Why CT in Math Education?

The idea of integrating CT in mathematics education is not new. It was an essential part of the work of Papert (1980) with Logo, which was developed as a mathematics learning environment. Papert (1980) expressed in his 1980 book Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas that Logo “is to learning mathematics what living in France is to learning French.” (p. 6). Furthermore, supporting the idea that mathematics is a language to communicate with computers, Papert (1980) wrote that “learning to communicate with a computer may change the way other learning takes place”, and also “it is possible to design computers so that learning to communicate with them can be a natural process” (p. 6).

However, the state of the art CT curriculum around the world appears to view CT as its own curriculum objective, rather than integrated to support and enhance learning of existing subject areas, as was the case with Logo and mathematics. However, as Gadanidis et al (2016) note, “there is a natural connection between CT and mathematics—not just in the logical structure or in the ability to model mathematical relationships CT offers (Wing, 2006), but also in that CT integration affords novel, creative approaches to mathematics problem-solving, and increases the range of mathematics with which students at all levels can engage.”

The aim of our project is to research the use of computational thinking in mathematics education, from pre-school to undergraduate mathematics, and in mathematics teacher education.

References:

  • Gadanidis, G., Hughes, J.M., Minniti, L., & White, B. (2016). Computational Thinking, Grade 1 Students and the Binomial Theorem. Digital Experiences in Mathematics Education. doi 10.1007/s40751-016-0019-3
  • Papert, S. (1980). Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas. New York, NY: Basic Books, Inc.
  • Wing, J. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 33–36.

9 thoughts on “Why CT in Math Education?

  1. I hope you can help me with my study about “computational thinking strategy in problem solving: its effects on academic achievement and attitude of learners:.

  2. Hello!

    Here is a literature review we made on the topic of computational thinking and mathematics education https://trello.com/b/QMnQdjWh/ctmath-research-and-resources … There is a lot of interesting research on problem solving, academic achievement, and learners’ attitude.

    You can also take a look at our symposium keynotes, poster displays and proceedings (coming soon) http://ctmath.ca/computational-thinking-in-mathematics-education-symposium/

    When you have more specific information about your topic, or if you are interested in sharing results about your research, let us know!

    Regards.

    1. Thank you so much. it’s really a big help in my study. i hope you can still send me more about CT in mathematics even if i’m done with my thesis. i really want this to apply in my class because i really found this very interesting.
      God bless.

  3. Hi Mayen,
    Can I have access to your researches, please! thanks alot. ( I mean your thesis)

  4. Hello, I am PHD student, I m doing computational Thinking in mathematisc for my thesis. I would like to know more about CT because is not implemented in Malaysia education

    1. boleh kah saya diberikan akses menuju tesis anda
      terima kasih

  5. I am involved in Computational Thinking in mathematics and I am using Unplugged Coding tools. I would like to have access to more examples and exercises in Unplugged Coding. Please if you may assist.

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