Dynamic Software for Discovering Mathematical Relationships

Sharon Whitton, Ph.D.

Hofstra University
Department of Curriculum and Teaching
Hempstead, NY 11549-1130
catszw@hofstra.edu

Abstract: For the past four years I have used The Geometer’s Sketchpad to teach
geometry to a wide variety of learners. They ranged from school-age students, to
education majors, to college professors. Dramatic appreciation for geometry was
evident in all populations. Students discovered geometric principles for themselves that
took thousands of years for humankind to realize.

While directing a National Science Foundation Project in 1994, I learned about a new piece of
software called The Geometer’s Sketchpad (Key Curriculum Press). This software was designed for the
explicit purpose of teaching and learning geometry. I have since used it with a wide variety of learners in
different stages of their mathematical development. These include school-age students from grades 7 to
12, college students from undergraduate to graduate school, teachers from the elementary level to the
secondary level, and college mathematics professors. Without exception, I can state that The Geometer’s
Sketchpad is a big hit with everyone, even with people who have always hated mathematics. Indeed,
many maintain that it is the most revolutionary software ever created for the teaching of geometry.
Usually mathematics appeals to only certain types of people. However, this unique piece of
software can be extremely motivating to students because it is interactive, fun and easy to use. More
importantly, it allows students to explore and discover mathematical principles while participating in
cooperative groups or when working completely alone. With this tool students do not need to depend on
their teacher to answer all of their questions; the Sketchpad responds to them immediately, in pictorial
and numerical form.
Basically, the Sketchpad is an electronic straight edge and compass, including a set of pre-
programmed constructions, and an array of measurement tools. It permits the user to examine a set of
similar constructions by clicking and dragging the mouse button on the original construction. On the
surface, this does not sound tremendously revolutionary. However, with paper and pencil constructions,
only one construction may be examined at a time. Whereas, with the Sketchpad, salient features of a
construction can be reproduced repeatedly by clicking and dragging the mouse. In this way, a vast array
of cases may be viewed at once. This feature allows students to discover mathematical relationships that
human beings were unable to discover for thousands of years. In fact, in 1995 two high school students,
Dan Litchfield and Dave Goldenheim, used the Sketchpad to make original discoveries concerning the
division of a line segment into a regular partition (Litchfield & Goldenheim 1997).

Changes in the Way Mathematics is Taught

The Sketchpad offers exciting new possibilities for teaching geometry that are consistent with the
recommendations of learning theorists and prominent national educational organizations. In particular,
the National Council of Mathematics (1989) recommends that mathematics instruction be more
exploratory, involve open-ended investigations, and incorporate inductive reasoning. In reality, this
approach more closely mimics how mathematics itself is discovered. Mathematicians typically begin with
a problem they wish to investigate, use empirical methods and inductive reasoning to formulate
conjectures, and finally use formal deductive proof to verify their findings. It would seem logical that
mathematics instruction should follow a similar sequence. The Sketchpad could provide such an
environment.

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 This instructional sequence is also consonant with research on the stages in which children learn
mathematics (Piaget 1960, Bruner 1966) and the research on the development of geometric thought by the
Dutch educators Dina van Hiele-Geldof and Pierre van Hiele (Crowley 1987). Research has long
indicated that mathematical understanding is enhanced when students become physically engaged in
constructing and manipulating objects to discover relationships. Additionally, prior to being introduced
to formal deductive proof, visual models and inductive reasoning should be used for formulating
conjectures. Unfortunately, many geometry textbooks begin with symbolic representations of relationships
and focus almost totally on deductive proof, often before students are sufficiently familiar with geometric
relationships. Such approaches are now being seriously challenged.

The Origin of the Geometer’s Sketchpad

The Sketchpad is a product of a National Science Foundation project, the Visual Geometry Project,
directed by Dr. Eugene Klotz of Swarthmore College and Dr. Doris Schattschneider of Moravian College
in Pennsylvania. The computer programmer who developed the Sketchpad is Nicholas Jackiw. The early
stages of its development were influenced by hundreds of teachers and students participating in the
project. The latest version was released in 1995 and is currently available through Key Curriculum Press.
Related materials are now being developed to teach coordinate geometry, trigonometry and
transformational geometry using the Sketchpad. It continues to be refined, based on input of educators,
students, and other geometry users.

A Sampling of Student Explorations

With the construction and measurement tools that come built-in the Sketchpad, students make
discoveries about the shape formed by connecting the midpoints of the sides of any quadrilateral (See
Figure 1.)

C
F
B
m HE = 3.79 cm
m GH = 3.38 cm Area ABCD = 21.24 cm2
G Area EFGH =10.62 cm
2

m FG = 3.79 cm E
m EF = 3.38 cm A 2
Area AGH = 2.08 cm
2
Area CEF =3.23 cm
H
Slope HE = 0.38 2
Area BFG = 1.63 cm
D 2
Slope GH = -0.71 Area DEH =3.68 cm
Slope FG = 0.38 Discoveries
Slope EF = -0.71
1. Regardless of the type of quadrilateral, when the midpoints of the
quadrilateral are connected in sequence, a parallelogram is formed.

2. The area of this interior parallelogram is exactly one-half that of the

surrounding quadrilateral.

3. The sum of the areas of opposite pairs of triangles is the same, i.e., Area of
AGH + Area of CEF = Area of BFG + Area of DEH.

Figure 1: The Midpoints of a Quadrilateral.

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 Complex constructions are made easy with the Sketchpad. The construction shown in Figure 2 is
the nine-point circle discovered in 1820 by the French mathematicians Charles Grianchon and Jean
Poncelet. It is formed by passing a circle through the feet of the altitudes of a triangle, the midpoints of
the sides of the triangle and through the midpoints of the segments that join the vertices to the point of
intersection of the altitudes.

p3
p8

p2

R
p6

O p5
p9

p7
A

p4
p1

Figure 2: The Nine-Point Circle.

The Euler line (See Figure 3) can be discovered by typical high school students with the
Sketchpad. Specifically, they find that the circumcenter, orthocenter and centroid of any triangle are
always on the same line.

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 G is the centroid.
C
J in the orthocenter.
K is the circumcenter.

D E
l

K
G

A F B

DISCOVERY
The centroid, orthocenter and
circumcenter of any triangle are all
the same line.
on

Figure 3: The Euler Line

Students make use of recursive programming in constructing the square root spiral. In this
construction, line segments whose lengths are consecutive square roots may be easily visualized. (See
Figure 4.)

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 E
D
F

G C

H A B

R
I

Q
J

P
K
O
L
M N

Figure 5: The Square Root Spiral.

A fractal is a self-similar recursive pattern. The study of fractals is a relatively new area of
mathematics, recently made possible by computer technology. They can be readily explored using the
Sketchpad. Ordinarily, they involve too many constructions to make their study feasible. The well-known
fractal, Sierpinski’s Gasket, is shown in Figure 6. It is formed by continuing to connect the midpoints of
the sides of triangles, omitting the center triangle.

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 B

AA Z

U Y T

X W AD AC

F V S AB E

O N AM AL

I M H AG AK AF

L K R Q AJ AI AP AO

A J G P D AH AE AN C

Figure 6: An Example of a Fractal: Seirpinski’s Gasket.

Conclusion

The opportunities for student discoveries and explorations using the Sketchpad are limitless. My students
and colleagues are enjoying discovering geometric principles, many for the first time. The examples
shown here just begin to scratch the surface. This software has all of the features for effective instruction
and is consistent with research findings on how students learn geometry. It is both a graphics package
and measurement tool that is interactive and dynamic. If used effectively, it will surely affect mathematics
instruction and learning at all levels.

References
Crowley, M. L. (1987). The van Hiele Model of the Development of Geometric Thought. Learning and Teaching
Geometry, K-12, 1987 Yearbook, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Reston, VA, 1-16.

Bruner, J.S., ed. (1966). Learning About Learning. USOE Cooperative Research Monograph no. 15, Washington
D.C.

Piaget, J., et. al. (1960). The Child’s Conception of Geometry. New York: Basic Books, Publishers.

Litchfield, D. & Goldenheim, D. (1997). Euclid, Fibonacci, and Sketchpad. The Mathematics Teacher, 90 (1).

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1989). Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School
Mathematics. Reston, VA: NCTM.

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