Teacher actions to promote mathematical competencies in programming activities

Abstract

The use of mathematical competencies in education has gained considerable attention, especially over the last two decades. This paper outlines a study that explores the integration of programming used to enhance students' engagement with mathematical competencies. The study introduces a teaching session wherein students program physical robots, with a primary emphasis on generalizing the programs of the robots using mathematics. Our results show the importance of the teacher to ask questions that focus the discussion on mathematics, and we demonstrate how removing the robots prompts the students to communicate their ideas and reasoning. Our conclusion asserts that teaching sessions which emphasize mathematical competencies within the framework of programmable robots hold the potential to foster student engagement with respect to these mathematical competencies.