The Effects of Dynamic Graphing Utilities on Student Attitudes and Conceptual Understanding in College Algebra

The goal of this study is to explore and characterize the effects of using a dynamic graphing utility (DGU) on conceptual understanding and attitudes toward mathematics, measured by the responses of college algebra students to an attitude survey and concepts assessment. Two sections of college algebra taught by the primary researcher are included in the study, with one group using the dynamic graphing utility Desmos (www.desmos.com), and the other using the TI­84 (or equivalent) graphing calculator as a control. The Precalculus Concept Assessment (Carlson, Oehrtman, & Engelke, 2010) was used to measure aspects of students’ conceptual understanding of course material, while the Student Attitude Survey developed at UMass­Dartmouth ( Brookstein, Hegedus, Dalton, Moniz, & Tapper, 2011) was adopted to explore student attitudes. Both instruments were administered at the beginning and end of the 16­week term. Although no statistically significant overall difference was detected in the change in mean PCA scores between the two groups, analysis of results suggests that there were differences in the type of reasoning abilities whose development was supported by the use of the two devices. However, the largest PCA score improvements occurred among female students in the treatment group. The most consistent results from the SAS concerned student attitudes toward group work, indicating a negative trend in this attitude component. There were some indications that students using the DGU Desmos were more engaged with using technology as part of the learning process. Implications and limitations of the present study are discussed in detail, as well as directions and suggestions for future research. ©2016 by Ryan Thomas All Rights Reserved Acknowledgments This document is the culmination of years of work, which would not have been possible without the support of many people. First of all, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Shannon Dingman, for his guidance in reaching this point. Without the contributions of his time and expertise I would not have been able to complete this undertaking successfully, and I’m grateful for his counsel. I would also like to thank the members of my committee, Dr. Bernard Madison, Dr. Edmund Harriss, and Dr. Laura Kent. Each provided advice along the way, both before and during the research process, and contributed to the development of this study. My friends and colleagues within the math department and MRTC have also played an important role in my education and development as a teacher in the past several years, and I am grateful for the experience gained in working with all of them. In particular, working closely with good friends like Beth Dickerson, Matthew Gentry, and Newton Foster on a day­to­day basis has been vitally important to my mental health. I have also been very fortunate to come to work every day with my wife, Dr. Emily Thomas, but we’ll come back to her in a bit. I am very thankful to all my family for their love and support throughout my education, and especially to my parents, Randy and Dana Thomas. They’ve been behind me every step of the way and I would not have been able to do any of this without their support. Most of all, I am grateful for the opportunities provided by a loving God. Not only did I come out of this thing with a (hard­earned) doctorate, but I have also made good friends and found my officemate­turned­wife, Emily. There is no way I could have done this without you, Em. Table of