- 10:00: Trial lecture
- 12:00: Public defence
The title of the trial lecture: See Norwegian event presentation.
The title of the thesis is "Students Constructing Problem-Solving Knowledge at the Intersection of Mathematical Problem Solving, Computational Thinking, and Programming."
The ordinary opponents are:
- First opponent: Professor Rune Herheim, University College of Western Norway
- Chair of the committee and second opponent: Professor Bård Ketil Engen, Department of Primary and Secondary Teacher Education, OsloMet
- Assistant Professor Maria Kallia of University of Glasgow, UK has contributed in evaluating the thesis.
The leader of the public defense is Finn Aarsæther, Vice-Dean for Education, Faculty of Education and International Studies, OsloMet
The main supervisor is Professor Morten Misfeldt, University of Copenhagen. The co-supervisors are Associate Professor Annette Hessen Bjerke, OsloMet and Associate Professor Hilde Opsal from Volda University College.
Thesis abstract
This thesis investigates how Grade 8 students construct knowledge at the intersection of mathematical problem solving, computational thinking, and programming. The overarching research question is: “How and to what extent do Norwegian Grade 8 students construct problem-solving knowledge at the intersection of mathematical problem solving, CT, and programming?”
The thesis is article-based and consists of four articles. The first article is a systematic literature review of seven peer-reviewed studies on computational thinking in mathematical problem solving. The remaining three articles draw on data from Norwegian lower secondary schools: results from pre- and post-tests using problem-solving tasks from PISA 2003, students’ written solutions, and interviews in which students explain their task understanding, choice of strategies, and evaluation of their own solutions.
One main finding is that participation in the optional programming course does not, in itself, provide a statistically significant developmental advantage in mathematical problem solving. Nevertheless, the thesis shows that computational thinking and programming become significant when students coordinate mathematical resources with resources from computational thinking and programming, strategic control, and justification. This is expressed when students use these resources to structure problems, monitor their own solution processes, and explain mathematical relationships.
However, the extent of this knowledge construction is uneven; it should be understood as variation in the reuse, adaptation, and reorganisation of problem-solving knowledge, rather than merely as a change in test scores.
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