THE IMPACT OF ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF TEACHING MATHEMATICS ON THE COMPUTATIONAL THINKING OF PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

The article presents the findings of a research focused on the comparison of the development of computational thinking in pupils taught by an alternative method of teaching mathematics and the classical method of teaching mathematics. The research builds on the findings of previous research, which suggests a link between the development of some dimensions of students' computational thinking and the development of mathematical thinking. We built on previous published research assumptions, which suggested that students taught in a constructivist way of teaching mathematics perform better on a test of computational thinking and thus potentially have better developed computational thinking. The study presented in this article tested 741 pupils aged 10 to 13 in the Czech Republic taught using an alternative constructivist method of teaching mathematics (the so-called "Hejny method") and pupils taught using the "classical" predominantly non-constructivist method of teaching mathematics. Statistical results show that the chosen teaching method does not affect the development of pupils' computational thinking.