The aim of the study was to investigate what influence the use of computers using MS Excel and RJS Graph software has on grade 11 Eritrean students' understanding of functions in the learning of mathematics. An empirical investigation using quantitative and qualitative research methods was carried out. A pre-test (task 1) and a post-test (task 2), a questionnaire and an interview schedule were used to collect data. Two randomly selected sample groups (i.e. experimental and control groups) of students were involved in the study. The experimental group learned the concepts of functions, particularly quadratic functions using computers. The control group learned the same concepts through the traditional paper-pencil method. The results indicated that the use of computers has a positive impact on students' understanding of functions as reflected in their achievement, problem-solving skills, motivation, attitude and the classroom environment. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Math Education)

South African learners underachieve in mathematics. The many different factors that influence this underachievement include mathematics teachers' role in teaching mathematics with understanding. The question arises as to how teachers' mathematical content knowledge states can be transformed to positively impact learners' achievement in mathematics. In this study, different kinds of teachers' knowledge needed for teaching mathematics were discussed against the background of research in this area, which included the work of Shulman, Ma and Ball. From this study an important kind of knowledge, namely mathematical content knowledge for teaching (MCKfT), was identified and a teacher's ability to unpack mathematical knowledge and understanding was highlighted as a vital characteristic of MCKfT. To determine further characteristics of MCKfT, the study focussed on the nature of mathematics, different kinds of mathematical content knowledge (procedural and conceptual), cognitive processes (problem solving, reasoning, communication, connections and representations) involved in doing mathematics and the development of mathematical understanding (instrumental vs. relational understanding). The influence of understanding different problem contexts and teachers' ability to develop reflective practices in teaching and learning mathematics were discussed and connected to a teacher's ability to unpack mathematical knowledge and understanding. In this regard, the role of teachers' prior knowledge or current mathematical content knowledge states was discussed extensively. These theoretical investigations led to identifying the characteristics of MCKfT, which in turn resulted in theoretical criteria for the development of MCKfT. The theoretical study provided criteria with which teachers' current mathematical content knowledge states could be analysed. This prompted the development of a diagnostic instrument consisting of questions on proportional reasoning and functions. A qualitative study was undertaken in the form of a diagnostic content analysis on teachers' current mathematical content knowledge states. A group of secondary school mathematics teachers (N=128) involved in the Sediba Project formed the study population. The Sediba Project is an in-service teacher training program for mathematics teachers over a period of two years. These teachers were divided into three sub-groups according to the number of years they had been involved in the Sediba Project at that stage. The teachers' current mathematical content knowledge states were analysed with respect to the theoretically determined characteristics of and criteria for the development of MCKfT. These criteria led to a theoretical framework for assessing teachers' current mathematical content knowledge states. The first four attributes consisted of the steps involved in mathematical problem solving skills, namely conceptual knowledge (which implies a deep understanding of the problem), procedural knowledge (which is reflected in the correct choice of a procedure), the ability to correctly execute the procedure and the insight to give a valid interpretation of the answer. Attribute five constituted the completion of these four attributes. The final six attributes were an understanding of different representations, communication of understanding in writing, reasoning skills, recognition of connections among different mathematical ideas, the ability to unpack mathematical understanding and understanding the context a problem is set in. Quantitative analyses were done on the obtained results for the diagnostic content analysis to determine the reliability of the constructed diagnostic instrument and to search for statistically significant differences among the responses of the different sub-groups. Results seemed to indicate that those teachers involved in the Sediba Project for one or two years had benefited from the in-service teacher training program. However, the impact of this teachers' training program was clearly influenced by the teachers' prior knowledge of mathematics. It became clear that conceptual understanding of foundation, intermediate and senior phase school mathematics that should form a sound mathematical knowledge base for more advanced topics in the school curriculum, is for the most part procedurally based with little or no conceptual understanding. The conclusion was that these teachers' current mathematical content knowledge states did not correspond to the characteristics of MCKfT and therefore displayed a need for the development of teachers' current mathematical content knowledge states according to the proposed criteria and model for the development of MCKfT. The recommendations were based on the fact that the training that these teachers had been receiving with respect to the development of MCKfT is inadequate to prepare them to teach mathematics with understanding. Teachers' prior knowledge should be exposed so that training can focus on the transformation of current mathematical content knowledge states according to the characteristics of MCKfT. A model for the development of MCKfT was proposed. The innermost idea behind this model is that a habit of reflective practices should be developed with respect to the characteristics of MCKfT to enable a mathematics teacher to communicate and unpack mathematical knowledge and understanding and consequently solve mathematical problems and teach mathematics with understanding. Key words for indexing: school mathematics, teacher knowledge, mathematical content knowledge, mathematical content knowledge for teaching, mathematical knowledge acquisition, mathematics teacher education / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The diploma thesis deals with ways of teaching combinatorics at a secondary school. Specifically, I analyzed selected mathematics textbooks for secondary schools in terms of introducing concepts and operations of combinatorics and in terms of types of tasks used. I carried out interviews with six secondary school mathematics teachers and observations of their lessons in order to describe their method of teaching combinatorics. Using results of tests written by these teachers' pupils, I examined whether and how their solving strategies and errors might be influenced by their teachers' approach to teaching combinatorics. Finally, I compared my results with the existing results of mathematics education research on pupils' combinatorial reasoning. The work is divided into four chapters; the first three are theoretical (curricular documents for selected schools, analysis of textbooks on combinatorics in terms of the implementation of combinatorial concepts and operations, selected research about pupils' solving strategies and errors for combinatorial problems, methods of checking the correctness of their solutions. and the impact of ways of teaching combinatorics on pupils' performance). Chapter 4 focuses on my own research which consists of interviews with teachers, observations of lessons on combinatorics, the...

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-04T21:14:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 12 / Bolsa para curso e programa de Pós Graduação / Esta tese é fruto de uma pesquisa realizada com o objetivo de analisar os discursos sobre a escola e a matemática escolar de um grupo de colonos, descendentes de alemães e evangélico-luteranos, que freqüentavam uma escola rural do município de Estrela-RS, quando da efetivação dos decretos que instituíram a Campanha de Nacionalização – uma das medidas do Estado Novo (1937-1945), implementado no Brasil por Getúlio Vargas. Os aportes teóricos que sustentam a investigação são as teorizações pós-estruturalistas, na vertente vinculada ao pensamento de Michel Foucault, e o campo da Etnomatemática, em uma perspectiva construída com o apoio das formulações de Ludwig Wittgenstein em sua obra Investigações Filosóficas. O material de pesquisa examinado consiste em: narrativas produzidas por três mulheres e quatro homens que estudaram naquela escola no período enfocado; cartilhas de matemática e cadernos de cópia e ditado usados na referida instituição; e o texto, intitulado “As escolas do passado”, elaborado por um dos p / This thesis is the result of a research carried out with the aim to analyze the discourses on school and school mathematics of a group of German-descendant, Evangelic-Lutheran settlers who attended a rural school in Estrela-RS, at the time of the Nationalization Campaign – one of the actions taken during the Estado Novo (1937-1945), by Getúlio Vargas in Brazil. The theoretical grounds of the investigation are the post-structuralist theorizations, related to Michel Foucault’s thinking as well as to the field of Ethnomathematics, in a perspective constructed with the support of formulations of Ludwig Wittgenstein in his work Philosophical Investigations. The research material consisted of narratives produced by three women and four men who studied at the school during that period; mathematics textbooks and exercise books for copy and dictation used at the institution, and the text entitled “Schools of the past” , written by one of the participants of the research. The analytical exercise performed with the us

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:57:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcia Maioli.pdf: 1743976 bytes, checksum: 9544533ab3da7d2f0ca7533934544bf2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-06-11 / This is a theoretical research that studies the contextualization established on national curricular documents as one of the pedagogic principles that structure the curricula on High School. The study stands for the contextualization as a potentially rich pedagogic principle to improve mathematic learning by the students, but it needs to be understood in its purposes and uses by different actors. For such, the investigation was developed based on bibliographic sources that involve studies about learning, comparison of meanings and language; curricular documents for High School; researches about contextualization on mathematical teaching and, aiming at investigating how are developed activities inspired on the contextualization of curricula that are practiced in class; it is also considered the set of dissertations involving Hypothetical Learning Paths developed on the research project in which this work is inserted. It could be verified that the contextualization implementation was not a simple action - nor even for professionals that are in touch with researches or theories that concern Mathematical Education. The National Curricular Parameters for High School outline that contextualizing the content that is aimed to be learned means, primarily, to assume that all knowledge involves a relation between subject and object. The idea of knowledge as a network of meanings defended by Machado and Pires; the process by which more relevant and inclusive concepts are presented is one in which the learner´s cognitive structure interacts with a new material presented to them as defended by Ausubel; the role of instruments and signs as mediators on the conversion of social relations according to higher mental functions considered by the studies of Vygotsky; the different language conceptions explored by Koch provide important clues about the relation processing between learning subject and study object. The contextualization is strongly related to the assignment of meanings to what is learned, and therefore, it embraces a cognitive aspect that cannot be neglected. Besides that, for the perspective established of learning, 10 knowledge is the product of activity context and culture in which it is developed and used, so the scholar culture influence cannot be ignored concerning what is learned in it / Esta é uma pesquisa teórica que estuda a contextualização estabelecida em documentos curriculares nacionais como um dos princípios pedagógicos estruturadores dos currículos do Ensino Médio. O estudo defende que a contextualização é um princípio pedagógico potencialmente rico para melhorar a aprendizagem matemática dos alunos, mas precisa ser compreendida em seus propósitos e usos pelos diferentes atores do processo de ensino e aprendizagem. Partindo desse ponto, delinearam-se os objetivos: investigar a contextualização como princípio pedagógico e construir conhecimentos que permitam a compreensão de seus propósitos e usos. Para tanto, a investigação foi desenvolvida com base em fontes bibliográficas envolvendo estudos sobre aprendizagem, aferição de significados e linguagem; documentos curriculares voltados ao Ensino Médio; pesquisas sobre contextualização no ensino de matemática e, visando investigar como se desenvolvem atividades inspiradas na contextualização nos currículos praticados em sala de aula, considerou-se também o conjunto de dissertações envolvendo Trajetórias Hipotéticas de Aprendizagem desenvolvidas no projeto de pesquisa em que este trabalho se insere. Constata-se que a implementação da contextualização não é uma ação simples, nem mesmo para profissionais que estão em contato com pesquisas ou teorias sobre Educação Matemática. Os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais - Ensino Médio destacam que contextualizar o conteúdo que se quer aprendido significa, em primeiro lugar, assumir que todo conhecimento envolve uma relação entre sujeito e objeto. A ideia de conhecimento como rede de significações defendidas por Machado e Pires; o processo por meio do qual conceitos mais relevantes e inclusivos, presentes na estrutura cognitiva do aprendiz, interagem com um novo material apresentado a ele, conforme defende Ausubel; o papel dos instrumentos e signos como mediadores na conversão de relações sociais em funções mentais superiores, considerados pelos estudos de Vygotsky; as 8 diferentes concepções de linguagem exploradas por Koch, fornecem pistas importantes sobre a forma como se processa a relação entre sujeito que aprende e objeto de estudo. A contextualização está fortemente relacionada à atribuição de significados ao que se aprende, portanto, abrange um aspecto cognitivo que não pode ser negligenciado. Além disso, para a perspectiva situada da aprendizagem o conhecimento é produto da atividade, contexto e cultura na qual ele é desenvolvido e usado, assim, não se pode ignorar a influência da cultura escolar sobre o que nela se aprende

This study compared the effect of the use of physical manipulative with self-metacognitive questioning versus manipulative without self-metacognitive questioning on the knowledge acquisition in polygons. Participants were 220 sixth grade students. A pretest, treatment and posttest two-group design was used. There were two treatment groups: manipulative with self-metacognitive questioning (MAN+META) and manipulative without self-metacognitive questioning (MAN) Three distinct knowledge tests were designed by the researcher: Declarative, conditional and procedural. Declarative knowledge test consisted of 18 multiple-choice questions. The conditional and procedural knowledge tests consisted of six and ten open-ended questions respectively. Mixed design analysis of variance results revealed that there is a significant effect for time but no group-by-time interaction effect suggesting that both groups responded equally well to treatment in the amount of change in their scores on the two outcome measures: pretests and posttests. A follow up analysis (paired t-test) was conducted to evaluate the impact of time on students&rsquo / pretest and posttest scores. The large effect size indicated that there was a statistically significant increase in scores of all three tests.

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe elementary and mathematics teachers&rsquo / views about the new elementary school mathematics curriculum (NC). A total of 22 elementary teachers (grades 1-5) and mathematics teachers (grades 6-8) Alaca district of &Ccedil / orum participated. The data were collected through one-to-one interviews with some of the participants and written responses for the interview questions provided by the rest of the participants. The findings indicated that the participants had positive views about the impact of the NC. Participants reported that the NC helped students reach meaningful learning through the instructional activities, new content, curriculum materials, and new assessment techniques. Participants had positive views about the new roles for the teachers and the students and the increased student motivation that the NC brought. They also expressed challenges in teaching due to the lack of materials, physical facilities, and time. Local differences impacted the implementation of the NC negatively in rural contexts. The intensity of the NC made instructional activities and the assessment processes difficult to implement in multi-grade and crowded classrooms. Participants did not feel efficient enough to implement the NC since they lacked adequate training and support. While teachers adopted the ideas that the NC brought, they adapted these practices to their existing practices. They reported performing a combination of NC practices and previous practices. Participants claimed that content of Ministry support should be more practice oriented, the curriculum materials should be sufficient in number, and the duration of mathematics lesson should be increased.

South African learners underachieve in mathematics. The many different factors that influence this underachievement include mathematics teachers' role in teaching mathematics with understanding. The question arises as to how teachers' mathematical content knowledge states can be transformed to positively impact learners' achievement in mathematics. In this study, different kinds of teachers' knowledge needed for teaching mathematics were discussed against the background of research in this area, which included the work of Shulman, Ma and Ball. From this study an important kind of knowledge, namely mathematical content knowledge for teaching (MCKfT), was identified and a teacher's ability to unpack mathematical knowledge and understanding was highlighted as a vital characteristic of MCKfT. To determine further characteristics of MCKfT, the study focussed on the nature of mathematics, different kinds of mathematical content knowledge (procedural and conceptual), cognitive processes (problem solving, reasoning, communication, connections and representations) involved in doing mathematics and the development of mathematical understanding (instrumental vs. relational understanding). The influence of understanding different problem contexts and teachers' ability to develop reflective practices in teaching and learning mathematics were discussed and connected to a teacher's ability to unpack mathematical knowledge and understanding. In this regard, the role of teachers' prior knowledge or current mathematical content knowledge states was discussed extensively. These theoretical investigations led to identifying the characteristics of MCKfT, which in turn resulted in theoretical criteria for the development of MCKfT. The theoretical study provided criteria with which teachers' current mathematical content knowledge states could be analysed. This prompted the development of a diagnostic instrument consisting of questions on proportional reasoning and functions. A qualitative study was undertaken in the form of a diagnostic content analysis on teachers' current mathematical content knowledge states. A group of secondary school mathematics teachers (N=128) involved in the Sediba Project formed the study population. The Sediba Project is an in-service teacher training program for mathematics teachers over a period of two years. These teachers were divided into three sub-groups according to the number of years they had been involved in the Sediba Project at that stage. The teachers' current mathematical content knowledge states were analysed with respect to the theoretically determined characteristics of and criteria for the development of MCKfT. These criteria led to a theoretical framework for assessing teachers' current mathematical content knowledge states. The first four attributes consisted of the steps involved in mathematical problem solving skills, namely conceptual knowledge (which implies a deep understanding of the problem), procedural knowledge (which is reflected in the correct choice of a procedure), the ability to correctly execute the procedure and the insight to give a valid interpretation of the answer. Attribute five constituted the completion of these four attributes. The final six attributes were an understanding of different representations, communication of understanding in writing, reasoning skills, recognition of connections among different mathematical ideas, the ability to unpack mathematical understanding and understanding the context a problem is set in. Quantitative analyses were done on the obtained results for the diagnostic content analysis to determine the reliability of the constructed diagnostic instrument and to search for statistically significant differences among the responses of the different sub-groups. Results seemed to indicate that those teachers involved in the Sediba Project for one or two years had benefited from the in-service teacher training program. However, the impact of this teachers' training program was clearly influenced by the teachers' prior knowledge of mathematics. It became clear that conceptual understanding of foundation, intermediate and senior phase school mathematics that should form a sound mathematical knowledge base for more advanced topics in the school curriculum, is for the most part procedurally based with little or no conceptual understanding. The conclusion was that these teachers' current mathematical content knowledge states did not correspond to the characteristics of MCKfT and therefore displayed a need for the development of teachers' current mathematical content knowledge states according to the proposed criteria and model for the development of MCKfT. The recommendations were based on the fact that the training that these teachers had been receiving with respect to the development of MCKfT is inadequate to prepare them to teach mathematics with understanding. Teachers' prior knowledge should be exposed so that training can focus on the transformation of current mathematical content knowledge states according to the characteristics of MCKfT. A model for the development of MCKfT was proposed. The innermost idea behind this model is that a habit of reflective practices should be developed with respect to the characteristics of MCKfT to enable a mathematics teacher to communicate and unpack mathematical knowledge and understanding and consequently solve mathematical problems and teach mathematics with understanding. Key words for indexing: school mathematics, teacher knowledge, mathematical content knowledge, mathematical content knowledge for teaching, mathematical knowledge acquisition, mathematics teacher education / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

In this investigation, two schools - a control school and an experimental school – were compared in terms of learner performance in two traditional grade 11 mathematics tests, namely the pre-intervention test and the post-intervention test. Both schools completed the two tests simultaneously. Educators saw both tests before intervention. In the experimental school, four grade 11 mathematics classes were studied. The four classes were given worksheets that complied with an open-ended approach (OEA) to mathematics teaching and learning for learners to work independently on, with the teacher only facilitating. The learner-centredness expressed in the OEA complied with learner-centredness as envisaged by the National Curriculum Statement (NCS), and was predominantly constructivist in character. Throughout the five-month intervention, the author observed proceedings in two of the four classes in the experimental school, ensuring that questions the teacher asked complied with the OEA. The two classes would be referred to as monitored classes. The other two classes at the experimental school worked on the worksheet, with the teacher having been briefed about what was expected of the learners using the worksheet -basically that the learners would have to take own initiatives in solving the mathematics problems with minimal teacher intervention. The two grade 11 mathematics classes were monitored, but not as frequently as the monitored classes. The classes will be referred to as unmonitored classes. At the control school the educators followed their usual (traditional) teaching approach. Both the experimental and control schools followed the same grade 11 mathematics work schedule. The educators in the control school taught without any interference from the author, but the classes at the control school were occasionally observed by the author. In addition to the intervention comparison, the author also gathered qualitative information about participating educators' and learners' experiences and opinions about the OEA at the experimental school by using interviews. The results of the pre-intervention test showed no statistical difference between the experimental and control school performance, meaning that the learners from both schools were of comparable pre-requisite knowledge. In the post-intervention test, learners from the two monitored classes meaningfully outperformed those from the two unmonitored experimental classes and those from the control school. However, there was no significant difference in performance between learners from the two unmonitored classes and those from control school, The study concludes that the appropriate OEA intervention was responsible for the good results of the monitored classes., and then uses the gathered qualitative information to design a model for the successful implementation of' OEA in mathematics classes. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

In this investigation, two schools - a control school and an experimental school – were compared in terms of learner performance in two traditional grade 11 mathematics tests, namely the pre-intervention test and the post-intervention test. Both schools completed the two tests simultaneously. Educators saw both tests before intervention. In the experimental school, four grade 11 mathematics classes were studied. The four classes were given worksheets that complied with an open-ended approach (OEA) to mathematics teaching and learning for learners to work independently on, with the teacher only facilitating. The learner-centredness expressed in the OEA complied with learner-centredness as envisaged by the National Curriculum Statement (NCS), and was predominantly constructivist in character. Throughout the five-month intervention, the author observed proceedings in two of the four classes in the experimental school, ensuring that questions the teacher asked complied with the OEA. The two classes would be referred to as monitored classes. The other two classes at the experimental school worked on the worksheet, with the teacher having been briefed about what was expected of the learners using the worksheet -basically that the learners would have to take own initiatives in solving the mathematics problems with minimal teacher intervention. The two grade 11 mathematics classes were monitored, but not as frequently as the monitored classes. The classes will be referred to as unmonitored classes. At the control school the educators followed their usual (traditional) teaching approach. Both the experimental and control schools followed the same grade 11 mathematics work schedule. The educators in the control school taught without any interference from the author, but the classes at the control school were occasionally observed by the author. In addition to the intervention comparison, the author also gathered qualitative information about participating educators' and learners' experiences and opinions about the OEA at the experimental school by using interviews. The results of the pre-intervention test showed no statistical difference between the experimental and control school performance, meaning that the learners from both schools were of comparable pre-requisite knowledge. In the post-intervention test, learners from the two monitored classes meaningfully outperformed those from the two unmonitored experimental classes and those from the control school. However, there was no significant difference in performance between learners from the two unmonitored classes and those from control school, The study concludes that the appropriate OEA intervention was responsible for the good results of the monitored classes., and then uses the gathered qualitative information to design a model for the successful implementation of' OEA in mathematics classes. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.