Import and export to/from computing science education: the case of mathematics education research

• Authors: Vicki L. Almstrum;David Ginat;Orit Hazzan;Tom Morley
• Venue: Proceedings of the 7th annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education
• Year: 2002

This panel will look at how research theories developed in the context of mathematics education can be applied to computing science education as well as ways in which computing science theories may be used in mathematics education research. Computing science education is a young discipline still in search of its research framework [6]. A practical approach to formulating such a framework is to adapt useful approaches found in the research from other disciplines, both educational and related areas. At the same time, a young discipline may also offer innovative new approaches to the older discipline.The mathematics education discipline is relatively mature, with its roots extending from the close of the 19th century. For about the past 50 years, mathematics educators have been studying learning theories, teaching approaches, and other cognitive and social issues with respect to K-12 and higher education. We have found that many of these theories are useful for gaining insights into how students learn and understand computing science topics, as well as for improving how we teach these topics. For example, the constructivist perspective, which examines students' mental construction of knowledge [7], has had a tremendous impact on the teaching of mathematics. This paradigm, with its roots in Piaget's work, has started to exert a similar influence within computing science education, as evidenced by a recent article by Ben-Ari [4] and a subsequent special issue of Computer Science Education [10] that includes six articles about constructivism in various areas of computing.Another branch of mathematics education research theory focuses on student conceptions of specific mathematical concepts. For example, student understanding of the concept of function has been researched extensively in the mathematics education context [8]. This cumulative body of knowledge provides a basis for analyzing students' conceptions in many areas of a computing science program, including functional programming, object-oriented programming, and graph algorithms.The panelists will examine possibilities and pitfalls in some import and export attempts between mathematics education research and CS education research.