African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education

The South African curriculum emphasizes the teaching of problem solving in mathematics. However, little is known about South African teachers’ views on the teaching of mathematical problem solving (MPS). The purpose of this study was to establish Grade 9 South African teachers’ views, teaching strategies and the support required in their teaching of MPS. We worked with teachers who teach MPS to large, underresourced and multilingual classes. Data for the study were collected using an open-ended questionnaire and classroom observations. The questionnaire sample consisted of 31 teachers from 20 schools in a district in Gauteng, South Africa. Data was analysed through grounded theory techniques and the findings indicate that overcrowded classes and learners’ problems with English as the language of learning and teaching compel teachers to retain strict ownership of the MPS process. The findings also uncovered that teachers’ adoption of the MPS as a step-by-step guided sense-making strategy is a response to learners’ perceived lack of mastery of basic algorithms. All participants in the study stated that they required support on the teaching of MPS that included practical demonstration of MPS pedagogy in the context of their classes where discipline is a challenge and learners are under-prepared, lack basic MPS skills and struggle with the language of learning and teaching.

Mathematical literacy (ML) is a compulsory subject in South Africa for those learners who choose not to do mathematics to Grade 12 level. ML is designed to enable a learner to become a self-managing person by providing opportunities to analyse and solve real-life problems through the mathematisation of contextual situations. The subject thus lends itself to modelling situations in which a mathematical problem involves a process of transferring between the mathematics and reality. This article reports on an explorative case study conducted with four ML teachers who were required to facilitate mathematisation in modelling situations in their classrooms. Schukajlow’s three categories of mathematical problems were applied to identify the types of problems the ML teachers used. The strategies used by the teachers in facilitating the mathematisation process were analysed using a framework in which a real-life problem is explored, a model is formulated and analysed and the result of its application is interpreted and validated in terms of the context. This study focuses on the horizontal mathematisation that lies between context presentation and model formulation. Classroom observations were used to collect the data and a deductive analysis approach was implemented. The study revealed that some teachers find it difficult to go beyond intra-mathematical problems and that the modelling process in general, and the function and direction of mathematisation in particular, are not well understood. The resistance to the use of real-life contexts in the ML classroom was based on disinterest in the context itself or an inability to relate to the real-life situation. We make the recommendation that the process of mathematisation in a modelling situation must be taught systematically and deliberately in pre-service mathematics teacher training programmes.

What teachers teach, how they teach it and when they teach it should be guided by the curriculum. This paper focuses on teachers’ reports about how they integrate the curriculum documentation in teaching mathematics and statistics concepts. Questionnaires containing both Likert scale and closed and openended questions were administered to 75 mathematics teachers who were teaching from Grade 4 to Grade 12 in schools in KwaZulu–Natal province in South Africa. Teachers were requested to indicate their level of the use of national curriculum statement. The findings revealed that they had little idea about how they could integrate the curriculum documentation in mathematics teaching and learning. It is encouraging that some teachers perceived links within the vertical as well as across the horizontal curriculum, both important drivers of quality education. However, it is a concern that most teachers were unable to perceive ways of working within and across the curriculum, suggesting that professional development interventions need to consider ways in which this can be addressed. A further concern is that only 60% of teachers indicated that they used the National Curriculum Statements Grades R–12. Teachers’ propensity to use the curriculum was moderated by the factors of age and participation in professional development activities.