Impact of Graphing Calculators on Students' Problem-Solving Abilities and Students' Attitudes Towards Mathematics
Dibble, Amanda J.. Southwest Minnesota State University, ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing, 2013. 1523829.
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This action research project examines the impact of using graphing calculators in an eighth-grade mathematics classroom in a small, rural school in Southwestern Minnesota during the fall semester of the 2012/2013 school year. There were 18 students in the experimental group and 16 students in the control group who were used for this study. Students were given pretests and posttests to measure the impact graphing calculators had on students' learning, and the results were analyzed using paired-samples t tests and independent-samples t tests. Students were also administered presurveys and postsurveys to measure students' attitudes towards mathematics at the beginning and end of the study. The results were analyzed using independent-samples t tests. The findings of this study concluded that use of graphing calculators for one unit in eighth-grade math had no impact on students' problem-solving abilities as compared to a control group who did not use graphing calculators. This study also revealed that students who use graphing calculators have a higher enjoyment of mathematics than students who do not use graphing calculators, which may cause those students to have a better attitude towards mathematics. This study provides information primarily to mathematics teachers about use of graphing calculators in math classes, but also may be useful to parents and school administrators.