Developing Mathematical Thinking with Scratch
One of the latest trends in the educational landscape is the introduction of computer programming in the K-12 classroom to develop computational thinking in students. As computational thinking is not a skill exclusively related to computer science, it is
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Instituci´ on Educativa Candelaria Hacienda de Lorica, Santa Cruz de Lorica, Colombia [email protected] 2 Programamos.es, Sevilla, Spain [email protected] 3 Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain [email protected]
Abstract. One of the latest trends in the educational landscape is the introduction of computer programming in the K-12 classroom to develop computational thinking in students. As computational thinking is not a skill exclusively related to computer science, it is assumed – but not yet scientifically proven – that the problem solving process may be generalized and transferred to a wide variety of problems. This paper presents a research designed to test whether the use of coding in Maths classes could have a positive impact on learning outcomes of students in their mathematical skills. Therefore, the questions we want to investigate in this paper are if the use of programming in Maths classes improves (a) modeling process and reality phenomena, (b) reasoning, (c) problem formulation and problem solving, and (d) comparison and execution of procedures and algorithms. We have therefore designed a quantitative, quasi-experimental experiment with 42 participating 6th grade (11 and 12 years old) students. Results show that there is a statistically significant increase in the understanding of mathematical processes in the experimental group, which received training in Scratch. Keywords: Computational thinking Scratch
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Introduction
One of the latest trends in the educational landscape is the introduction of computer programming in the K-12 classroom to develop computational thinking (CT) in students, a skill defined by Jeannette Wing as one that “involves solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behaviour, by drawing on the concepts fundamental to computer science” [22]. Although CT is not a skill exclusively related to computer science [4,20], research shows that programming is a very good mechanism for the development of this competence [12]. c Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 G. Conole et al. (Eds.): EC-TEL 2015, LNCS 9307, pp. 17–27, 2015. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-24258-3 2
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Thus, governments around the world are making computer programming part of their national curriculum. For instance, nine countries in Europe have already included coding into their schools: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and the UK (England) [19]. One of the pillars of CT is, according to the operational definition developed by the Computer Science Teachers Association and the International Society for Technology in Education [3], “generalizing and transferring this problem solving process to a wide variety of problems”. Hence, the general research question of this paper is how far CT affects other school subjects. In particular, this study was designed to test whether the use of coding in math classes could have a positive impact on learning outcomes of students in relation to their mathema
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