EXPERIMENTAL TEACHING OF AL-FARABI’S TRIGONOMETRY TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN CONDITIONS OF DIGITALIZATION OF EDUCATION

Abstract

Relevance of study is determined by dual need: from one perspective, necessity to adapt the teaching trigonometry at secondary school algebra curriculum to realities of the digital educational environment to increase its effectiveness and attractiveness for modern students; and alternatively, the immense didactic potential of Al-Farabi’s legacy in trigonometry which can enrich the instruction’s content and fostering development of deep subject knowledge along with computational thinking skills essential in modern digital environment.

Purpose of research is to experimentally assess the effectiveness of teaching trigonometry to pupils within the algebra course supplemented by problems from Al-Farabi’s trigonometric heritage, using modern digital and educational technologies and to assess its impact on development of students’ computational thinking.

Research methodology consists of an analysis of scientific works in computational thinking, studying the trigonometric legacy of Al-Farabi in conditions of development of this style of students’ thinking, an analysis of literature devoted to teaching trigonometry’s organization in schools with comprehensive study’s aim of the state’s problem under consideration and determination of a set of pedagogical conditions' solution.

Research result.  A pedagogical experiment was conducted among 103 ninth-grade pupils from schools of Almaty divided into two groups for evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed teaching methodology. The groups’ homogeneity was confirmed by using the χ² (chi-squared) criterion based on the results of R. Amthauer’s tests measuring the cognitive abilities’ level.

χ² criterion was also applied for testing reliability of the differences in computational thinking characteristics of two groups after completion of the experimental training. Obtained empirical value of 7.654 exceeded the critical value of 5.991, indicating statistically significant differences between groups at 95% confidence level. The observed effect is attributed to the implementation of experimental teaching methodology.