Making programming part of teachers' everyday life – Programming affordances and constraints for K-12 mathematics and technology

Abstract

PurposeThe conducted examination of programming affordances and constraints had the purpose of adding knowledge and value that facilitate the on-going national curricula revision; knowledge that also could be of general interest outside the Swedish K-12 context.Design/methodology/approachWith a qualitative approach, the study was conducted as a document analysis where submitted lesson plans were the base for a directed content analysis.FindingsThis study presents findings on how the involvement of programming in mathematics and technology have potential to foster engagement and motivation among students. Findings also indicate that the implementation of programming can develop important general skills that go beyond the boundaries of mathematics and technology. Moreover, the identified constraints could be valuable to improve the on-going curriculum development for K-12 mathematics and technology.Research limitations/implicationsThis qualitative study was conducted on a relatively small number of teachers where the majority has taken the courses on a voluntary basis. An important complement would be to conduct a larger quantitative study with data from a more general sample of K-12 teachers.Practical implicationsResults and discussions provide guidance for K-12 teachers and other stakeholders who want to introduce programming as a complementary tool in teaching and learning activities.Social implicationsThe study has a contribution to the on-going implementation of the Swedish national curricula for K-12 mathematics and technology.Originality/valueDuring the last years, many studies have been published on teacher training in programming, and how the training can be improved. This study goes beyond the actual teacher training and examine aspects teachers translate to theirs daily work after completing the training.