The Effects of an Inductive Reasoning Learning Strategy Assisted by the GeoGebra Software on Students’ Motivation for the Functional Graph II Topic

Motivation is an aspect heavily emphasized in a mathematics class to produce a quality human capital. However, students’ motivation towards mathematics is still low while students’ performance in mathematics is declining. The students’ lack of motivation toward mathematics could be attributed to ineffective learning strategies in mathematics classrooms. In addition, many previous studies have only focused on an inductive reasoning strategy and the separate use of GeoGebra. Therefore, this study aims to identify the effects of learning through an inductive reasoning strategy assisted by GeoGebra on students’ motivation for the Functional Graph II topic. The research design was quasi-experimental which involved 94 Form 4 students from a secondary school in Johor. The research sample was divided into three groups: (1) Study Group 1 (an inductive reasoning strategy assisted by GeoGebra); (2) Study Group 2 (an inductive reasoning strategy without GeoGebra); and (3) Control Group (a conventional strategy). The research instruments consisted of a motivational questionnaire set and an inductive reasoning strategy assisted by GeoGebra and without GeoGebra. The inductive reasoning strategy was guided by the Marzano’s Inductive Reasoning Model consisting of an observation process on specific examples and patterns that determined if a generalization was true. The MANOVA test results show that the overall motivation level for Study Group 1 is high in terms of attention and relevance. With regard to confidence, the results indicate that Control Group and Study Group 1 show the same motivation level. As for satisfaction, the motivation level for Control Group is the highest compared to other groups. In conclusion, learning through an inductive reasoning strategy assisted by GeoGebra can increase the students’ motivation in mathematics specifically for the Functional Graph II topic.