Supervisors info:
Χρόνης Κυνηγός, Καθηγητής, Παιδαγωγικό Τμήμα Δευτεροβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ, (Επιβλέπων)
Δ. Πόταρη Καθηγήτρια Τμήμα Μαθηματικών ΕΚΠΑ,
Χ. Τριανταφύλλου Επικ. Καθηγήτρια Τμήμα Μαθηματικών ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
The subject of this present research is the study of the argumentation students develop during their collaboration on the debugging and production of digital models, within a programming environment. The central aim is to explore how engaging with such environments, and through transformative technologies, redefines learning conditions, affects the production, expression and communication of ideas and, subsequently, how it enriches mental constructions, cultivating the need to produce strong mathematical evidence and proof.
This is an empirical study addressed to 9th grade students and consists of a series of activities that are structured using MaLT2 , an online environment that integrates Logo textual programming with the affordances of dynamic manipulation, 3D graphics and camera navigation. The central theme of the design of this intervention is drawn from the issue of inscribability. It examines the strategies that children develop, the meanings they construct, the justifications, the vocabulary and the practices they develop when dealing with the problem of designing the interior space of a crazy ball; in other words, faced with the challenge of inscribing two or three-dimensional geometric objects in a circle and a sphere.
This study discusses how working in a community of practice with digital tools can cultivate childrens’ logical-mathematical argumentation and generalization. The results gained from the implementation of the research are highly promising, suggesting that the educational use of digital tools, and specifically, the involvement of children with programming activities provides opportunities of personal involvement, activation and strong tendency of children towards the need for justification and proving. Furthermore, it sharpens computational thinking and, at the same time cultivates the mathematical way of thinking.
Keywords:
Reasoning, Evidence, Ιnscribability, Programming, Computational Thinking, Conceptual Fields
