Self-Regulation in Early Years of Learning Mathematics: Grade R Observed Self-Efficacy Skills Shared and Aligned

Numeracy development of young learners has been proven to be innate. Research asserts how 6 months old infants were able to subitise group of quantities. The inner ability integrate itself with their curiosity as they develop further. Kammii also asserts that young children develop autonomy through their observations and curiosity of figuring out events. This indicates that, children have natural independent abilities for learning. However, schooling seems not to be able to maintain this. This chapter demonstrates through clinical interviews how this independent discovery occurs and such observations can be used to observe trends that inform Grade R/reception class numeracy instruction. Intellectual autonomy as presented by Piaget and Kammii is used to analyse students’ data to elicit trends and themes that influence instruction to maintain self-regulation in their development. This chapter employs qualitative enquiry in getting insight to student’s intuitions and how they contribute to independent learning

Black Students’ Rich Mathematical Experiences: Mathematics Concepts and Xhosa Cultural Games for Reception Class

Poor mathematics performance and low socio-economic status variables in South Africa are skewed towards a black child due to the history of colonization and apartheid. These variables then become labels that nurture assumptions that mathematics is for the elite and belongs to the West, and therefore these students’ mathematical prior knowledge and experiences are ignored. Mathematics is a problem-solving tool. Disregarding mathematics learnt from cultural artefacts and community engagements due to socio-economic status is disempowering. Such symbolizes power of privilege that recognizes Western culture versus lack of property ownership experienced by Africans, which unconsciously translates to lack of confidence in their own heritage. This paper presents and explores cultural games played by these students during playtime and in their communities with the aim of eliciting mathematics embedded and attained while engaging in the game. The paper recommends cultural relevant pedagogy that integrates mathematics learning with students’ cultural artefacts for ownership of knowledge and recognition of pluralism for economic and development initiatives globally

Diversité culturelle, enseignement des mathématiques et rapports ethniques : expériences scolaires sud-africaine et états-unienne

Dans le cadre de cette recherche menée aux États-Unis et en Afrique du Sud, nous nous intéressons au phénomène des représentations sociales d’acteurs scolaires – enseignants et directeurs-enseignants – relativement à la diversité ethnoculturelle dans le contexte de l’apprentissage/enseignement des mathématiques dans deux écoles primaires. Dans cet article, nous visons deux objectifs : 1) identifier les représentations sociales de la diversité ethnoculturelle de quatre enseignants de mathématiques du primaire; 2) comprendre leur position en termes d’éducation multi- et inter-culturelle (assimilation, adaptation et transformation). Pour ce faire, nous décrivons les concepts de représentations sociales et de culture, les idées sur la nature des mathématiques et un modèle triparti d’éducation multi- et interculturelle. Cette recherche est qualitative, exploratoire et descriptive. Bien que les enseignants évoquent la persistance des valeurs dominantes assimilatrices, ils reconnaissent la nécessité de s’adapter au changement en déployant tous les efforts nécessaires pour valoriser la diversité ethnoculturelle et le bagage socioculturel des élèves ayant été traditionnellement marginalisés tant dans les contenus de savoir en mathématiques que dans les interactions en classe. Certains reconnaissent avec plus d’acuité l’importance de combattre la discrimination et de promouvoir l’empowerment intra- et inter-culturel des enseignants et des élèves ainsi que leur transformation par la maîtrise des savoirs mathématiques.In the framework of this study done in the United States and South Africa, we took a look at the phenomenon of the social representations of the school players – teacher and administration-teacher – in relation to ethno-cultural diversity in the context of learning/teaching mathematics in two elementary schools. In this article we aim for two objectives: 1) to identify the social representations of enthnocultural diversity of four elementary school math teachers 2) to understand their positions in terms of multi-and intercultural education. To meet the objectives, we will describe the concepts of social and cultural representations, ideas on the nature of mathematics and a three-part model of multi- and intercultural education (assimilation, adaptation and transformation). This research is qualitative, exploratory and descriptive. Even though the teachers mention the persistence of dominant assimilating values, they recognize the necessity of adapting to change by using every necessary effort to give value to the ethno-cultural and socio-cultural diversity of students who are traditionally marginalized both in terms of math knowledge and classroom interactions. Some more clearly recognize the importance of combating discrimination and promoting the intra- and inter-cultural empowerment of teachers and students through the mastery of math knowledge.En el cuadro de esta investigación, realizada en Estados Unidos y en África del Sur, nos hemos interesado al fenómeno de la representación social de los actores escolares – el maestro y la dirección-maestro- en relación con la diversidad etnocultural en el contexto del aprendizaje/enseñanza de las matemáticas en dos escuelas primarias. En este artículo, perseguimos dos objetivos: 1) identificar las representaciones sociales de la diversidad etnocultural de cuatro maestros de matemáticas de primaria; 2) comprender su posición en términos de educación multi e intercultural. Para ello, describiremos los conceptos de representación social y de cultura, de las ideas sobre la naturaleza de las matemáticas y de un modelo triple de educación multi e intercultural (asimilación, adaptación y transformación). Es una investigación cualitativa, exploratoria y descriptiva. Aunque los maestros evocan la persistencia de los valores dominantes de asimilación, reconocen la necesidad de adaptarse al cambio desplegando los esfuerzos necesarios para valorizar la diversidad etnocultural y la herencia sociocultural de alumnos tradicionalmente marginados, tanto en los contenidos del saber en matemáticas como en las interacciones en la clase. Algunos reconocen con mayor acuidad la importancia de combatir la discriminación y de promover la habilitación intra e intercultural de los maestros y de los alumnos a través del dominio de habilidades matemáticas

Survey on Early Childhood Mathematics Education at ICME-14

This paper is about a survey to be presented at the 14th International Congress on Mathematics Education (ICME-14), which addresses the latest developments on Early Childhood Mathematics Education. The relevance of early mathematics learning and teaching in mathematics education research is explained and an overview of the work done by the Survey Team on this specific theme is described

Alumnos resilientes en las escuelas que atienden a comunidades pobres

Introduction. Through the the education for all initiative, a number of education systems have been able to provide access to their students at the basic education level. The major challenge is that most of these learners, especially, those from poor families who attend schools with limited resources are often not successful. However, in South Africa, quite a few of these learners succeed against all odds. We characterized these students as resilient and wonder what drives their success.Method. Our analysis employed the South Africa 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and simple descriptive statistics to profile these resilient students. TIMSS was conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). The TIMSS data included information on learners’ socioeconomic background characteristics, their mathematics and science achievement, and their schooling characteristics. Using these data, we were able to estimate learners’ socioeconomic status that was used as a proxy of poverty. We used a crosstabulation to identify poor learners in poor schools who were successful learning mathematics and developed the characteristics of these learners.Results. Our profile indicates that a typical resilient learner is a girl who does not speak the language of classroom instruction at home. This learner tends to not only value and like mathematics but also expressed confidence about her ability to learn mathematics.Discussion and Conclusion. The current South Africa policy to improve learning outcome for the poor tend to emphasise improvement of resources in schools serving the poor. Our findings demonstrate the importance of non-cognitive skills in developing resilience and the need to include professional development initiatives for teachers to develop capabilities to help learners to develop these skills. </jats:p

Can we afford to wait any longer? Pre-school children are ready to learn mathematics

South African students’ poor mathematics performance on national and international tests can be attributed to the gap the children begin schooling with from different socio economics homes. Wright et al assert that this gap continues to grow the longer students are in school. Early childhood research highlights the significant educational gains of exposing young children to quality, structured mathematical play or activity that goes beyond what is learned within the family and community. South Africa has high levels of poverty and inequality and also has tremendous difficulties in overcoming these inequalities. Most provision of quality pre-school education is private, self-funded and not targeted to poor children resulting to different levels of mathematics readiness prior entry to primary school. This paper argues for quality mathematics interventions, longitudinal studies on impact of such interventions and tracking studies on schooling effects of early quality mathematics preparation, higher education effects, and labour market effects

Assessment standards, Van Hiele levels, and grade seven learners’ understandings of geometry

A number of researchers in mathematical education assert that the instruction in geometry offered in South African schools is inadequate and that traditional teaching strategies do little to promote teachers understandings of their learners’ levels of mathematical thought. Van Hiele specifically states that the inability of many teachers to match instruction with their learners’ levels of geometrical understanding is a contributing factor to their failure to promote meaningful understandings in this topic.  This study investigated whether a sample of grade seven learners in previously disadvantaged primary schools met both the assessment criteria for geometry as stated by the South African Revised National Curriculum Statement and the implied Van Hiele thinking levels.  The data generated suggest that none of the 30 learners who participated in this study had attained these requirements and that language competency in general is a barrier to the attainment of higher levels of understanding amongst this group of second-language learners. It is suggested that not only Van Hiele Levels and Assessment Standards, but also learners’ cultural background and their specific use of words in the vernacular context, need to be taken into consideration by teachers when developing learning programmes. Possible strategies to meet these requirements are suggested