Mathematical games as tool for Mathematics teaching in the foundation phase

Mathematics performance is a universal outcry. Children as early as foundation phase are unable to solve mathematical barriers. In her analysis Naledi Pandor, Minister of Education in South Africa noted in that only 35% of children in South Africa can read, write and count. The aim of this paper is to explore the importance of the use of educational games in teaching mathematics in the Foundation Phase (Grade zero to three) classes in South African primary schools. This research is qualitative in nature and explores the views of Foundation Phase teachers regarding the using of mathematical games as tool for mathematics teaching in the foundation phase. The concern is if the problems are not addressed in the Foundation Phase it might be too late to deal with them in the higher school grades. In fact it is known that the performance in mathematics at Grade 12 is poor as seen from the TIMMS results. The research specifically reveals that the significance of teaching children through the use mathematical games is to help inculcate strong number-sense competencies for the love of mathematics. The paper highlights the use of mathematical games for motivating and improving children’s performance and takes into account the assistance teachers should give in order to improve mathematical thinking when playing mathematical games. This paper concludes that mathematical games assist children to practise mental calculations and addresses mathematical language barriers. Teachers should teach the children to ensure that they enjoy and actively participate in the use of games when learning mathematics

Mathematics barriers experienced by grade 3 children in some previously disadvantaged of school South Africa

Children as early as Foundation Phase are unable to solve mathematical problems. The problem of poor Foundation Phase learner performance in mathematics is of international concern. One of the critical concerns noted by Annual National Assessment (ANA) is the concern about the understanding of teaching mathematics content in Foundation Phase. The aim of the paper is to examine the barriers experienced by Grade 3 children in mathematics computation in previously disadvantaged schools in South Africa. The study employed a qualitative study approach-using semi – structured interviews with three teachers in three schools. All the teachers consented to participate. The main findings of this study suggest that all the barriers to learning relate to poor mathematical language proficiency. Therefore, based on the findings, the methods of teaching mathematics should change, by including for example concrete objects. Furthermore, the training of mathematics teaching should be adapted so that it should be in line with the practical teaching in class

Infected and/or Affected by HIV/AIDS Children in the Classroom: Teachers Role

HIV/AIDS arrived on the world scene without warning. A few decades ago it was unknown – lurking somewhere, waiting for the right moment to ambush the human race. Today HIV/AIDS covers Africa in dark clouds of fear, uncertainty and suffering. The virus has destroyed innocent hopes, desires and plans of countless numbers of people whose lives have been cut short by an unseen enemy. Those of us who live in Africa, it is a human catastrophe from which no single one of us in the region will be exempt, because HIV/AIDS affects us all. This truism about the HIV/AIDS pandemic will become ever more evident and obvious as each month and year passes. It is estimated that by 2015, the year in which HIV/AIDS is expected to reach its peak, between 9-12% of the population will be HIV/AIDS orphans. This indicates that between 3.6 and 4.8 million children under the age of 15 will be without parents or guardians. “A learner who is infected and/or affected by HIV/AIDS in any way will have to cope with the repercussions. If such a learner is still further traumatised by, e.g. discrimination or neglect of any kind in the school situation, the problem will be exacerbated considerably. All learners have a right to lead a normal life, to have quality of life and to reach their potential. It is important for all teachers to realise this and all teachers have a responsibility to equip themselves with the necessary skills to care for and support these learners in the most effective way possible”. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p149

Support for Children Who are Affected/Infected with HIV/AIDS in the Classroom

Daily reports from the media on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the South African society make it clear that this disease will eventually affect every citizen in one way or another. Sontag (1997:171) puts in strong terms: “The survival of the national, of civilized society is said to be at stake”. The Government Gazette (1999:4) stresses this point further by stating that HIV/AIDS is one of the major challenges to all South Africans. The Gazette quotes alarming statistics proving that this pandemic in South Africa is among the most severe in the world and it continues to increase at an estimated rate of 33.8%. It is further estimated that almost 25% of the general population will be HIV positive by the year 2010. Van Dyk (2001:6) supports this statement when he says that HIV/AIDS is not a health crisis in Africa, it is a human catastrophe, which will have an impact on every living person in this region. The Joint United National Programmes on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, March 2001) reports that a decade ago HIV/AIDS was already regarded as a serious health crisis. It is estimated that from 1991, 9 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa were infected with HIV and that 5 million would die by the end of the decade. Furthermore, the report alleges that the actual rate of infection at the present moment is three times higher than the projection made at that time. As the 21st century dawned, 71% (24.4 million) of all the people in the world with HIV lived in Sub-Saharan Africa. Africa’s 12.1 million AIDS orphans represented 95% of the AIDS orphans in the world. Of the 5.6 million new HIV infections worldwide in 1999, 3.8 million (about 68%) occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa – the region with the fastest growing epidemic. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p176

Identification of Mathematical Difficulties among Grade 3 Children

The importance of Mathematics is documented in the curriculum as a major concern in grade 12 which is the exit point of General Education Teaching (GET) band. It is important that children acquire the necessary mathematics skills that will serve as foundation for later learning. It is also the South African government’s policy that all children should be taught Mathematics because as it is an important and necessary life skill that cannot be done without. However many teachers are still finding it difficult to teach children to solve mathematical problems. Mathematics performance is a universal outcry in South Africa. Children as early as Foundation Phase are unable to solve mathematical difficulties. In her analysis Naledi Pandor noted in that only 35% of children in South Africa can read, write and count. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p159

Tuberculosis cure rates and the ETR.Net : investigating the quality of reporting treatment outcomes from primary healthcare facilities in Mpumalanga province, South Africa

BACKGROUND : Tuberculosis control programs rely on accurate collection of routine surveillance data to inform program decisions including resource allocation and specific interventions. The electronic TB register (ETR.Net) is dependent on accurate data transcription from both paperbased clinical records and registers at the facilities to report treatment outcome data. The study describes the quality of reporting of TB treatment outcomes from facilities in the Ehlanzeni District, Mpumalanga Province. METHODS : A descriptive crossectional study of primary healthcare facilities in the district for the period 1 January – 31 December 2010 was performed. New smear positive TB cure rate data was obtained from the ETR.Net followed by verification of paperbased clinical records, both TB folders and the TB register, of 20% of all new smear positive cases across the district for correct reporting to the ETR.Net. Facilities were grouped according to high (>70%) and low cure rates (≤ 70%) as well as high (> 20%) and low (≤ 20%) error proportions in reporting. Kappa statistic was used to determine agreement between paperbased record, TB register and ETR.Net. RESULTS : Of the100 facilities (951 patient clinical records), 51(51%) had high cure rates and high error proportions, 14(14%) had a high cure rate and low error proportion whereas 30(30%) had low cure rates and high error proportions and five (5%) had a low cure rate with low error proportion. Fair agreement was observed (Kappa = 0.33) overall and between registers. Of the 473 patient clinical records which indicated cured, 383(81%) was correctly captured onto the ETR.Net, whereas 51(10.8%) was incorrectly captured and 39(8.2%) was not captured at all. Over reporting of treatment success of 12% occurred on the ETR.Net. CONCLUSIONS : The high error proportion in reporting onto the ETR.Net could result in a false sense of improvement in the TB control programme in the Ehlanzeni district.The Desmond Tutu TB Centre, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmchealthservresam2017Medical Microbiolog