A plan for immediate immersion of computational thinking into the high school math classroom through a partnership with the Alabama math, science, and technology initiative

Abstract

This paper describes a design for an immediate immersion of computational thinking into current high school math classrooms in Alabama. Most schools in our region have eliminated computer science classes from the curriculum. Alabama has an existing state initiative to improve mathematics, science and technology education in K-12. The Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) emphasizes learning by doing, with hands-on, activity based instruction. We have developed an instructional treatment that uses strategically designed computer exercises to push students to form the mental foundation necessary for abstraction and generalization. We selected popular problems from the AMSTI mathematics curriculum and applied our instructional design.The first step we took in implementing our plan for reintroducing computational thinking into the secondary schools was to conduct a workshop for math education leaders. This training was sponsored and supported by AMSTI. Results from the workshop included demonstrating to a select group of math education leaders that computer programming could be easily integrated with the AMSTI math curriculum and could be used to meet the educational goals of the initiative and the educators.

Computational Thinking in Secondary Education: Where does it fit? A systematic literary review

“…Jenkins et al [47] describe a design for the immersion of CT into mathematics classrooms of high schools in Alabama, USA. They provide an overview of the state of computing in Alabama and a description of the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative (AMSTI).…”

A Systematic Literature Review on relationships between Computational Thinking and Mathematics

“…O primeiro grupo de estudos mencionado enfatiza o desenvolvimento de habilidades cognitivas mais gerais, discutindo suas relações com a Matemática. Dentre as habilidades desenvolvidas encontram-se a abstração e generalização para resolução de problemas (Jenkins et al, 2012), identificação de padrões (Boyce, Campbell, Pickford, Culler, & Barnes, 2011) e a colaboração entre equipes por intermédio da linguagem matemática (Maxwell et al, 2013). Uma ampla variedade de conteúdos matemáticos vem sendo abordada, com alguma predominância para atividades que desenvolvem tópicos relacionados à Álgebra e ao Cálculo.…”

Emerging Research, Practice, and Policy on Computational Thinking

“…The instructional treatment introduced students in high schools math classes to CT skills such as abstraction and generalization via computer programming (Jenkins, Jerkins, & Stenger, 2012). The instructional treatment introduced students in high schools math classes to CT skills such as abstraction and generalization via computer programming (Jenkins, Jerkins, & Stenger, 2012).…”