A CONSTRUCTIONIST APPROACH TO LEARNING COMPUTATIONAL THINKING IN MATHEMATICS LESSONS

Abstract

Aim/Purpose This study presents some activities that integrate computational thinking (CT) into mathematics lessons utilizing GeoGebra to promote constructionist learn-ing. Background CT activities in the Indonesian curriculum are dominated by worked examples with less plugged-mode activities that might hinder students from acquiring CT skills. Therefore, we developed mathematics and CT (math+CT) lessons to pro-mote students’ constructionist key behaviors while learning. Methodology The researchers utilized an educational design research (EDR) to guide the les-son’s development. The lesson featured 11 applets and 22 short questions de-veloped in GeoGebra. To improve the lesson, it was sent to eight mathematics teachers and an expert in educational technology for feedback, and the lesson was improved accordingly. The improved lessons were then piloted with 17 stu-dents, during which the collaborating mathematics teachers taught the lessons. Data were collected through the students’ work on GeoGebra, screen recording when they approached the activities, and interviews. We used content analysis to analyze the qualitative data and presented descriptive statistics to quantitative data. Contribution This study provided an example and insight into how CT can be enhanced in mathematics lessons in a constructionist manner. Findings Students were active in learning mathematics and CT, especially when they were engaged in programming and debugging tasks. Recommendations for Practitioners Educators are recommended to use familiar mathematics software such as Geo-Gebra to support students’ CT skills while learning mathematics. Additionally, our applets are better run on big-screen devices to optimize students’ CT pro-gramming and debugging skills. Moreover, it is recommended that students work collaboratively to benefit from peer feedback and discussion. Recommendations for Researchers Collaboration with teachers will help researchers better understand the situation in the classroom and how the students will respond to the activities. Addition-ally, it is important to provide more time for students to get familiar with Geo-Gebra and start with fewer errors to debug. Future Research Further research can explore more mathematics topics when integrating CT uti-lizing GeoGebra or other mathematics software or implement the lessons with a larger classroom size to provide a more generalizable result and deeper under-standing.