Mathematical thinking skills needed by first year programming students

dc.contributor.advisorStols, Gerrit H.en
dc.contributor.emailCoetzeeC@tut.ac.zaen
dc.contributor.postgraduateCoetzee, Carlaen
dc.date.accessioned2017-06-08T13:07:14Z
dc.date.available2017-06-08T13:07:14Z
dc.date.created2017-05-04en
dc.date.issued2016en
dc.descriptionDissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016.en
dc.description.abstractThe aim of this qualitative study is to explore and describe the mathematical thinking skills that students require for a first level programming subject that forms part of the National Diploma in Information Communication Technology (ICT) at a University of Technology (UoT). Mathematics is an entry requirement for many tertiary programmes, including ICT courses, unfortunately the poor quality of schooling in South Africa limits learners' access to higher education. From the literature it is evident that students lack fluency in fundamental mathematical and problem-solving skills when they enter higher education. In this study, the concept of programming thinking skills is explored, described and linked to mathematical thinking skills. An instrument (Mathematical and Programming Thinking Skills Matrix for the Analysis of Programming Assessment) has been developed and used to analyse examination papers of a first-year programming subject (at TUT) in order to identify mathematical skills as these appear in programming assessments. Semi-structures interviews were conducted with first-year programming lecturers, examiners and moderators. The literature as well and the results of the analysed data indicated and confirmed that mathematical thinking skills are extremely important when learning to program. The results of the study indicate a strong relationship between mathematical thinking skills and programming thinking skills. The outcome of this study is therefore a set of mathematical thinking skills that needs to be developed when compiling a mathematics curriculum for first level programming students studying towards a National Diploma in ICT.en_ZA
dc.description.availabilityUnrestricteden
dc.description.degreeMEden
dc.description.departmentScience, Mathematics and Technology Educationen
dc.identifier.citationCoetzee, C 2016, Mathematical thinking skills needed by first year programming students, MEd Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/60991>en
dc.identifier.otherA2017en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/60991
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherUniversity of Pretoriaen
dc.rights© 2017 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.en
dc.subjectUCTDen
dc.subjectThinking skillsen
dc.subjectProgramming skillsen
dc.subjectMathematical thinkingen
dc.subjectProgrammingen
dc.titleMathematical thinking skills needed by first year programming studentsen_ZA
dc.typeDissertationen

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