Meletiou-Mavrotheri, Maria

In this chapter, we argue for the importance of embedding computer programming into existing mathematics curricula through the use of educational games apps. We illustrate the apps' opportunities by showing how programming was incorporated into a task undertaken by a group of 10-11 year old students. This was their first experience of computer programming at the primary level. The results of this study contribute to understanding a) the development of students' reasoning about mathematical concepts and procedures throughout the participants' engagement with A.L.E.X. app, and b) students' articulated impressions about educational games apps with mathematical content, including students' acknowledgment of the pedagogical role that an iPad could play.

This article reports on the main experiences gained from a 2-year study which incorporated A.L.E.X., an educational puzzle game available on iPad or Android tablet devices, within the primary school mathematics curriculum. The study took place in a public primary school, located in a rural area of Cyprus. The majority of its students come from low socioeconomic status families. Among the school community, a group of 15 pupils (eight boys and seven girls), aged 10–11 years old, was randomly selected to comprise the sample. The same group of students was visited twice within a period of 2 years, and a teaching intervention was organized. In both interventions, the application A.L.E.X. accompanied by a student worksheet constituted the main means of instruction. The worksheets were designed to integrate a technology with core mathematical ideas embedded in the national mathematics curriculum. Findings gained from the teaching intervention suggest that game apps hold a lot of promise as a tool for reforming mathematics education. While working with A.L.E.X., the children identified and processed mathematical themes that emerged spontaneously. They experienced unique emotions of surprise and enthusiasm regarding the existence of games with mathematical content that led them to acknowledge the pedagogical role that tablet devices could play. This helped them to broaden their fundamentally narrow viewpoint of mathematics as being primarily computation and arithmetic.

Recent technology advances have substantially changed the way we teach and learn mathematics providing educators with opportunities for creating novel inquiry-based learning environments by increasing the range and sophistication of possible classroom activities. The affordances provided by mobile technologies can motivate students to engage in authentic problem solving activities that can promote their mathematical learning, and the attainment of important competencies essential in modern society. This chapter reports on the main experiences gained from a study that exploited affordances of tablet devices used by young students (11-year old). Findings from the study indicate that general purpose apps such as Recce that was employed in the current study can scaffold learning of the mathematics curriculum in educationally powerful ways that engage students and promote their mathematical growth.