Programming and computational thinking have emerged as compulsory skills in elementary school education. Sweden, for example, has integrated programming in mathematics education with the rationale that it fosters problem-solving and logical thinking skills and motivates students to learn mathematics. In Norway, programming is proposed as part in the revised norwegian mathematics curriculum in 2019.
There is sparse research on the use of programming in mathematics education and ambiguous evidence for improved student motivation and performance. Based on programming in Swedish elementary school, our objective is to explores what happens when programming activities are integrated into normal classroom routines, based on evidence from practice. Thereby we will report on ”How is programming integrated in mathematics education in elementary school in Sweden?”.
Contribution to the field
Our contributions to the field of programming in mathematics in elementary school are three-fold:
- we provide an account of how programming is taught in mathematics education
- we discuss how teachers reflect on the challenge of teaching programming
- we report on students’ understanding of programming and their view on the relationship between programming and mathematics.
Project periode
The project started in 2018 and is scheduled to end in 2019.