Reflections

I was experimenting with GeoGebra for a mathematics teaching methods assessment when I recalled Nico’s post on the subject.  It really is quite useful software (and free, which is its major advantage over the more popular commercial software Geometer’s Sketch Pad).

The potential benefits have already been discussed by Nico in his post.  What I wished to add was that there are quite a number of resources available for use for GeoGebra, including worksheets and lessons.  I was reviewing the available submitted resources for “Inverse Functions” in particular, and was surprised to see quite a few examples of submitted work which allow students to discover or explore relationships between a function and its inverse.

But the software is not limited to functions and co-ordinate geometry, as Matthew points out in his blog it could be particularly useful for circle geometry, and I would suggest also some trigonometry, properties of polygons, and curve sketching.

 Even this software which holds potential for engaging students and allowing them to be active learners could be turned into a very teacher-centred tool.  Caveat Magister (maybe someone with some actual Latin knowledge can correct me . . .)

The graph of y = x squared, and its relection in the line y = x, (x = y squared) as graphed in GeoGebra.