Abstract:

The act of programming can be traced back to the 19th century and Ada Lovelace. In the context of history, the idea to combine programming with mathematics and technology is not strange. Today programming is a much more widespread phenomenon. But the relevance of programming in mathematics and technology is still very obvious. However, with the mandatory addition of programming in K-12 setting a debate has been sparked concerning the impact on teaching activities. The aim of this study was to analyse and discuss possible obstacles and opportunities in integrating programming in K-12 settings from a teacher perspective. The two important main questions to answer were: 1) which are teachers perceived obstacles and opportunities in the integration of programming in K-12 setting? 2) which are the differences and similarities in expectation between teachers with and without earlier programming experience.

This study was carried out inspired of action research with the objective of improving an existing programming course for mathematic and technology teachers. Action research is a strategy that do not only strive to generate new knowledge but also has the aim to improve real world phenomena. Authors in this study had the double roles of being teachers and researchers, with the idea of establishing a cyclical process where course participants feedback should lead to extensions of the future course versions. Data were collected in the teacher training course and consist of 44 submitted essay answers on the question: In which aspects might programming be a negative and/or positive enhancement of you daily teaching? Collected data were grouped into categories with the use of content analysis.

Results indicate that there are both perceived opportunities and perceived obstacles among teachers concerning integrating programming in mathematics and technology. An obvious finding was the mix of positive and negative attitudes in the vast majority of essays. In the category of obstacles many teachers brought up the risk of time trouble in both their professional development and in their teaching activities. In the category of opportunities several teachers mentioned the potential of programming as a new and motivating learning tool in their subjects. Finally, it seems important for the participants to get concreate takeaways from the course that could be used in their daily teaching activities.

Keywords:

Programming, programming education, K-12, teacher perception, teacher professional training.