A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2015 / This study explores the mathematical discourse of Grade 11 learners on the topic function through their routines. From a commognitive perspective, it describes routines in terms of exploration and ritual. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with 18 pairs of learners, from six South African secondary schools, capturing a landscape of public schooling, where poor performance in Mathematics predominates. The questions pursued became: why does poor performance persist and what might a commognitive lens bring into view? With the discursive turn in education research, commognition provides an alternate view of learning mathematics. With the emphasis on participation and not on constraints from inherited mental ability, the study explored the nature of learner discourse on the object, function. Function was chosen as it holds significant time and weight in the secondary school curriculum. Examining learners’ mathematical routines with the object was a way to look at their discourse development: what were the signifiers related to the object and what these made possible for learners to realise. Within learners’ routines, I was able to characterise these realisations, which were described and categorised. This enabled a description of learner thinking over three signifiers of function in school Mathematics: the algebraic expression, table and graph. In each school, Grade 11 learners were separated into three groups according to the levels at which they were performing, from summative scores of grade 11 assessments, so as to enable a description of discourse related to performance. Interviews were conducted in pairs, and designed to provoke discussion on aspects of function and its signifiers between learners in each pair. This communication between learners and with the interviewer provided data for description and analysis of rituals and explorations. Zooming in and out again on these routines made a characterisation of the discourse of failure possible, which is seldom done. It became apparent early in the study that learners talked of the object function, without a formal mathematical narrative, a definition in other words, of the object. The object was thus vested in its signifiers. The absence of an individualised formal narrative of the object impacts directly what is made possible for learners to realise, hence to learn. The study makes the following contributions: first, it describes learners’ discursive routines as they work with the object function. Second, it characterises the discourse of learners at different levels of performance. Third, it starts exploration of commognition as an alternate means to look at poor performance. The strengths and limitations of the theory as it pertains to this study, are discussed later in the concluding chapter. Keywords commognition, discourse, communication, participation, routines, exploration, ritual, learners, learning, narratives, endorsed narratives, visual mediators.

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This study investigated the effect of an eight-step cognitive strategy on verbal math problem solving performance of six learning disabled adolescents. The research was conducted in an applied setting by the investigator, the students' learning disabilities teacher. The cognitive strategy was designed to enable students to read, understand, carry out, and check verbal math problems that are encountered in the general math curriculum at the secondary level. A multiple baseline across individuals design permitted demonstration of the effectiveness of the strategy. Conditions of the experiment included baseline, treatment, generalization, maintenance, and, for two students, retraining. During treatment, students received strategy acquisition training over three sessions. When the students demonstrated verbalization of the eight strategy steps from memory, strategy application practice and testing commenced. Utilization of the strategy and improved performance were measured by scores on tests of two-step verbal math problems. The number of correct responses and the number of minutes taken to complete each test were recorded on graphs. Visual analysis of the data indicated that this eight-step cognitive strategy appeared to be an effective intervention for this sample of students who had deficits in verbal math problem solving. Overall, the students demonstrated improved performance on two-step verbal math problems with four of the six students generalizing the use of the strategy to three-step problems. Four students maintained improved performance over a two-week lapse in instruction and practice. Substantial increases were noted for the amount of time required to complete the verbal math problem solving tests immediately following strategy acquisition training. Completion time rapidly stabilized to an acceptable level. This study has implications for an alternative teaching methodology that focuses on cognitive strategy training to improve verbal math problem solving for learning disabled youngsters. Future research could offer evidence of the applicability of cognitive strategy training to other populations and further delineate the characteristics of students who do and do not benefit from cognitive strategy intervention.

Submitted by Marlene Aparecida de Souza Cardozo (mcardozo@pucsp.br) on 2018-03-07T14:14:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Felipe de Almeida Costa.pdf: 7487383 bytes, checksum: f264a5bfb35d93c0ec05c166bfad4deb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-07T14:14:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Felipe de Almeida Costa.pdf: 7487383 bytes, checksum: f264a5bfb35d93c0ec05c166bfad4deb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-11-29 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / This research is part of the research on the use of mathematical modeling as a teaching strategy. It was proposed the elaboration and application of a didactic sequence guided by the principles of modeling, for the teaching of sine and cosine trigonometric functions. The possibilities of these functions being able to express periodic phenomena was a factor of choice. The main objective of the research was to analyze the effects of the use of this strategy in teaching, in order to provide meaningful learning for students. The subjects of the research were high school students of a public school in São Paulo. The methodology used was of qualitative nature, the participant observation, being the data collected from contextualized activities, with the elaboration of models. The orientation to the development of the modeling was one of those indicated by Barbosa and the analysis of learning was guided by the learning theory of Ausubel. The didactic sequence was elaborated considering the role of anchor, according to this theory, the periodic movements of the nature that could be expressed by mathematical functions that shaped them, in this case the sine and cosine trigonometric functions. With this procedure one can, through them, raise conjectures about these phenomena. As a result it can be seen that the use of mathematical modeling can be a fertile option of mathematics teaching strategy, since it presents conditions to enhance students' learning. And it can also be analyzed that in the modeling process there is the possibility of the students participating in the construction of a new knowledge, and in this construction they realize meaningful learning. In addition, the potential of the use of modeling, the formation of critical thinking of the student, is highlighted as it can establish relationships between mathematical concepts being taught and natural phenomena / A presente pesquisa se insere no âmbito das investigações sobre o uso da modelagem matemática como estratégia de ensino. Ela teve como proposta a elaboração e a aplicação de uma sequência didática norteada pelos princípios da modelagem, para o ensino das funções trigonométricas seno e cosseno. As possibilidades de essas funções poderem expressar fenômenos periódicos foi um fator da escolha. O objetivo principal da investigação foi analisar os efeitos do uso dessa estratégia no ensino, no sentido de propiciar aprendizagem com significado para os alunos. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram alunos da 3ª série do ensino médio de uma escola pública de São Paulo. A metodologia utilizada foi de natureza qualitativa, a observação participante, sendo os dados coletados a partir de atividades contextualizadas, com a elaboração de modelos. A orientação para o desenvolvimento da modelagem foi uma daquelas indicadas por Barbosa e a análise de aprendizagem norteou-se pela teoria de aprendizagem significativa de Ausubel. A sequência didática foi elaborada considerando-se o papel de âncora, de acordo com essa teoria, os movimentos periódicos da natureza que pudessem ser expressos por funções matemáticas que os modelavam, no caso as funções trigonométricas seno e cosseno. Com esse procedimento pode-se, por meio delas, levantar conjecturas a respeito desses fenômenos. Como resultado pode-se constatar que o uso da modelagem matemática pode ser uma opção fértil de estratégia de ensino de matemática, pois apresenta condições para potencializar a aprendizagem dos alunos. E também pode-se analisar que, no processo de modelagem há a possibilidade de os alunos participarem da construção do um novo conhecimento, e nessa construção realizarem aprendizado com significado. Além disso, destaca-se como potencial do uso da modelagem, a formação do pensamento crítico do aluno, pois por meio dela pode-se estabelecer relações entre conceitos matemáticos que estão sendo ensinados e fenômenos naturais