GeoGebra-mediated instructional strategy for learning combined operations among ninth-grade general basic education students in an alternative education program

Abstract

Introduction: At Santa Marianita Educational Unit, located in Manta, Ecuador, difficulties were identified among adult ninth-grade general basic education students enrolled in an extraordinary education program, particularly in operational hierarchy, procedural organization, and the contextual resolution of combined operations. These needs guided the design of a GeoGebra-mediated didactic strategy aimed at supporting the visualization of procedures, error analysis, and feedback during mathematical problem solving. Objective: To evaluate the changes observed in the learning of combined operations before and after the implementation of a GeoGebra-mediated didactic strategy among ninth-grade general basic education students enrolled in an extraordinary education program at Santa Marianita Educational Unit. Methodology: An applied study was conducted using a mixed-methods approach with quantitative predominance and a one-group pre-experiment pretest-post-test design. The participants were 28 adult students. Performance was assessed using a 20-item objective test administered before and after six intervention sessions. Subsequently, a 20-item satisfaction survey was conducted, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the principal, vice-principal, and Mathematics teacher. The didactic proposal was independently evaluated by five professionals. Normality of the difference scores was examined using the Shapiro-Wilk test, and pretest-post test scores were compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: The mean score increased from 5.54 (SD = 1.04) on the pre-test to 7.80 (SD = 0.86) on the post-test. Twenty-seven of the 28 participants obtained higher scores at post-test, while one participant obtained the same score. The difference was statistically significant (W = 0.00, p < .001), with a large effect size (r = .88). All four dimensions showed descriptive increases, although contextual problem solving remained the dimension with the lowest post-test score. The survey showed a predominantly favorable evaluation of the experience, particularly regarding motivation and interest, while the interviews provided complementary information on the visualization of procedures, student participation, teacher mediation, and implementation conditions. Conclusion: Implementation of the strategy was accompanied by a favorable pattern in subsequent performance and a positive evaluation of the educational experience. Given the pre-experiment design, absence of a comparison group, differences in the administration conditions of the two measurements, and psychometric limitations of the objective test, the findings should be restricted to the group and context studied and do not allow a definitive causal relationship to be established between the implemented strategy and the observed differences. Area of Study: Education. Specific area of study: Mathematics Education and Educational Technology. Type of study: Original article.