ERIC Number: EJ1357545
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 43
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0737-0008
EISSN: EISSN-1532-690X
Available Date: N/A
Leveraging Prediction and Reflection in a Computational Setting to Enrich Undergraduate Students' Combinatorial Thinking
Cognition and Instruction, v40 n3 p413-455 2022
In this paper, I discuss undergraduate students' engagement in basic Python programming while solving combinatorial problems. Students solved tasks that were designed to involve programming, and they were encouraged to engage in activities of prediction and reflection. I provide data from two paired teaching experiments, and I outline how the task design and instructional interventions particularly supported students' combinatorial reasoning. I argue that emergent computational representations and the prompts for prediction and reflection were especially useful in supporting students' reasoning about fundamental combinatorial ideas. I argue that this particular mathematical example informs broader notions of disciplinary reflexivity and representational heterogeneity, providing insight into computational thinking practices in the domain of mathematics. Ultimately, I aim to explore the nature of computing and enumeration, shedding light on why the two disciplines are particularly well-suited to support each other. I conclude with implications and avenues for future research.
Descriptors: Undergraduate Students, Thinking Skills, Prediction, Teaching Methods, Intervention, Reflection, Problem Solving, Programming, Phenomenology, Computer Science Education, Computer Software, Mathematical Concepts, Chemistry, Engineering Education, Majors (Students), Mathematics Instruction, Mathematical Formulas
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1650943
Author Affiliations: N/A