Research Report submitted to the Wits School of Education,
Faculty of Science,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
In partial fulfilment of the requirements
For the degree of Master of Science (Mathematics Education)
Johannesburg, 2017 / South Africa’s performance in mathematics education is ranked amongst the world’s worst.
This performance is not only alarming at an international level, but also nationally. Annual
National Assessments (ANA) conducted by the Department of Education have showed that
the level of mathematics across the foundation and intermediate phase is poor with a
pronounced dip in performance at a Grade 4 level (Department of Basic Education, 2014).
Multiplication and division are common challenging areas that contribute to this poor
performance. This is concerning as mathematics is globally recognised as a key competence
for providing access to higher education and developing a country’s society and economy.
My study, aimed at exploring multiplicative reasoning with Grade 4 learners through
structured problem solving, is focused on the learning of multiplication and division within
the context of an intervention concentrated on developing learners’ ability to model
multiplicative situations. Shifts in the use of models were investigated following a smallscale
intervention in which different modelling approaches (particularly ratio modelling)
were introduced and developed. A control group was used to determine the usefulness of the
intervention. Questions which I sought to answer were: (a) what kinds of multiplicative
reasoning (models) are Grade 4 learners using prior to intervention, (b) what changes, if any, are seen
in overall performance, across the intervention and control group, in the post-test, and, (c) what kinds
of differences in model use were associated with the shifts in performance?
The main dataset comprised of 61 pre- and post-test scripts across three Grade 4 classes in a
former Model C school in a Johannesburg district. A sample of 15 interviews were also
conducted across the classes. Document analysis and transcription notes were used to analyse
data with a Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) framework informing my analysis.
Findings from my study reveal that prior to intervention, Grade 4 learners presented limited
multiplicative models which were predominantly confined to traditional algorithms. After the
small-scale intervention, learners used a broader range of models with an emerging take up of
ratio models. The success rate associated with the models presented by learners also
improved. Limited and/or no changes in model use and their respective success rates were
seen in the control group suggesting that the intervention program was useful. These findings
suggest that, as a future recommendation, it would be worthwhile to investigate the outcomes
of running a similar intervention in less privileged settings. / MT 2018
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/24019 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Hansa, Sameera |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (ix, 122 leaves), application/pdf |
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