Using the Plickers app to teach angles opposite the vertex

Abstract

The aim of this article is to report on an experience carried out by students enrolled in the first year of the Mathematics degree course at the Paraná State University, Paranavaí campus. The work was developed during an extension project associated with the subject Digital Technologies in Mathematics Education, in which we used the Plickers application to retake the content of 'angles opposite by their vertices' in a 9th grade elementary school class at a civic-military school located in the municipality of Paranavaí. Based on the mathematical content, which was requested by the class teacher, we devised seven questions to be worked on with the app in order to  to promote a dynamic and interactive environment among students in the classroom. A total of 27 students took part in the research, 8 girls and 19 boys. In the classroom, we first briefly recapped the mathematical content involved and introduced the students to the app, demonstrating how it works using cards. To solve the questions, the students were divided into trios and we adopted a competitive mode between the groups to encourage participation. As a result, we observed that the students actively participated in the proposed activity, solving the questions with their groups and also on the blackboard to share their answers with their classmates. They didn't have any conceptual difficulties with the content of angles opposite by their vertex, but they did have difficulties with solving first-degree equations and sign games.