SBIR Phase I: Sketchpad for Young Learners of Mathematics: Dynamic Visualization Software in Grades 3-8

Kcp Technologies, Emeryville CA

Investigators

Abstract

This Small Business Innovative Research Phase I project aims to identify and overcome barriers to the effective integration of The Geometer's Sketchpad software in elementary and middle school math classes. This research-based educational software is already well known at the secondary level for its ability to foster dynamic mathematics visualization and exploration and to enhance student learning. This project responds to clear calls for the software's application and adaptation to younger grades coming from teachers, curriculum development and research communities, and from standards bodies such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The proposed research, led by the team that created and maintains Sketchpad, will identify aspects of the present software and its model of curriculum integration that act as obstacles to effective use in grades 3-8, and investigate, test, and evaluate a series of software design modifications, implementations, and activity scenarios to overcome these obstacles. KCP Technologies will additionally research the potential for deep connection to the most widely-adopted National Science Foundation middle school reform curriculum, the Connected Mathematics Project, to determine how the modified Sketchpad for Young Learners that emerges from this work can best enhance student learning and support effective curricula in today's real-world classrooms. The broader impact of this project reaching its objectives (and pursuing them through Phase II/III) will be the creation and eventual wide availability, in primary and middle grades, of age-appropriate Dynamic Geometry mathematics education technologies (and supporting curriculum) similar to those which define Sketchpad at the secondary level, where the software is considered the most valuable software for students (Becker, 1999) by mathematics teachers across the country.