Mathematics Teachers’ Geometric Thinking: A Case Study of In-service Teachers’ Constructing, Conjecturing, and Exploring with Dynamic Geometry Software

Abstract

Many research studies have been conducted on students’ or pre-service teachers’ geometric thinking, but there is a lack of studies investigating in-service teachers’ geometric thinking. This paper presents a case study of two high school teachers who attended the dynamic geometry (DG) professional development project for three years. The project focused on the effective use of dynamic geometry software to improve students’ geometry learning. The two teachers were interviewed using a task-based interview protocol about the relationship between two triangles. The interviews, including the teachers' work, were videotaped, transcribed, and analyzed based on the three levels of geometric thinking: recognition, analysis, and deduction. We found that the participating teachers manifested their geometric skills and thinking in constructing, exploring, and conjecturing in the DG environment. The study suggests that the DG environment provides an effective platform for examining teachers' geometric skills, and levels of geometric thinking and encourages inductive explorations and deductive skill development.