EJMT Abstract

This article describes the use of dynamic geometry software by pre-service secondary school teachers in a problem solving investigation. The dynamic nature of Geometer Sketchpad helped students navigate through the investigative process by helping them build and prove/disprove conjectures. Students investigated two issues: 1) the midpoint quadrilateral created by connecting the midpoints of the sides of a given quadrilateral; and 2) the relationship between the area of the midpoint quadrilateral and the given quadrilateral. This activity suggests that students benefit from mathematical exploration by giving them the opportunity to make and test conjectures.