Browsing by Author "Mäkelä, Kiia"

Programming is a topic that has been recently added to the Finnish curriculum as a content in math and making appearance also as an extensive goal of teaching in 2014. This means that the ways of teaching, teaching practices and researches involving them has been made in a very short range when compared to other subjects. This research focuses on how the teaching of programming is initiated in primary school. According to this prospect, research focuses on the question of how programming is initiated for pupils for the first time and how the teaching of programming is being initiated. Because teaching pro-gramming is based partly on textbooks used as a part of teaching, in order to examine this issue compre-hensively, it answers the question “How programming is displayed in the first graders textbooks?”. The research was executed with systematic literature review about theory involving programming. This gave an opportunity to gain information outside of the so-called official textbooks. After analyzing theoret-ical literature, research about materials provided at school was implemented by sending a survey of the research to all of the publishers making textbooks for schools in Finland. These publishers were Edukustannus, Otava and SanomaPro. All of the publishers agreed to take a part in the research so the research involves the following textbooks: Kymppi, Milli, Oivaltaja, Tuhattaituri, Tuuma and Yykaakoo. The research analyzed these materials for the matter them involving programming. In research literature programming was shown in a different manner than in textbooks. Previous studies indicated mainly, what kind of databases and complication of materials teachers could find to support teaching of programming. Studies also introduced platforms for programming and robotic toys. Teaching programming in textbooks emphasized quantitatively literary exercises. Other stressed area in textbooks were functional exercises. When comparing implemented studies and materials provided for teaching programming, it seems like teachers are possibly supposed to or assumed to use also materials outside of the textbooks. Materials outside the textbooks in turn provides alternative choices to provide versatile ways of teaching programming instead or alongside textbooks.