Enhancing High School Students’ Spatial Reasoning Through Geometry Transformation Instruction in Ghana

Tay, Mawuli Kofi

Enhancing High School Students’ Spatial Reasoning Through Geometry Transformation Instruction in Ghana

dc.contributor.advisor	Preciado-Babb, Armando Paulino
dc.contributor.author	Tay, Mawuli Kofi
dc.contributor.committeemember	Koh, Kim Hong
dc.contributor.committeemember	Francis, Krista
dc.date	2023-11
dc.date.accessioned	2023-08-10T19:36:27Z
dc.date.available	2023-08-10T19:36:27Z
dc.date.issued	2023-08
dc.description.abstract	Spatial reasoning is a critical skill for learning mathematics, yet efforts to improve high school students' spatial reasoning skills within mathematics classrooms are limited or absent in Ghana. This study aimed to investigate the impact of using dynamic and static visualization approaches within the Experience-Language-Pictorial-Symbolic-Application (ELPSA) pedagogical framework to teach geometry transformation concepts and enhance students’ spatial reasoning skills and geometry transformation knowledge during a four-week intervention. Due to the mixed results regarding the type of visualizations, the study also aimed to compare the effects of dynamic versus static visualization. The study used a one group pretest-post-test design to compare the effects of dynamic versus static visualization instruction. Seventy-seven (77) students from a single school participated in the study and were purposively assigned to either the dynamic (n = 35) or static (n = 42) group. The intervention lasted for four weeks (16 hours), and the dynamic group received dynamic visualization instruction, while the static group received static visualization instruction. The students' spatial reasoning skills and geometry transformation knowledge were assessed using a spatial reasoning instruction and geometry transformation achievement test before and after the intervention. Although there were no significant differences between the groups, both visualization approaches significantly improved students' spatial reasoning skills, including mental rotation, spatial orientation, and spatial visualization, as well as their geometry transformation knowledge. Additionally, the study found a positive relationship between students' geometry transformation scores and their spatial reasoning scores, suggesting that an ELPSA pedagogical approach to visualization instructions can enhance students' spatial reasoning skills within the context of geometry transformation. Overall, these findings have important implications for mathematics educators and curriculum developers, as the findings provide conclusive evidence that targeted geometry transformation instruction within ELPSA pedagogical framework can enhance students' spatial reasoning skills, regardless of the type of visualization used to teach geometry transformation.
dc.identifier.citation	Tay, M. K. (2023). Enhancing high school students’ spatial reasoning through geometry transformation instruction in Ghana (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/116852
dc.identifier.uri	https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/41694
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Spatial reasoning
dc.subject	Geometry transformation
dc.subject	Dynamic visualization
dc.subject	Static visualization
dc.subject	Senior high school
dc.subject.classification	Education--Curriculum and Instruction
dc.title	Enhancing High School Students’ Spatial Reasoning Through Geometry Transformation Instruction in Ghana
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Education Graduate Program – Educational Research
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.