Computational Thinking Activities in Number Patterns: A Study in a Singapore Secondary School

Abstract

In recent decades, there is a growing body of literature about CT and mathematics education. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify the effectiveness of the integration of CT into mathematics classrooms in a Singapore secondary school, particularly in the topic of number patterns. A quasi-experimental design was employed in this study. 106 lower secondary students were involved in this study. 70 of them were assigned into the experimental group, while 36 of them were assigned into the control group. The students in the experimental group were given intervention unplugged Math+C activities and plugged Math+C activities using a spreadsheet. Meanwhile, the students in the control group received no intervention and were involved in traditional instruction. Both groups were given a pretest before the instruction and posttest after the instruction. The data obtained were analyzed using a two-way mixed-design ANOVA analysis. The findings revealed that there was a significant main effect of the pretest and posttest between the students from the experimental group and control group, but not a significant main effect of groups. Also, there was not a significant interaction between tests and groups. This study contributes to the area of integration of CT and mathematics in the instruction.