Developing concepts and procedural knowledge on finding area of irregular shapes through inquiry and cognitive tools featuring visualization

Computer-supported cognitive tools (CTs) incorporating visualization features were designed to support primary school learners for mathematics inquiry about finding area of irregular shapes. This study examined the use of the designed CTs in mathematics learning in Hong Kong. A Primary 5 class with 24 learners participated in the 11 35-minutes lessons. The pre-post-test results indicated that learners gained significantly in learning outcomes after using the designed CTs; and learners’ post-teaching reflection notes showed that the designed CTs could help learners to grasp concepts behind the procedure for calculating area of the selected irregular shapes. The post-teaching questionnaire results confirmed learners’ positive perceptions on the classroom use of the designed CTs for mathematics learning, especially its benefits to the development and application of relevant mathematical concepts and procedural knowledge. Three implications on the future study of the CTs are: repeating the test with more classes to validate the visualization support in mathematics inquiry; testing out knowledge transfer from finding area of triangle to area of trapezium as both areas are half of the parallelogram formed; and testing the sequence of teaching concepts and procedural knowledge of finding the area of parallelograms, triangles and then trapeziums