Preservice teachers' construction of computational thinking practices through mathematical modeling activities

Abstract

The importance of learning computational thinking practices in K-12 settings is gaining momentum in the United States and worldwide. As a result, studies have been conducted on integrating these practices in mathematics teaching and learning. However, there is little study that focuses on how to prepare pre-service teachers who will teach the practices in K-12 settings. I investigated how pre-service teachers collaborated to develop computational thinking practices when working on modeling activities with computational tools. To carry out this research, I studied nine pre-service teachers working on modeling tasks for a semester. Five participants recorded their screens and were invited to participate in a stimulated recall interview. Using the interactional analysis procedures, findings showed that the presence of computational tools influenced the positioning (leadership and distributed authority) and collaborative processes (dividing and offloading labor, giving and receiving feedback, accommodation, and refining ideas) pre-service teachers used during modeling. This study found that pre-service teachers used ten computational thinking practices, which are sub-grouped into four broader practices -- data practices, mimicking and mathematizing, model exploration and extension, and model communication. This dissertation also found that pre-service teachers' mathematical knowledge and their ability to code were interdependent. From a research point of view, this study extends our knowledge of the social constructivist theory of doing research in the context of pre-service teachers engaging in modeling activities with computational tools. From the teacher education perspective, this study emphasizes the need to consider the impact of computational tools on the interactions of pre-service teachers during modeling. The study also reveals the need to structure the mathematical modeling curriculum to lead to a better learning experience for pre-service teachers.