Didactic–Mathematical–Computational Knowledge of Future Teachers When Solving and Designing Robotics Problems

Gemma Sala-Sebastià, Adriana Breda, María José Seckel, Danyal Farsani, Àngel Alsina

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The social, scientific and technological development of recent years has encouraged the incorporation of computational thinking in the school curriculum of various countries progressively, starting from early childhood education. This research aims to characterize future kindergarten teachers’ traits of didactic-mathematical and computational knowledge presented when solving and posing robotics problems. Firstly, aspects of the mathematical and computational knowledge of the participants (97 students of the subject of Didactics of Mathematics of the Degree in Early Childhood Education at a Spanish university) were identified when they solved problems as users of the Blue-Bot didactic robot. Secondly, we analyzed their justifications for reflecting on the design of robotics problems. The results indicate that future teachers present characteristics of didactic-mathematical knowledge when solving and designing robotics problems, although errors and ambiguities are evident, especially in the procedures and representations of the programming. These shortcomings significantly influence the didactic suitability of the robotics problems they design. From a future perspective, in the training of future teachers, it is considered relevant to incorporate didactic-mathematical and computational knowledge that allows them to develop logical, spatial and computational thinking.

Original languageEnglish
Article number119
JournalAxioms
Volume12
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2023

Keywords

  • computational thinking
  • early childhood education
  • mathematical thinking
  • ontosemiotic approach (OSA)
  • robotics problems
  • teachers in training

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