used. The research findings indicated that the participants had different levels of understanding when they performed transformations of non-basic functions. Sixty percent of the participants had the object level of understanding or approaching it, while the rest (forty percent) were in the process level or near it. This research also found that there are between levels of understanding, which indicates the continuity of the APOS theory when it is used to analyze students' learning of mathematical concepts.