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Software Review
EDTC 600
Kaitlyn Valis
June 6, 2014

DYNAMIC & VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF MATHEMATICS: SOFTWARE REVIEW

The software that will be evaluated in this paper is Geometers Sketchpad, a software

program used to teach mathematical concepts to students in grade 3 through college published by

McGraw-Hill Education in 2012. The program facilitates students learning through visual

representations of concepts. Students can manipulate numbers, graphs, and shapes to explore

different ideas. Younger students can use the software to explore numbers lines and simple

shapes, while older students can graph functions and manipulate them to investigate changes.

Geometers Sketchpad can either be used by students to explore, or by teachers to demonstrate.

This paper will defend its usefulness as a tool in high school math classes, specifically, Algebra,

Geometry, and Precalculus. Also the paper will compare Geometers Sketchpad to SketchUp, a

3D modeling software.

Educational Value

Geometers Sketchpad has high educational value and is currently being used in hundreds

of math classrooms to further learning and deepen understanding. For three main reasons this

software is beneficial for use in a variety of math class; its visual and dynamic, it encourages

exploration, and it facilitate differentiation. First, math is a very visual discipline, but often that

aspect of the content is looked over or included as an afterthought to discussing a function or

operation. Key Curriculum Press (2009) in The Research Base for the Geometers Sketchpad-

Executive Summary explains that incorporating the visual aspect of math into instruction will

help students to better understand the content, and is indispensable for students challenged by

language learning and cognitive issues (p. 2). In Geometry specifically it allows students to
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create their own points, lines, shapes, and graphs and then label them appropriately. When

learning the basic vocabulary and notation students are able to practice doing this while looking

at a dynamic, not static figure.

Unlike the classroom board or students paper this software is dynamic and active. What

better way for students to discover that math is not a boring, dead subject, but an active, exciting

part of our world? Many concepts are hard to explain or draw on paper, but can be represented

on Geometers Sketchpad either in a 3D version or using animation. In Integrating Educational

Technology into Teaching Roblyer & Doering (2013) explains that visual softwares like

Geometers Sketchpad help students to visualize abstract concept allowing for better and

deeper understanding of the concepts (p. 99). Including graphics that are both static and animated

in instruction helps students better solve problems (Roblyer & Doering, 2013, p. 99). The

dragging and animation features are an advantage to this software over paper and pencil because

students can move points and lines around to investigate what will happen if the image looked a

little different or if the equation changed slightly. For example, students can create an angle,

label it, and measure it, and then by dragging a point or line students can observe what is

happening to the measure of the angle. Dragging immediately shows what works and what

doesnt, a feedback process that encourages imagination and error correction (Key Curriculum

Press, 2009, p. 2). Sometimes graphing a function by hand can take a long time and investigating

how changing different aspects of the function might change the graph could be difficult. By

looking at these adjustments students deepen their understanding of the concept rather than

simply going through the steps to graph or solve the problem.

Retention is a very difficult problem for many teachers, but in particular math teachers

because the concepts build upon each other. Teachers are constantly having to reteach concepts
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previously discussed in prior math courses because of a lack of retention of previous material

needed for the current course. Students are often presented with a rule or mathematical property

that they are asked to memorize and then apply to future situations, but they often forget it after

the quiz or test. This happens because they were not aware of the origin or justification of the

rule. Allowing students to explore the concepts themselves and discover the rule or postulate on

their own allows students to become owners of their own learning rather than consumers and

convinces students of the truth of their conjectures (Key Curriculum Press, 2009, p. 2-3).

Many of the open-ended exploration activities created by Geometers Sketchpad would be great

for this purpose because they allow students to use the dynamic interactive aspect of the software

to investigate in ways they would not be able to with paper and pencil.

In addition to learning the particular concept, rule, postulate, or theorem it is also

teachers responsibility to teach problem solving and critical thinking skills that students will

utilize in their future, no matter their future field of study or career. Geometers Sketchpad has a

variety of resources for incorporating real world situations and problems into the software so

students can consider how the ideas they are learning in class can be applied to real life. The

software also has the capabilities of uploading pictures into the Sketchpad document so students

can use the tools to work with the real life situation. Also, simulations can be created with the

animation features so that students can test different scenarios. A feature that would be very

appealing to students.

Furthermore, many activities and assignments created for this software are meant to be

self-paced. Students walk through a series of steps to explore a particular concept or idea.

Throughout the activity students might be introduced to new vocabulary or notation, but then

they are pushed to move further and make their own conjectures and observations about
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characteristics, postulates, or theorems associated with the concept. Furthermore, Key

Curriculum Press (2009) suggests that if students are working individually or in small groups

they can work at their own pace allowing lower level students or students with learning

differences to work at a slower pace and see multiple representations of the concept. This will

allow the teacher to challenge some students to go further in depth with the concept then they

would have been able to with the entire class. The variety of activities from step-by-step

activities to open-ended explorations will allow teachers to differentiate instruction to meet the

needs of the unique individual learners in their classes (p. 3). The many already prepared

activities will allow teachers the time to vary instruction by being able to simply modify projects

and activities to fit their classes needs rather than starting from scratch.

The limitations that exist with this software mainly are the cost and the need for

computers or devices for each student. For students to be able to explore at their own pace they

must have an individual computer or device. Geometers Sketchpad must be purchased per

computer, so depending on access to class computers or a computer lab the availability of using

this software might be difficult. Schools can either purchase a one year license or a non-expiring

license. For example, purchasing a Student 1-year License for 1-29 computers the cost is $9.96

per computer. The cost decreases the more computers a school buys it for. For a Non-Expiring

License purchase of 5-19 computers the cost per computer is $30.00 with the price decreasing as

the number of computers increases. Sketchpad Explorer, the IPad application created by KCP

Technologies is a free resource option, but you would still need IPads for each students in the

class.
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Interest Level

Engaging students to participate actively in their learning can be difficult, especially

when they dont see the purpose or point behind it. Using Geometers Sketchpad would engage

students in the process by guiding them as they make discoveries about the content. The real

world problems and projects would further their interest by seeing the relevance of the concepts

being taught in class. Also, being able to drag the points, lines, and figures can be fun for

students to try out. Lastly, the animation is particularly cool for students to make their graphs and

figures come to life and sometimes the animations can even draw some really cool images.

Although the software does not have a lot of colors or videos that would entertain students, the

software can be engaging for the students to see different outcomes and applications.

Bias

Geometers Sketchpad program does not have images of people in the program, so there

is no bias with regards to race or ethnicity. According to The Sketchpad Story, the software is

even translated into many different languages and utilized in many different countries around the

world. (The Sketchpad Story, 2014). Moreover, Merys (2009) in The Effects of the Use of

Technology in Mathematics Instruction on Student Achievement found that there was no

significant differences between FCAT mathematics scores of the boys and the girls when GSP

was used (p. 71). This is significant because boys tend to score higher than girls on math

assessments. Geometers Sketchpad could be a tool to work toward closing the gender gap. There

is a socio-economic bias because of the cost of the software and the need for it to be purchased

per computer. Even if a school could afford to purchase it, use would be limited to during school

hours unless families could afford to purchase it for home computers. The free IPad application

could be a solution to this bias. Students could use the full version while in school and have the
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IPad app for home use if necessary. Lastly, for those with physical disabilities the program could

be difficult to use because it requires precise use of the mouse. Many features of the software

require very specific points or lines to be highlighted or clicked before a particular function is

available. For example the endpoints of a line must be highlighted for the measure feature to

be activated.

Ease of Use/Installation

In addition, being able to use the software and learn the features is very important to

being able to dive deeper into understanding the content. Although the program is user friendly

there will be a bit of a learning curve when it comes to all its features and tools. The software has

a lot of capabilities and it is unreasonable for students to know everything from the beginning.

Students will discover new tools and resources as they participate in activities and exploration

exercises. For example, one of the first activities that the students would do in a geometry class

is to investigate some of the features of Geometers Sketchpad while learning the names and

notations for some basic geometry structures, such as points, lines, and angles. The activity

would take the next step further to learn how to measure lines and angles, which will be very

useful later in the course. The activities provided by the software explain the process thoroughly

and even show pictures of the icons used.

Comparison to SketchUp

In comparison SketchUp Make, a free 3D drawing tool, allows students to create 3D

diagrams as intricate or simple as needed. Students are able to take 2D figures and use the

Push/Pull tool to expand the figure into a 3D shape. The benefit of this software is that not only

can it help students to visualize 3D figures on a 2D screen, but students can drag the figure

around and see it from many different angles and viewpoints. This could help students to see the
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backside of the figure and the transparency feature allows users to see through the figure as

well. SketchUp Make also allows for measure of lengths, but is limited because it does not

measure angles, perimeters, and areas. This free version of the software does have limitations

regarding printing and sharing the document. SketchUp LayOut does help with these limitations

but is not included in the free version. Geometers Sketchpad is definitely more superior with

regards to graphing and exploring mathematical functions on coordinate planes. There is no such

feature on SketchUp so that is a clear limitation to use in a high school mathematics classroom.

Although SketchUp would be better when exploring real world 3D problems, Geometers

Sketchpad is still superior in regards to introducing and expanding mathematical notation,

concepts, and problems.

Overall Evaluation

In evaluating the software program Geometers Sketchpad it would earn a 4 out of 5

where 5 is excellent and it would be recommended for high school math classes, specifically

Algebra, Geometry, and Precalculus. Its ability to engage students in exploring the concepts

through a visual platform of shapes, figures, and graphs makes it very valuable. The ability to

drag lines and points, as well as the animation feature allows students to investigate in ways that

paper and pencil does not allow. Available also with the software are books filled with step-by-

step activities and projects that encourage students to explore and dig deeper into the content.

The main limitation with this software is the price and the necessity to purchase the software per

computer (although prices decrease the more licenses are purchased). The free IPad application

may be a solution, but the features on the app are limited compared to the full software. If

resources are available the advantages outweigh the cost of the program and students will benefit

greatly from the visually engaging technology.

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Works Cited

Key Curriculum Press. (2009, April). The research base for the Geometers Sketchpad-

executive summary. Retrieved from

http://www.keycurriculum.com/docs/PDF/Sketchpad/GSP_ResearchBaseExecSum1.pdf.

Myers, R.Y. (2009). The effects of the use of technology in mathematics instruction on student

achievement. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from FIU Electronic Theses and

Dissertations. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/136/.

Roblyer, M.D. & Doering, A.H. (2013). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching.

Boston, MA: Pearson.

The Geometers Sketchpad. (2014). McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from

http://www.dynamicgeometry.com/General_Resources/The_Sketchpad_Story.html.

The sketchpad story. (2014). McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from

http://www.keycurriculum.com/#nice46.
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Software Resource Review Form

A. Title of Main Software: Geometers Sketchpad
Version: 5.06
Medium (e.g., compact disk, DVD, Internet): Downloaded Software
Publisher: McGraw Hill Education
Year: 2012
Cost: (individual, single, school, if available):
Non-Expiring Licenses Price Per Computer
1-4 Computers $70.02
5-19 Computers $30.00
20-49 Computers $25.02
50-99 Computers $20.04
100+ Computers $15.00
Student 1-Year Licenses
1-29 Computers $9.96
30-99 Computers $6.00
100+ Computers $4.50
URL for Publisher or Website link to software: Geometer's Sketchpad
Target Grade(s) /Age(s): Grades 3-12
Subject(s) addressed: Mathematics
System Requirements
PC: Windows XP or later
Mac: Mac OS 10.4 or later

B. Title of Comparative Software: SketchUp Make

Version: Version 8
Medium (e.g., compact disk, DVD, Internet): Downloaded Software
Publisher: Trimble Navigation
Year: 2013
Cost: (individual, single, school, if available): Free
URL for Publisher or Website link to software: SketchUp Make
Target Grade(s) /Age(s): Kindergarten and up

Subject(s) addressed: Geometry & 3D Art

System Requirements
PC: Windows 8+, Windows 7+, and Windows Vista
Mac: OS X 10.9+, 10.8+, and 10.7+