Comparing the integration of programming and computational thinking into Danish and Swedish elementary mathematics curriculum resources

Raimundo Elicer*, Andreas Lindenskov Tamborg, Kajsa Bråting, Cecilia Kilhamn

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Computational thinking has become part of the mathematics curriculum in several countries. This has led recently available teaching resources to explicitly integrate computational thinking (CT). In this paper, we investigate and compare how curriculum resources developed in Denmark — digital teaching modules — and Sweden — printed mathematics textbooks — have incorporated CT in mathematics for grades 1–6 (age 7–12). Specifically, we identify and compare the CT and mathematical concepts, actions, and combinations in tasks within these resources. Our analysis reveals that Danish tasks are oriented toward CT concepts related to data, actions related to programming, and mathematical concepts within statistics. This is different from Swedish tasks, which are oriented toward CT concepts related to instructions and commands, actions related to following stepwise procedures, and mathematical concepts related to patterns. Moreover, what is most dominant in one country is almost or completely absent in the other. We conclude the paper by contrasting these two approaches with existing knowledge on computational thinking in school mathematics.
Original languageEnglish
Article number4
JournalInternational Journal on Math, Science and Technology Education
Volume11
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)77-102
Number of pages26
ISSN2323-7112
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 Nov 2023

Keywords

  • Faculty of Science
  • computational thinking
  • curriculum resources
  • mathematics
  • programming

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