Dynamic software, task solving with or without guidelines, and learning outcomes

The present study contributes to knowledge about how to design tasks that benefit from dynamic software in math education, comparing practice performance and learning outcomes among 129 students practicing on two different task designs using GeoGebra. The task designs differed with respect to the presence or absence of guidelines on how to solve the task. One student group practiced on the guided task while the other student group practiced on the unguided task, and 1 week later a posttest was conducted. Data were statistically analyzed and showed significant differences with regard to success during practice for students solving the guided task. Among the students who succeeded in solving the task (guided or unguided) during practice, however, the analysis showed significant differences in the posttest performance in favor of the unguided students.