Coding + Math = Improved Math Scores

 I so want to integrate programming into my math class but right now the total bandwidth for the school is so small that it doesn't take much for the whole thing to go down.

Teaching coding in math can have some wonderful benefits for students.  Many people believe students who code should already have good math skills but research indicates that coding can help students develop strong math skills.  In addition, it is fun.

The cool thing about coding is that as they learn to code, they are simultaneously developing problem solving skills,  practice computational skills, and learn algorithmic thinking.  Often times, coding can help students visualize the more abstract concepts.

As a student creates a program, they have to use problem solving skills to write the code.  If they move their avatar forward, they determine the number of steps, if it has to jump over anything, or if it needs to turn around.  All of this requires thought.  If the program does not work properly when run, the student needs to analyze where the error occurs in order to correct it.  All, real life problem solving.

Imagine, this fun activity develops critical thinking and problem solving both skills are necessary to mathematics.  In addition, its hard to get students to "make sense" of problems while "persevering" on tasks that do not grab their interest but coding easily does this.  It teaches them to look at a variety of ways to solve a problem.  It may sound simple to have a character walk across the screen without tripping on running animals but it all takes a lot of thought to do.

Furthermore, coding requires students to understand counters via loops, variables which can represent different values depending upon what is needed, integers are used in so many things from commanding your avatar to walk so many steps to causing something to rise or fall.  Many times, the coding commands require the programer to use x and y values to locate the avatar on the background.  The x and y values can be positive or negative depending on where the avatar needs to be.

Coding also opens us discussions on mathematical concepts such as having students write a program to determine if a number is even or odd.  We know that even means it is divisible by two but what does that really mean?  If you stop and look at it visually, divisible by two means there are no remainders which means zero left overs.

In addition, it makes rounding more realistic.  The standard way that rounding is taught is the old if its four or under, you round to 0 but if its five and above you take the number up but think about reality.  If you are trying to pack computers in boxes for shipping and each box takes 15 computers, how many boxes will you need if you have 61computers.  you have one left over, so you would only need four boxes to ship the computers but then you have not sent them all.  This illustrates the need to round up.

If you want to integrate coding into your class but you are not sure how to start.  Scratch is a language that can be downloaded onto school computers for free.  This site from Harvard has lots of good information on using Scratch across the curriculum.  The pdf begins with links to general articles on integrating Scratch across the curriculum before looking at using it in specific subjects.

The math part has a section on resources, actual math activities, followed by suggested projects for grades 3 to 8.  I looked at some of the suggestions for the younger grades such as making a simple calculator and that looked like fun.  I think I'm going to download Scratch, the information on projects, and play with them myself.

Have a great day and let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.