Assessment in Undergraduate Programming-Based Mathematics Courses

Abstract

Since 2001, undergraduate mathematics majors and future mathematics teachers at Brock University (Canada) learn through a sequence of three courses to use programming to conduct mathematical inquiries or investigate real-world applications. In this paper, we provide a rich description of the assessment process of mathematics implemented in these courses by examining the assessment of two specific programming-based tasks: 1) a first-year assigned project about a discrete dynamical system; and 2) a second-year open-ended project for which students decide their own topics. We also examine the assessment of the overall course sequence, including the two tasks, from the perspective of computational thinking by use of Brennan and Resnick’s framework extended for mathematical inquiry. By mainly involving programming-based mathematics projects of increased complexity, the overall assessment of these courses provides a concrete classroom implementation that fits Brennan and Resnick’s design scenarios approach to the assessment (in a research setting) of computational thinking.