A Tangible User Interface to Facilitate Learning of Trigonometry

Abstract

In mathematics education, studies reveal difficulties in the teaching-learning of trigonometry in secondary and higher education, due to the fact that students are not encouraged to achieve a deep conceptual understanding of abstract concepts. Several studies demonstrate that incorporating digital technologies has a positive impact on students’ learning. However, most of the existing technologies do not consider the use of the body and multiple senses. Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) in contrast, can host bodily interactions that have the potential of enhancing learning. Nonetheless, there is a lack of applications of TUIs for trigonometry education. This study consisted in designing and validating a tangible interface for the teaching-learning of basic concepts of trigonometry. The interface hosts a pedagogical experience that privileges exploration through physical manipulation and fosters intuitive and collaborative learning. A Pre-Test was applied to 121 students to determine previous knowledge, yielding a 29.1% performance. After two sessions using the interface, the results of a Post-Test reveal an increase of 37.1%, confirming the educational effectiveness of the interface and the pedagogical experience to facilitate learning of basic concepts of trigonometry.

The Potentials of Tangible Technologies for Learning Linear Equations

“…With respect to understanding equation-solving concepts, our findings are in line with those of other studies [14,43,45] that found that TUIs are likely to assist students in developing their understanding of mathematical concepts. We found that X-is could benefit diverse-attaining pre-primary through ninth-grade students in understanding equation concepts.…”

“…Particularly, their argumentation indicated that they had a good understanding of mathematical equivalence (e.g., the equal sign as a relational symbol) and the equation-solving process. The evidence that X-is is advantageous for students' learning achievement corroborates the findings of earlier work [14,45,81] in tangible technology-enhanced mathematics learning. Moreover, the findings from the thinking aloud data suggest that X-is facilitated the achievement of equation learning (i.e., modelling and solving equations successfully) among diverse students, particularly low and medium achievers.…”

“…Studies have shown how TUIs have enhanced mathematics learning in different content domains and various educational levels. For example, number composition for primary school [14], fractions for primary school [42], geometry for pre-primary and primary school [43,44], trigonometry for undergraduate school [45], and algebra for lower and upper secondary school [20] have been studied. The potential benefits of TMs were used to inform our TM design and to guide our result analysis and discussion.…”

“…During discovery learning, learners are not left unaided but rather are assisted through guidance or scaffolding [49]. Previous studies [11,45] found that educational technology (e.g., virtual manipulatives and TMs) can be used to provide learners with first-hand experiences and guide or scaffold their inductive reasoning process during discovery learning [49].…”

“…Hence, learning through social interaction not only supports languaging in mathematics classrooms [30] but also promotes meaningful learning with manipulatives (cf. discovery learning) [36,43,45]. The design of our TM and its pedagogic utilisation in classrooms was built on social constructivism, e.g., [55], particularly learning through discovery and social interaction, to ensure that the TM benefits students' mathematics learning.…”