A Thematic and Methodological Review of Theses related to GeoGebra: A Content Analysis

Abstract

GeoGebra is one of the widely used software in mathematics education. Therefore, many master’s and doctoral theses related to GeoGebra have been conducted until today. It is considered that review of these theses will provide both guideline and more effective literature reading for researchers. The purpose of this study is to review systematically theses related to GeoGebra in mathematics education research in Turkey both thematically and methodologically. Theses which were published until June 2018 at the database of National Thesis Center of the Council of Higher Education in Turkey were examined. This study is a descriptive content analysis within content analysis studies. In the study, a total of 54 theses were reached in the database. While the number of master’s theses is 41, the number of doctoral theses is 13. These theses were analyzed thematically in four titles; research subject, mathematical topic, type, and publication year. On the other hand, the theses were analyzed methodologically in four titles; pattern, sample, data collection tool, and data analysis method. Findings were presented with the percentage, frequency, study codes, graphics, and tables. Results of this study indicated that the effects of GeoGebra on academic achievement, learning or permanence were mostly examined in theses. Additionally, majority of the theses were preferred to geometry topics. The quantitative research methodology was determined to be used more than the other methodologies. Most of the theses related to GeoGebra were conducted with the secondary school students. At the end of the study, it is recommended to increase the studies examining the effectiveness of GeoGebra by selecting topics from different learning areas such as measurement, data processing, and probability. Addionalty, it is suggested to increase the studies performed with students and teachers at primary school level.