Coding and robotics meet early mathematics: Foundation Phase teachers’ perceptions of play-based approaches in curriculum transformation

Abstract

Global educational ministries stress the importance of teaching coding and robotics, as it has profoundly influenced children’s mathematical computational thinking and problem-solving skills. In addition, play-based approaches in the foundation phase are significant as they develop children's holistic development skills. In South Africa, the Department of Basic Education has recently integrated coding and robotics into the foundation phase curriculum. Consequently, there is a shortage of skilled teachers equipped to meet the curriculum demands in the foundation phase. Thus, this problem threatens technological and national development due to the connection between coding, ro  botics, and curriculum transformation. Piaget's constructivism theory underpinned this study as it supports play-based approaches and hands-on experience in childhood education. An interpretive case study design within qualitative research explored the foundation phase teachers' perceptions of integrating play-based approaches in coding and robotics to enhance early mathematics learning within curriculum transformation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve foundation phase teachers from public primary schools in Limpopo, South Africa were selected through homogeneous purposive sampling. Thematic data analysis was used to analyse the collected data. The findings revealed that teachers rely on unplugged or non-digital robots to teach mathematics in the foundation phase due to a lack of access to technological tools. Their voices highlighted the need for additional skills to effectively adapt to this curriculum transformation. This paper introduces a novel contribution to global efforts by exploring innovative ways of using Lego bricks to teach coding and robotics to enhance early mathematics learning in the foundation phase.