This study focused on teachers’ views on the role of context in Mathematical Literacy. The study falls within a constructivist framework. The research method used was a case study involving two teachers. The data for the study was collected from teachers through semi-structured interviews and was collected from learners through mathematical literacy tasks. In the analysis of the research data, five issues are identified and discussed: They are concerned with (a) the balance between content and context, (b) the relation between context and access to mathematics, (c) links between context and interest, (d) context and language and (e) context as a barrier in mathematics. The study concludes that real life context is very important and useful in teaching and learning mathematics. However, teachers need be careful in selecting context because inappropriate context can become a barrier to learning. The report concludes with recommendations for classroom practice, teacher education and further research.

The National Curriculum Statement (NCS) for Mathematical Literacy (Maths Lit) states that the approach to Maths Lit teaching has to be contextualized – focusing on context-driven problems that relate to everyday lives. In this report I attempt to identify how teachers select and use context–oriented tasks for their grade 10 Mathematical Literacy classrooms. Data was gathered using a case study of four teachers, using interviews and analysis of various documents (work schedule and sample of learners‟ workbooks). Vygotsky‟s theory of mediation was used to analyze the findings in relation to the Maths Lit goals and principle of contextualization. The agendas from Graven and Venkat (2007) were used as the tool to analyze the tasks in the learners‟ books. A continuum based on these agendas was used as a descriptive tool of where teachers fit in relation to the context/content spectrum. The study concluded that teachers mainly used the work schedule and text books to select the context-oriented tasks for their learners. Teachers‟ selections of tasks were guided by the mathematical content to be taught. Most of the tasks‟ contexts lacked authenticity and the tasks consisted of pure mathematical content. The teachers mainly used the context to introduce the content to be learned. The tasks that were used promoted mathematical goals and were not context-driven. The level of authenticity promoted within the Maths Lit curriculum and its disseminated support documents such as work schedules, therefore needs to be investigated further.

As students enter kindergarten, some students are more academically prepared than others. This study looked at the relationships among preschool attendance, preschool type (i.e., public, private, Head Start, and home-based technology providers) and preschool quality and early mathematical literacy skills for diverse students. The study sought to answer three research questions: What is the relationship between preschool attendance and early mathematical literacy? What is the relationship between preschool type and early mathematical literacy? What is the relationship between preschool quality and early mathematical literacy? Within each research question, there was also an investigation to see if there were differing effects for diverse student demographics. Data was obtained from the USBE in relation to preschool enrollment records and kindergarten entry scores on the state mandated Kindergarten Entry and Exit Profile (KEEP) assessment for all kindergarten students enrolled in the 2017-18 school year. The researcher conducted a 2x2 Factor ANOVA, independent group means t-tests, and multiple regression analysis to determine relationships among preschool attendance, type, and quality and early mathematical literacy. In general, the independent variables of attending preschool and the quality of the preschool did not seem to have the positive influence expected on early mathematical literacy as a whole, but when looking more specifically at the demographic covariates, there were some positive influences. Students who participated in online preschool programming on average experienced the highest early mathematical literacy scores. Overall, the results suggested that students from diverse backgrounds experience improved early mathematical literacy when they attended preschool. Therefore, with the limited funding available for preschool, policymakers should consider which students might most benefit from preschool experience and target limited resources to such populations.

Magister Educationis - MEd / The study was located within the project : Relevance of school mathematics Education (ROSME) of the Department of Dicactics at the University of the Western Cape. The research was undertaken in the belief that mathematics enables creative and logical reasoning about contextualised problems in the realm of the physical and social world as well as in the discipline mathematics itself. This research attempted to investigate the contextual issues that teachers have to deal with in mathematics education. / South Africa

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Local and international pundits concur that education systems play a pivotal role in fostering and developing values in learners. In some countries, like South Africa, the values and rights enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights resonate in the Schools Act. As one of the concerns of education is nation building, my study investigates if the integration of the values does achieve tolerance and co-operation in the classroom by examining how learners make sense of values in the Mathematical Literacy curriculum. While I firmly believe that educational institutions have a responsibility to integrate positive values into all aspects of the school curriculum, it is my contention that learners cannot fully benefit from values specifically related to the Mathematical Literacy curriculum itself on their own. All stakeholders in education need to come together to establish an informed understanding of policy documents and reconcile the complexities and challenges that surround the transmission of values, so that educators will be able to assist learners in a meaningful way. The classroom life of a learner is intricately woven with that of the teacher. In order to unearth the views and practices of learners and teachers, I adopted a participatory approach. The qualitative study that ensued was conducted in three Mathematics Literacy classrooms at secondary schools in Cape Town, South Africa. The observation sessions afforded me the opportunity to experience and appreciate how the teachers integrate values into the Mathematical Literacy lessons while observing learners‟ behaviour in the classroom. The interactions and interviews with both learners and teachers aided in further unravelling their understanding and implementation of values in the Mathematical Literacy lessons. For learners to develop into responsible, caring and morally just citizens who are capable of critical thought, they require an education that provides them with the necessary opportunities and tools to develop. Mathematical Literacy is able to provide learners with the relevant opportunities and thinking tools to construct meaning around moral concepts. I strongly believe that for learners to accomplish this goal, educators need to be appropriately capacitated to facilitate opportunities for their learners. I did not find any evidence in the literature that suggests a fail-safe theoretical approach to success in values education. I am of the opinion that for any measure of success in values education, a combination of these theories of learning and moral development has to be employed.

This study investigated the effectiveness of video tutorials, accessed via Quick Response codes, on Grade 10 Mathematical Literacy students' ability to complete their homework. Students often struggle to complete their Mathematical Literacy homework. To assist them outside of the classroom, an intervention involving video tutorials that explained specific sections of work and how to go about solving problems, was devised. Students could access the relevant tutorials on a mobile device via the scanning of barcodes provided on the worksheets. The effectiveness of the intervention was assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively, through analysis of the participating students' homework submissions and interviews with the students after the intervention had ended. Use was made of the YouTube analytics view count feature to observe how many times the videos had been watched. Feedback forms, focus group interviews and questionnaires were also used to obtain additional data. Unfortunately, the students did not make as much use of the intervention as had been anticipated, and this, together with the very small sample, meant that no meaningful conclusions could be drawn. The students who had made use of the intervention claimed that the tutorials had helped them in their understanding of the relevant concepts, as well as with the completion of their homework. This would indicate that the intervention was potentially beneficial. I have recommended that future research be undertaken in this regard. When trying to understand why so little use was made of the intervention, it became apparent that many of the weaker students were unaware of their limitations in Mathematical Literacy, and therefore did not feel the need to access the available resources offered by the intervention. This is a serious obstacle to implementing such an intervention, and possible solutions are considered.

<p>The use of contexts in school mathematics is receiving much attention both nationally and internationally. This as well as the scarcity of research focusing on the topic stimulated me to research the contexts preferred by learners of mathematics. The large-scale project is called the Relevance of School Mathematics Education (ROSME) project. The current study essentially deals with that section of the larger project which investigates the issues and situations that learners in grades eight, nine and ten would prefer to deal with in mathematics. Broadly, this study focuses on the contexts preferred by grade 8, 9 and 10 learners as a domain in which to embed school mathematics.</p>

<p>Studiens syfte är dels att undersöka vilken förståelse för matematik ur ett samhällsperspektiv som elever på en mellansvensk kommunal gymnasieskola har, utifrån den beskrivning av ämnet som finns i de svenska styrdokumenten. Syftet är också att undersöka vilken inställning till ämnet eleverna har, hur attityden påverkas av vänner och familj, samt vilken betydelse media har i synen på matematik.</p><p>Studien bygger på en enkätundersökning där 130 respondenters svar har behandlats. Genomgående i analysen har gruppen med elever som läser ett yrkesinriktat program jämförts med de elever som studerar på ett mer teoretiskt inriktat program.</p><p>Resulatet visar att elevernas förståelse för matematikens roll i samhället är fullt acceptabel, men att det är få som nått ett fördjuad insikt. En klar majoritet anser att de förstår syftet med matematikundervisningen.</p><p>Trots att en dryg trejedel tycker att matematik är det viktigaste ämnet så finner cirka hälften inget intresse för ämnet. En sjundedel säger sig t.o.m. uppleva ångestkänslor i samband med matematik.</p><p>Både närmiljö (familj, vänner) och media påverkar i viss utsträckning attityden till ämnet.</p> / <p>The aim of the study is to examine the understanding of mathematics from a societal perspective among pupils at a Central Swedish municipal upper secondary school, based on the subject's description found in the Swedish regulatory policies. The study also aims at investigating the pupils' attitude towards the subject, how this attitude is affected by family and friends and what influence the media has in the construction of these views.</p><p>The study is based on a survey containing the answers of 130 pupils. Throughout the analysis the group containing students on vocationally-oriented programs have been compared to the student on the academic programmes.</p><p>The result of the study shows that the understanding of mathematics and its role in society is quite acceptable, but also that few pupils show a deeper comprehension. A substantial majority think that they understand the purpose of mathematics at upper secondary school.</p><p>Even though more than a third of the pupils regard mathematics as the most important subject half of the pupils find no interest at all in the subject. One out of seven pupils even considerers mathematics to provoke feelings of anxiety.</p><p>The study further shows that both the close environment (family and friends) and media to some extent affect the attitude towards mathematics.</p>

Studiens syfte är dels att undersöka vilken förståelse för matematik ur ett samhällsperspektiv som elever på en mellansvensk kommunal gymnasieskola har, utifrån den beskrivning av ämnet som finns i de svenska styrdokumenten. Syftet är också att undersöka vilken inställning till ämnet eleverna har, hur attityden påverkas av vänner och familj, samt vilken betydelse media har i synen på matematik. Studien bygger på en enkätundersökning där 130 respondenters svar har behandlats. Genomgående i analysen har gruppen med elever som läser ett yrkesinriktat program jämförts med de elever som studerar på ett mer teoretiskt inriktat program. Resulatet visar att elevernas förståelse för matematikens roll i samhället är fullt acceptabel, men att det är få som nått ett fördjuad insikt. En klar majoritet anser att de förstår syftet med matematikundervisningen. Trots att en dryg trejedel tycker att matematik är det viktigaste ämnet så finner cirka hälften inget intresse för ämnet. En sjundedel säger sig t.o.m. uppleva ångestkänslor i samband med matematik. Både närmiljö (familj, vänner) och media påverkar i viss utsträckning attityden till ämnet. / The aim of the study is to examine the understanding of mathematics from a societal perspective among pupils at a Central Swedish municipal upper secondary school, based on the subject's description found in the Swedish regulatory policies. The study also aims at investigating the pupils' attitude towards the subject, how this attitude is affected by family and friends and what influence the media has in the construction of these views. The study is based on a survey containing the answers of 130 pupils. Throughout the analysis the group containing students on vocationally-oriented programs have been compared to the student on the academic programmes. The result of the study shows that the understanding of mathematics and its role in society is quite acceptable, but also that few pupils show a deeper comprehension. A substantial majority think that they understand the purpose of mathematics at upper secondary school. Even though more than a third of the pupils regard mathematics as the most important subject half of the pupils find no interest at all in the subject. One out of seven pupils even considerers mathematics to provoke feelings of anxiety. The study further shows that both the close environment (family and friends) and media to some extent affect the attitude towards mathematics.

<p>The use of contexts in school mathematics is receiving much attention both nationally and internationally. This as well as the scarcity of research focusing on the topic stimulated me to research the contexts preferred by learners of mathematics. The large-scale project is called the Relevance of School Mathematics Education (ROSME) project. The current study essentially deals with that section of the larger project which investigates the issues and situations that learners in grades eight, nine and ten would prefer to deal with in mathematics. Broadly, this study focuses on the contexts preferred by grade 8, 9 and 10 learners as a domain in which to embed school mathematics.</p>