By: Kellie Ivens
Kellie Ivens first and third period geometry classes were brought to
the math lab and used the Definitions program, Angle
Problems, Traveling Transversals and Parallel Problems,
Quadrilateral Quiz, Tesselmania (Mecc software) and
Special Triangles.
Kellie conducted research on the Definitions program for
Chapter one and two. She gave a 20 question quiz on the
definitions after teaching the unit but before coming to the lab
and then again after using the review program in the lab.
Her results were as follows:
Number of students Number of students
Percent Number with score before with score after
Correct Correct coming to the lab. coming to the lab.
100% 20 3 20
95% 19 0 0
90% 18 4 2
85% 17 2 1
80% 16 8 1
75% 15 1 0
70% 14 3 1
65% 13 3 1
60% 12 0 1
55% 11 0 0
50% 10 1 0
45% 9 1 0
40% 8 1 1
35% 7 1 0
before coming to the lab after coming to the lab
mean score was 75.7% mean score was 92.1%
mode at 80% with a mode at 100%
median was at 80% median was 100%
Kellie also conducted a survey of student reaction to lab activities.
Students stated that they liked Tesselmania the best. Many students
left the open question “Which program did you like least?” blank.
Those who responded to this question listed the Quadrilateral
Quiz most often (8 entries). An unexpected response was
noted in the answer to the third question, “Which program helped
you the most?” Thirteen students said the Quadrilateral Quiz,
helped them the most. Fifteen students said the Definitions
program helped them the most. Ten of Kellie’s students responded
that “all of them” helped them learn. Kellie noted that quite often
a student would state that the program they “liked least” also helped
them "the most."
Kellie’s survey also revealed that the students preferred learning
concepts in the lab (Forty-eight out of fifty-three) to text book
activities. Forty said they would like for there to be more computer
activities and the remaining students thought about the same amount
was what is needed. Eleven said explicitly that they wanted to go
to the lab more often.
A Focused Assessment of Geometry and the Math Lab
Evaluating the effectiveness of technology
Summary by Leslie Howe
Farragut High School
Knoxville, Tennessee
1998-1999