| Abstract [eng] |
This project analyzes the development of students' spatial reasoning and visual perception in mathematics classes. Students often struggle to visualize three-dimensional geometric objects and their properties based solely on drawings in textbooks. The main objective of this project is to evaluate student engagement and comprehension of geometric concepts by implementing a custom-developed educational website with an integrated set of GeoGebra worksheets. The theoretical part of the thesis substantiates the importance of interactive 3D graphics, while the practical implementation involved creating a website that hosts 18 interactive worksheets. These worksheets are designed to transform students from passive observers into active researchers: a system of sliders and animated nets allows for real-time manipulation of spatial figures, transforming them from a 2D plane to 3D space, changing parameters, and instantly observing patterns in volume or surface area variations. Integration of instant feedback became a key solution - enabling students to perform calculations in their notebooks, enter the results into the system, receive immediate confirmation of accuracy, and independently correct errors without direct teacher assistance. To evaluate the quality and effectiveness of the developed digital tool, a two-week study was conducted at Vilnius Municipality Grigiškės 'Šviesa' Gymnasium. The research sample consisted of 44 students from four different classes (three 7th grade and one 8th grade), and the educational process was organized in two formats: a demonstration method using an interactive whiteboard and an individualized approach in a tablet classroom. The collected quantitative survey data confirmed the usability of the product - 90.9% of respondents indicated that the user interface was intuitive and easy to understand. Notably, 86.4% of the participants highlighted the clear benefit of interactive drawings for the visual perception of spatial figures, and 68.2% confirmed that altering parameters with sliders helped them understand the rules. The developed website positively influenced the students' relationship with the subject - 70.5% stated that math classes became more engaging, and 72.7% acknowledged that instant answer verification reduced their fear of making mistakes. Continuous collaboration with the mathematics teacher during the study allowed for prompt adjustments to the tool in response to classroom needs; consequently, three new worksheets were urgently developed and observed mathematical inaccuracies were corrected. Concurrently, the study highlighted certain challenges - for approximately one-fifth of the students, the worksheets became an additional source of distraction, leading them to manipulate objects mechanically without engaging with the mathematical substance of the task. To ensure the sustainability of the digital content, it is recommended to implement a classbased material filtering system on the website to prevent confusion among younger students, as well as to supplement the worksheets with automated assistance steps after several unsuccessful attempts. Ultimately, the conducted research proved that collaboration between developers and educators is an essential prerequisite for creating high-quality and versatile educational tools. |
