A Minimal Snap Extension to Improve the Treatment of Integer Data: A Constructionist Approach

Carrisi M. C.

2021-01-01

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Abstract

Block based programming environments are a fundamental resource in introducing students to coding, an activity that has been proven to be useful in the development of competences laying in the field of mathematics. Unfortunately, it has been recently shown that Scratch, the most famous and diffused among those languages, presents an important lack in the treatment of Integer data: it does not provide easy and intuitive instruments to face problems dealing with the division with remainder. This conflicts with Scratch’s aim and could also bring students to create misconceptions about the division operation. For this reason, a minimal Snap extension will be here proposed, which overcomes this problem by creating a block environment more pertinent from a mathematical perspective.