Integrating Computational Thinking With Abstraction In Context: A Project Proposal

• Main Authors: Probadora, Theresa B., Guzon, Angela Fatima H.
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2023
• Subjects: Mathematics; Physical Sciences and Mathematics
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/mathematics-faculty-pubs/241; https://www.igpme.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PME-46-Vol-1-PL-RF-WG-CQ-SE-OC-PP-NP.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

The concepts of Computational Thinking (CT) and its link to mathematics provide an assumption that the affordance of CT can be extended to mathematics (Wing, 2006). Correspondingly, their interplay suggests a potential approach in helping the learners abstract concepts that are new to them. In this light, the researcher will present her proposed dissertation project that aims to fill in the gaps concerning CT and mathematics education. The proposed research intends to find out the CT skills and practices that the students will manifest as they perform the unplugged CT task involving the addition of rational algebraic expressions (RAE). Moreover, the research will also describe how CT, through the unplugged Use-Modify-Create (UMC) progression (Lee et al., 2011), mediates in vertically reorganizing the students’ previous constructs into forming the concepts about adding RAEs. Data collection will commence in September 2023 in-class in which three triads of junior high school students, ages 13-15, will perform the CT-integrated tasks. The researcher will examine the written outputs and scratch pads of the students, review the recordings, and backread through the transcripts. The data analysis will utilize the Recognizing, Building-with, Constructing (RBC) model of Abstraction in Context (AiC) to pinpoint the mathematical concepts, and identify the different actions and utterances of the students leading to the construction of the knowledge about adding RAEs (Hershkowitz et al., 2020). The researcher hypothesizes that the CT-integrated mathematical task is a context that incites students to reorganize prior mathematical constructs in forming the new abstract construct. Such results are vital in generating educational interventions for deepening understanding, correcting misconceptions, and conducting curricular reforms related to teaching and learning RAE.