Programmering i skolmatematiken -Är funktionsbegreppet en definitionsfråga?

Abstract

In 2018 the Swedish ministry of education presented a revision of the Swedish High School curriculum. Among the changes was the inclusion of programing as a tool for mathematical problem solving. After a few years of implementation the Swedish teachers union, Lärarnas riksförbund, carried out a study concluding that implementing programing as a part of the High School mathematics was viewed as a debated and unclear reformation amongst the mathematic teachers (Lärarnas riksförbund, 2020). This study is set around a phenomenon that came with the revision.

The phenomenon in question arises from the fact that mathematics is, at its core, known for clear and set definitions of its different concepts. With the revision, a new set of concepts came with programing and forced its way in to the High School mathematics. The relationship between the different subjects is special, because most of the concepts in programing are sprung from similar mathematic concepts. The concepts of programing are, even though similar, different than their mathematical kin. The differences leads to a phenomenon of conflicting concepts in High School mathematics. As the subject is new and not well mapped, this study sets out to form an initial mapping of how teachers, with competence in both mathematics and programming, view the phenomenon with a focus on the concept of functions in there lived practice and with their experience from teaching. To collect the experiences a qualitative method with interviews, based on the theoretical framework of Phenomenography has been used. To explain and validate the phenomenon’s existence theories about threshold concepts and the buildup of conceptual ability are applied. The result shows that even teachers with experience of programming and mathematics finds it hard to coherently explain how the relationship between the two subjects are to be treated to help and not aggravate the students conceptual ability.