Theory and Practice in the Curriculum

Theory and Practice in the Curriculum

Impact of dynamic diagrams on understanding the concept of division by zero: an intuitive approach

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Majid Haghverdi 1
zahra parishanimarzigarani 2
1 دانشگاه ازاد اسلامی اراک. دانشکده علوم پایه گروه ریاضی.
2 گروه ریاضی، واحد اراک، دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی ، اراک، ایران
10.22034/cstp.2026.557272.1118
Abstract
The present study aims to investigate the effect of using an intuitionapproach on improving the understanding of the concept of “division by zero” through dynamic diagrams in the GeoGebra environment. Division by zero is one of the challenging topics in mathematics education, which is often accepted by students merely as a rule, without conceptual understanding. In this regard, inspired by the approach introduced by Droujkova and McLoughlin (2013), an instructional intervention based on dynamic visual representations was designed and implemented. In this quasi-experimental study with a pre-test–post-test design, 70 high school students from Shazand city participated. The data analysis results indicated that the educational intervention significantly improved students’ conceptual understanding of division by zero. The findings suggest that the use of visual and dynamic educational tools such as GeoGebra can effectively enhance students’ conceptual understanding of abstract mathematical concepts and should be considered in the design of innovative teaching methods
Keywords
Division by zero
visual representation
dynamic diagram
GeoGebra

Subjects