The Effectiveness of Kinesthetic Approach in Developing Mathematical Function Graphs Recognition and Understanding at University Level

International audienceThis research paper investigates our belief as educators that kinesthetic approach can be used to develop students' recognition and understanding of mathematical function graphs with the help of a competitive dancing game. Given that some students need to use other senses as a preparation to abstract and symbolic thinking, we developed ​ Augmented Reality kinesthetic digital resources around standard mathematical function graphs using Microsoft Kinect sensor and some programming of Unity 3D Development Kit, Microsoft Kinect (SDK) ­ Software Development Kit ­ and CindyScript the programming language associated with Cinderella ­ Dynamic Geometry Software, linked through a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) connection. The software recognizes students' body gestures as input representations for mathematical function graphs. Aiming at verifying the resources effectiveness in developing recognition and understanding of mathematical function graphs, a quasi­experimental design, a pre­experimental one group (pretest ­ intervention ­ posttest), is considered. The test consists of 40 items that are equally distributed among the two levels of achievement: recognition and understanding. 20 items are designed at each level in isomorphic pairs that are administered randomly as whether pretest or posttest. The items type for the test are multi­choice questions of 4 choices. The test items were written in verbal and nonverbal, symbolic and graphical ways. The setting of the experimental study was at CFAI Savoie Chambéry ­ a training college for careers in industry for young people ­ with 51 students of the first year of BTS Maintenance of Systems and BTS Technical Assistance engineers. The quantitative data collected through the pre and post test does not allow us to draw a clear conclusion on the effectiveness of using the kinesthetics resources in developing students' recognition and understanding as the means difference was negative. However, the reason of that is not related to the data itself but on how it was collected. On the other hand, the qualitative data gathered from the students and their teacher shows that the resources were very engaging and pleased students as they played. The results are not conclusive, the experimentation needs to be repeated in a context where the didactical contract ensures the motivation for the post test in order to investigate the resources effectiveness in terms of both recognition and understanding