A Trajectory for Advancing the Meta-Cognitive Solving of Mathematics-Based Programming Problems with Scratch

Abstract

It is the intention of the current study to suggest a trajectory for the advancement of prospective mathematics teachers’ use of meta-cognitive skills in solving mathematics-based programming problems with Scratch. Scratch is a code-based program that can be utilized in teaching various disciplines, especially geometry and its rich range of subjects such as the topic of symmetry. The present study suggests that advancing prospective teachers’ meta-cognitive skills in the Scratch environment could be done through problem solving and negotiations. The present paper analyzed the implementation of the trajectory by two pedagogic supervisors who attempted, in the frame of one-year preparation (2018–2019), to educate 18 prospective teachers to use meta-cognitive skills in mathematics-based programming activities, where this attempt was based on problem solving and negotiation processes. Data were collected through videoing and recording the learning sessions of the prospective teachers and was analyzed using deductive and inductive constant comparison methods. The deductive analysis utilized theoretical models of meta-cognitive processes and negotiation processes. The research results indicated that the negotiation processes supported the development of the prospective teachers’ meta-cognitive processes in solving mathematics-based programming problems with Scratch.

Emotions and Self-efficacy as Mediators of Pre-Service Teachers' Adoption of Digital Tools

“…The research results indicate that the preparation resulted in significant differences in the scores of the different constructs, except anxiety, of the acceptance of digital tools for teaching mathematics and science. Thus, the results show the effectiveness of the community of inquiry practices [11,18,22,47,51] regarding the acceptance of technology for teaching, where these practices included synchronous as well as asynchronous means of communication. It is our conclusion that both means are essential in preservice teachers' education [52].…”

“…Especially, they are not or little related to integrating technology in the mathematics classroom. What influenced the pre-service teachers' acceptance of digital tools for teaching is specifically the engagement in negotiating technological knowledge in the forums and as part of the reflection resulted in a teaching context that encourage the pre-service teachers to accept technology as part of their repertoire in the mathematics and science classrooms [11,18].…”

“…Researchers became interested in the contribution of technology to other aspects of students' learning to show the contribution of technology to these aspects. Examples on these aspects are: students' emotions [8], students' positioning [9], the relationship between positioning and emotions in the presence of technology [10], students' metacognition [11], students' distance learning [12] and the relationship between metacognition and other aspects in the presence of technology [13]. Researchers also studied the community aspect [14], and the identity aspect [15] as influenced by technology presence.…”

“…The researchers (ibid) found that the participating teachers developed their knowledge as well as their practices related to technology integration after their participating in a such program. Similarly, other researchers suggest trajectories for preparing pre-service teachers and in-service teachers for integrating technology in their teaching [11,23]. These trajectories could serve effective preparation of pre-service teachers' and in-service teachers.…”

Affective Engagement of Higher Education Students in an Online Course

“…This percentage is relatively not high, but focusing more attention on the factors that cause it could lessen their occurrences and thus lessen the negative affective engagement of the students in their work on online assignments. This could be done by stressing the importance of negotiation and alignment in group work [65,66], which would lead to understanding of the mechanism of group work and thus utilize this mechanism in this group work. In detail, Baya et al [65] found that prospective teachers used negotiation, in the context of a community of practice, as an escalator that supports the decision of in-service mathematics teachers to integrate ICT in the mathematics classroom.…”