Learning middle school mathematics through student designed and constructed video games

Mathematics achievement is an area in which American precollege students are faltering. Emerging research suggests that making mathematics instruction relevant and applicable in the lives of youth may impact math achievement, especially when it capitalizes on high-interest technologies such as video games. Employing a quasi-experimental and descriptive approach, this study examined the mathematics (i.e., numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and probability) that middle school students employed during their design and construction of video games. First, it examined the mathematics content learned by 19 sixth and seventh graders during their analysis, synthesis, and programming of three video game projects over 7 months. Second, it measured the ability of the student programmers to laterally transfer mathematics content from the technology context of game production to the traditional context of paper-and-pencil tests. Third, it evaluated student attitudes toward mathematics prior to and following video game design and construction. The performance of student programmers was compared with that of a control group of nonprogrammers on measures of transfer and affect. Results indicated that middle grade students successfully identified the events defining game play (e.g., motion, collisions, and scoring) of three, simple video game models. They successfully represented video game events in both mathematical and programming forms by writing and coding (a) boundary conditions using inequalities, (b) coordinate locations and identification of coordinate convergence, (c) directional headings, (d) uniform linear motion, (e) variable changes, and (f) probability-based consequences. They were also successful in writing programming code for their own functional video games, with a high percentage of relevant mathematics content incorporated therein. However, while treatment students transferred mathematical knowledge from the technology to the traditional context, it appeared that, without explicit bridging, the transfer was no better than comparison students. Treatment students also demonstrated no significant changes in attitude associated with designing and constructing video games. This study demonstrated that video game design and construction can be a viable - although not significantly different - method, cognitively and affectively, of instructing age-appropriate, standards-based mathematics content

Computer education: new perspectives

Computer technologies were introduced into educational contexts over two decades ago and while there is some argument about the extent to which computers have realised their potential, they have undoubtedly had a significant impact on education. A look into any school will reveal computers being used widely by clerical staff, teachers and children. It is clear that computers are here to stay, but it is less clear as to how effectively they are being used in the learning process. Teachers not only need to use computers but they need to use them well, and in order to do this they must understand what computer technology can offer and the ways in which such technology can be used in teaching and learning

The implementation and evaluation of a sequential, structured approach for teaching LogoWriter to classroom teachers

The goal of this exploratory study was to implement and evaluate a Logo inservice model which focused on effective principles of staff development and emphasized Logo problem solving using teacher-mediated intervention strategies. The model was designed to facilitate teacher use of Logo in their classrooms;Subjects for this study included 19 elementary teachers and media specialists from the Ames Community Schools. Subjects completed The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ), the LogoWriter Basic Comprehension Test, END-OF-DAY inventories, and the Inservice Evaluation LogoWriter Workshop Instrument. Additional outcome measures included projects shared during a final inservice sharing session, and questions, worksheets, and tape recordings from a follow-up discussion session;Results measuring change in teacher stages of concern indicated all participants, except one, made significant shifts to higher stages focusing on using Logo with students. Seven participants were identified as showing potential nonuse tendencies in implementing Logo into their classrooms. Support for Logo implementation was found for structured instructional teaching balanced with opportunities for discovery-based learning;Results from teacher self report of mastery of LogoWriter knowledge and skills indicated that subjects reported mastery of 20 out of 27 objectives. In addition, results from the LogoWriter Basic Comprehension Test validated these self reports. A t-test pairs procedure on the LogoWriter test indicated that there was a significant difference between the pre- and posttest group means (p \u3c.001). Auxiliary findings included results in teacher perceptions of Logo and gender differences;Evaluation of the Logo inservice provided positive support for the Logo inservice approach providing organization and structure and opportunity for individual exploration. Subjects also responded favorably to the inservice sharing session of Logo projects and teaching strategies, and the follow-up sharing session discussing implementation, curriculum integration, classroom management, and Logo procedural concerns. The study found that a structured Logo inservice appears to be a positive step in promoting future use of Logo in the classroom

Next steps in implementing Kaput's research programme

We explore some key constructs and research themes initiated by Jim Kaput, and attempt to illuminate them further with reference to our own research. These 'design principles' focus on the evolution of digital representations since the early nineties, and we attempt to take forward our collective understanding of the cognitive and cultural affordances they offer. There are two main organising ideas for the paper. The first centres around Kaput's notion of outsourcing of processing power, and explores the implications of this for mathematical learning. We argue that a key component for design is to create visible, transparent views of outsourcing, a transparency without which there may be as many pitfalls as opportunities for mathematical learning. The second organising idea is that of communication, a key notion for Kaput, and the importance of designing for communication in ways that recognise the mutual influence of tools for communication and for mathematical expression

They have their own thoughts : children's learning of computational ideas from a cultural perspective

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 216-226).Paula Kay Hooper.Ph.D

When I*Teach means I*Learn: developing and implementing an innovative methodology for building ICT-enhanced skills

The paper presents research findings and pilot experiences related to the development and validation of an innovative methodology for building ICT-enhanced skills. The concept of ICT-enhanced skills and the essence of the methodology are explained. The process of methodology validation – via a pilot teacher training course – is presented by offering the reader a dual perspective: that of a teacher and that of a learner. The main insights and conclusions are illustrated by authentic teachers’ impressions

Tracing the evolution of teachers' mathematical knowledge and pedagogy through programming: Learning from Scratch

This thesis is based on research to explore the role of primary school teachers’ mathematical and pedagogical knowledge in their engagement with computer-based microworlds that formed part of ScratchMaths (SM). SM is a two-year mathematics and computing curriculum designed for pupils aged nine to eleven years old. The aims of the research were to trace the evolution of teachers’ mathematical knowledge, as they taught SM microworlds designed for exploration and reasoning about place value, variable and angle through computer programming. The study adopted a multiple-case study approach with augmenting teacher episodes situated in the English primary school setting. The thirteen Year 6 teachers of the study were selected from national participants of the second year of the two-year SM intervention. Data collection involved video-recorded classroom observations, audio-recorded post-lesson semi-structured teacher interviews, and ‘think aloud’ while engaging with computer-based tasks. The conceptual framework for the thesis incorporated the Mathematical Pedagogical Technology Knowledge (MPTK) framework and the Instrumental Orchestration model. The findings reveal the knowledge required to teach at the intersection of programming and mathematics, and crucially, how the ideas mediate and are mediated by engagement with the SM curriculum. The findings also illustrate how teaching mathematics through computer programming requires the teacher to bridge between the computing and the mathematics domains and how some teachers managed to do this while creating new connections within and between the knowledge domains. The study contributes to the literature of teachers’ mathematical knowledge of place value, variable, and angle as well as teachers’ ability to (re-) express mathematics through computer programming. The thesis makes an original contribution to the literature with the specification of a theoretical model for analysing teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics through programming in the primary setting

Microworld Writing: Making Spaces for Collaboration, Construction, Creativity, and Community in the Composition Classroom

In order to create a 21st century pedagogy of learning experiences that inspire the engaged, constructive, dynamic, and empowering modes of work we see in online creative communities, we need to focus on the platforms, the environments, the microworlds that host, hold, and constitute the work. A good platform can build connections between users, allowing for the creation of a community, giving creative work an engaged and active audience. These platforms will work together to build networks of rhetorical/creative possibilities, wherein students can learn to cultivate their voices, skills, and knowledge bases as they engage across platforms and genres. I call on others to make, mod, or hack other new platforms. In applying this argument to my subject, teaching writing in a college composition class, I describe Microworld Writing as a genre that combines literary language practice with creativity, performativity, play, game mechanics, and coding. The MOO can be an example of one of these platforms and of microworld writing, in that it allows for creativity, user agency, and programmability, if it can be updated to have the needed features (virtual world, community, accessibility, narrativity, compatibility and exportability). I offer the concept of this MOO-IF as inspiration for a collaborative, community-oriented Interactive Fiction platform, and encourage people to extend, find, and build their own platforms. Until then and in addition, students can be brought into Microworld Writing in the composition classroom through interactive-fiction platforms, as part of an ecology of genre experimentation and platform exercise