Abstract
The objective of this research is to study the Scratch programming language as a didactic tool to teach functions. The introduction of didactic tools allowing comprehension in simple and attractive ways is required. Given the traditional teaching/learning system, it is necessary to organize participatory and collaborative dynamic classrooms, which allow the interaction of students in activities where the educator modifies his or her traditional role as an advisor and the students take a more active role in learning through their own effort. In this sense, three activities using the Scratch programming language are proposed: the first one refers to the linear and affine functions, while the second one deals with the quadratic function and the third one is related to the exponential function. The participants in this study were 30 future teachers. The study considers the combination of magisterial lessons and active didactic methodologies as demonstration method, cooperative learning and gamification, also including the applied assessment. The activities, methodologies and assessment were evaluated by the participants with results higher than 4 in 5-point Likert scale for all cases, preferring the active methodologies than magisterial lessons.
Highlights
Enrique Carmona Medeiro andThe recent study of 2016 conducted by the European Commission “Developing Computational Thinking in Compulsory Education, Implications for Policy and Practice” argues that in the past decade, computational thinking and its related concepts are receiving increased attention in the educational field [1]
Computational thinking is based fundamentally on two learning theories: the constructivism of Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist and pedagogue who defended the endowment of tools for the student to solve problems [4], and the constructionism of Seymour Papert, a mathematician, computer scientist and American educator born in South Africa, who proposed the construction of mental models to understand the world around us [5]
The objective of this paper is to study the Scratch programming language as a didactic tool to teach functions and analyze the suitability of different methodologies to teach functions
Summary
Enrique Carmona Medeiro andThe recent study of 2016 conducted by the European Commission “Developing Computational Thinking in Compulsory Education, Implications for Policy and Practice” argues that in the past decade, computational thinking and its related concepts (for example, coding, programming or algorithmic thinking) are receiving increased attention in the educational field [1]. A lot of public and private implementation initiatives have arisen Despite this widespread interest, the successful integration of computational thinking in compulsory education still faces unresolved issues and challenges [2]. Computational thinking is based fundamentally on two learning theories: the constructivism of Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist and pedagogue who defended the endowment of tools for the student to solve problems [4], and the constructionism of Seymour Papert, a mathematician, computer scientist and American educator born in South Africa, who proposed the construction of mental models to understand the world around us [5]. Both learning theories focus on the construction of elements, following the maker philosophy to solve problems
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