When the new programming language Pascal was developed in the 1970's, Walter Gander did not like it because because many features which he appreciated in prior programming languages were missing in Pascal. For example the block structure was gone, there were no dynamical arrays, no functions or procedures were allowed as parameters of a procedure,…

Natural language helps express mathematical thinking and contexts. Conventional mathematical notation (CMN) best suits expressions and equations. Each is essential; each also has limitations, especially for learners. Our research studies how programming can be a advantageous third language that can also help restore mathematical connections that…

Programming is becoming increasingly common in mathematics degrees as it is a desirable skill for new graduates. However, research shows that its use is mostly restricted to computational or modelling tasks. This paper reports a study on students' perceptions of and difficulties with Lean, an interactive theorem prover introduced as part of a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the 8th graders interpreted the equal sign in the pan balance activities they created on Scratch. Five eighth graders (4 girls and 1 boy) in Turkey participated in this study. Case study was employed as a qualitative research method. Data was gathered through the Scratch files created by the…

The objective of this research is to study the "Scratch" programming language as a didactic tool to teach functions. The introduction of didactic tools allowing comprehension in simple and attractive ways is required. Given the traditional teaching/learning system, it is necessary to organize participatory and collaborative dynamic…

This research is motivated by the low ability to understand mathematical concepts possessed by prospective elementary school teacher students. This study aims to see the achievement and improvement of students' mathematical understanding abilities that use Microsoft Excel-based VBA teaching materials with those using conventional learning. This…

The current quantitative study, a naturalistic field experiment, was conducted in a public primary school in Soweto, Johannesburg, with the objective to examine how children's achievement on four assessments at the beginning of Grade R, namely their numeracy, their mathematics-specific vocabulary, their executive functions, and their logical…

This study highlights the importance of an educational design that includes robotics and programming through a visual programming language as a means to enable students to improve substantially their understanding of the elements of logic and mathematics. Gaining an understanding of computational concepts as well as a high degree of student…

The potential benefits from the introduction of programming environments such as "Scratch" for learning mathematics has reactivated research in this area. Nonetheless, there are few studies which attempt to analyse their influence at the stage of Primary Education. We present the results of a quasi-experimental piece of research with…

In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of computer programming activities aimed at introducing young students (9-13 years old) to the idea of infinity, and in particular, to the cardinality of infinite sets. This research was part of the "WebLabs" project where students from several European countries explored topics in…

Recursion is an important concept for any computer science student to master. Many first year students develop the viable "copies" mental model of recursion and can successfully trace the execution of a simple recursive function. This article discusses a study focused on determining whether the ability to successfully trace a recursive…

In this paper, we investigate whether and how mathematics factors into students' performance in IT learning. The involved cognitive levels of students learning mathematics and hence problem solving, are correlated to how well they are able to transpose their knowledge and apply it to problem solving in the IT field(s). Our hypothesis is that if…

Teaching computer programming to young children has been considered difficult because of its abstract and complex nature. The objectives of this study are (1) to investigate whether an innovative educational technology tool called Scratch could enable young children to learn abstract knowledge of computer programming while creating multimedia…

Recursion is a programming paradigm as well as a problem solving strategy thought to be very challenging to grasp for university students. This article outlines a pilot study, which expands the age range of students exposed to the concept of recursion in computer science through instruction in a series of interesting and engaging activities. In…

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of Logo Mathematics Tutorial Two (LMT2) for teaching polygons to minority students. The polygons were chosen to develop a sound foundation for further knowledge and exploration in geometry. The subjects (N=23) were middle and high school students that were trained using LMT2. The subjects…