Developing Mathematical Thinking with Scratch: An Experiment with 6th Grade Students

EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Developing Mathematical Thinking with ScratchAn Experiment with 6th Grade Students

Luis Alberto Calao, Jesus Moreno Leon, Heidy Ester Correa,Gregorio Robles

[email protected], [email protected]/Libresoft, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Luis Alberto Calao, Jesus Moreno Leon, Heidy Ester Correa, Gregorio RoblesDeveloping Mathematical Thinking with Scratch

EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

(cc) 2015 Gregorio Robles and Jesus Moreno LeonSome rights reserved. This work licensed under Creative Commons

Attribution-ShareAlike License. To view a copy of full license, seehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or write to

Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford,California 94305, USA.

Some of the figures have been taken from the InternetSource, and author and licence if known, is specified.

For those images, fair use applies.


EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Goal of our paper

Does the use ofprogramming with Scratchin math classes improve

students’ learningoutcomes?


EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Colombian students and maths

PISA 2012 results

376 points in maths (OECD countries average: 494)

Ranked 61st (out of 65 participating countries)

Students showed high levels of anxiety towards maths


EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Code to learn (I)

Logo programming language

Developed in the 1960s

Its educational impact wasintensively investigated inthe 70s and 80s

Students’ improvements inmaths (and otherdisciplines) were proved

“Disappeared” from theeducational landscape sincemid-90s

Seymour Papert’s picture: jgora.net


EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Code to learn (and II)

New visual programming languages

Alice, Kodu, Scratch

Very promising research literature

There is need for empirical studies


EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

The study

Code to learn Maths with Scratch

Quasi-Experimental Design

42 students, 6th grade

Control groups and experimental groups

Pre and Post tests

3 months


EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Mathematical processes investigated

Rubric

Modeling of processes and reality phenomena

Reasoning (making predictions and justifyingarguments)

Problem formulation and problem solving

Exercising (comparison and execution ofprocedures and algorithms)

Following guidelines set by the Ministry ofNational Education of Colombia


EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Results (I)

Pre-test. Mean and deviation for control (left) and experimental(right) groups.


EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Results (II)

Post-test. Mean and deviation for control (left) and experimental(right) groups.


EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Results (and III)

Post-test comparison. Means obtained for the control andexperimental groups by mathematical process.


EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Conclusions

The development of CT using Scratch allows students ofprimary education to improve their performance in terms ofmathematical processes of modeling, reasoning, problemsolving and exercising.

(At least some parts of) the math curriculum in Colombianschools does not help in developing these skills.

Math learning at schools seems to be more focused on theinternals of mathematics, rather than on acquiring skills touse math-based knowledge.


EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Future Work

1 Does computer programming foster reading and writing skills?

2 Programming with Scratch as an educational tool in differentsubjects (social studies, language arts) and grades.

3 OK, but do the students really learn to code and developcomputational thinking?

Background picture: Simon Cunningham


EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Future Work

Background picture: Simon CunninghamLuis Alberto Calao, Jesus Moreno Leon, Heidy Ester Correa, Gregorio RoblesDeveloping Mathematical Thinking with Scratch

EC-TEL 2015, Toledo

Developing Mathematical Thinking with ScratchAn Experiment with 6th Grade Students

Luis Alberto Calao, Jesus Moreno Leon, Heidy Ester Correa,Gregorio Robles

[email protected], [email protected]/Libresoft, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

EC-TEL 2015, Toledo
