From Mathematical Thinking to Computational Thinking: Use Scratch Programming to Teach Concepts of Prime and Composite Numbers

Abstract

This study pioneered the pedagogical use of Scratch programming to support Grade 6 students to cross from mathematical thinking to computational thinking (CT) in mathematics classrooms. A Scratch-based pedagogical innovation was designed to expose students to the pedagogy “To Play, To Think, To Code” with two Scratch apps and five Scratch activity worksheets to explore, think about, apply and consolidate the target mathematical concepts through Scratch programming. An eight-lesson teaching in 320 minutes was trialed in 15 selected Grade 6 classes involving 324 students from seven primary schools in Hong Kong. From the pre-post-tests, the pedagogical innovation successfully supported students to make statistically significant growth in understanding all five topic-specific mathematical concepts and all five target CT concepts. From the questionnaire surveys, students demonstrated a high level of awareness of the two target CT practices, and a positive perception of CT development for their own good. From the focus group interviews, students confirmed the effectiveness of and expressed a satisfaction with the pedagogy for mathematics learning and CT development through coding. The positive results of this study confirm the potential of the pedagogical innovation which integrates CT education with subject-specific curriculum delivery for an effective development of both subject knowledge and CT competency among primary school students. Implications for the flow and scope of future integration of subject lessons with coding activities are discussed.