This study investigated the kinds of understandings required to conceptually develop the meaning of translations at the elementary school level. For this purpose, a curriculum piece supported by the use of a geometry software, called Wingeom-tr, was developed and applied to four sixth graders via teaching experiment methodology. As a result, how participants made sense of translations and the constructs necessary to understand translations, the kinds of difficulties participants experienced, the (dis)advantages of using Wingeom-tr in teaching translations, and the kind of experience gained from the curriculum development were analyzed. Such analyses were guided by the use of drawing-figure theoretical framework offered by Parsyzz and Laborde. Results indicate that understanding vectors is necessary in abstracting the meaning of translations. Additionally, use of a dynamic environment such as Wingeom-tr followed by static environment (paper-pencil environment) fosters the learning process.
Key words: Translations, vectors, curriculum development, understanding, dynamic geometry environment, Wingeom-tr
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