Programming to learn mathematics - exploring student teachers' instrumental genesis

Paper in proceeding, 2022

Programming is now a prescribed part of the curriculum in mathematics in both primary and secondary school in Sweden, as in many other countries. Teacher training must thus prepare students for the challenges of teaching mathematics with programming. We explore how student teachers see their own training in programming in relation to mathematics and what opportunities to learn mathematics they believe that programming can offer pupils in school. An instrumental approach is used to analyse observations and a questionnaire on secondary school student teacher’ experience of a programming lab, where they investigate Riemann sums with programming. We find that students feel challenged by both the programming and the mathematical content, and that they see the challenges as useful, both for themselves and for their future pupils.