TEACHING THE ORDER OF OPERATIONS TOPIC TO FOURTH-GRADERS USING CODE.ORG

Abstract

Coding education has been included in the education programs of many countries and is taught to students in schools or outside of school hours to gain them learning outcomes. This study attempts to use coding as a context for mathematical learning at grade level 4 to support and enhance students’ mathematics learning. It examines the codes that emerged as a result of the order of operations topic learning process with coding. A case study approach was used in the study, and participants consist of three fourth-grade students with high, medium, and low achievements in mathematics. The data were collected through video records, photographs, worksheets, and observation notes and analyzed using a constant comparative coding method. In the applications, the participants first learned coding through the code.org platform. Then the expressions from the order of operations were studied with coding. As a result of data analysis, the codes were merged under the themes of code.org, student, and mathematical process. The analysis results showed that this coding activity enabled students to learn through modeling by concretizing the subject and developed their mathematical competencies by participating in many cognitive skills such as reasoning, analyzing, exploring, and verifying. Besides, it was found that problem-solving and generalizing from mathematical thinking skills were used in this learning activity.