Three cases that demonstrate how students connect the domains of mathematics and computing

Abstract

This study uses actor-oriented transfer perspective to investigate different ways in which students make connections across the domains of mathematics and computing. We interview first-year students at the University of Oslo as they work with a set of tutorials that we designed to integrate knowledge from both domains. The cases we present here demonstrate four different types of cross-domain connections: (a) mathematically reproducing the work of a computer program, (b) cyclically improving a program to produce better output, (c) coupling math to output to justify program improvements and (d) coupling math to code to justify program design. We provide rich examples of the ways in which students make these connections and discuss affordances for mathematical learning in this context.