The Effect of Programming on Students' Understanding of Mathematics

Abstract

Many schools are aware that technology and coding needs to be implemented more within their curriculum in order to have students become more literate in the heavily technology oriented society. Previously, researchers have investigated how programming can be introduced in a mathematics curriculum. Although there are many close connections between the two disciplines, teachers have found both advantages and disadvantages of programming that arise when it is introduced in a mathematics classroom. This paper investigates whether programming is bene cial for the students' understanding in a freshman level calculus class at Carroll College during the 2019 fall semester. It is bene cial if there are calculus concepts that can be reinforced and more readily explained through coding. In particular, we found that students valued visual diagrams that were produced from their code.