Programming in the mathematics classroom – Adversities students encounter

Sammendrag

This article investigates the implementation of programming in an upper secondary mathematics classroom and the kinds of adversity students experience when working on programming tasks. The adversities are classified and analysed within a framework of four categories. Concept adversity refers to the use and knowledge of different com­mands and types in the programming language. Syntax adversity concerns the structure of conditions and loops and the logical build of a program. Output adversity occurs after pressing the ‘run the program’ button and receiving, for instance, syntax errors, unex­pected answers, or no output. Coding adversity is encountered when converting a mathematical procedure to programming code. Alongside several excerpts from tran­scripts, each adversity is discussed in relation to both mathematical learning and how to mitigate undesirable adversities. Concept adversity was observed to have little relation to mathematical learning. Syntax and output adversity were observed to contribute to mathematical learning when students started exploring the problems but did not con­tribute to learning when they were unable to resolve the problem. Coding adversity, when resolved, was observed to facilitate exploration and learning.