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It is indisputable that one of the factors connected to improvements in the quality of education is the implementation of relevant curricular reform that is pertinent to the culture and needs of the given country. This study aimed to comprehensively investigate how the adaptation from an exogenous curriculum was attempted through analysing the three mathematics curricula for the years 1983, 2004, and 2015 that have been applied after independence, reports and policy papers issued by the Ministry of Education (MINED), and interviews with technical officials involved with the curriculum revision in 2015. The results show that Mozambique has been steadily and appropriately moving away from an exogenous curriculum in a cycle of 10 years through the accumulation of their own experiences. The series of observations that we attained could be relevant to other African nations from the viewpoint of transitioning away from an exogenous curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Girls performing well in mathematics at school do not necessarily enrol for mathematics courses at South African universities. Teachers could be transferring beliefs about the nature of mathematics favouring boys. This paper compared male and female pre-service teachers’ beliefs about the nature of mathematics. A quantitative, descriptive research approach was adopted. One hundred and twenty-six mathematics pre-service teachers, enrolled for an undergraduate teaching training programme at a South African university, completed a questionnaire. While both genders hold the same Platonist and instrumentalist beliefs, females embrace lower experimentalist beliefs than males. Research on differences between male and female pre-service teachers’ beliefs about the nature of mathematics could promote gender equity in mathematics teacher training and better facilitation of the subject, which might consequently encourage more girls to opt for mathematics-related careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of the learning management system (LMS) in secondary schools is scaling up around the globe. Many educational institutions use the LMS to mainstream teaching and learning. This study examined the effectiveness of the Moodle LMS in teaching and learning geometry in secondary schools. A quasi- experimental design was employed to generate data from two groups of students: the control group and the treatment group. The treatment groups learned geometry using the developed Moodle LMS while the control group learned geometry using the traditional chalk and talk method. Both the treatment and control groups did pre-test and post-test to track the impact of the intervention. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) test was employed to compare the pre-test and post-test scores and to make statistical analysis. The analysis revealed that the students who were taught geometry through the Moodle LMS outperformed those taught geometry through the traditional chalk and talk method. It is established in the study that for students to learn geometry better through the Moodle LMS, the system should be used to start teaching from the first topics of Form I to upper topics. Also, students should be given enough time to access the Moodle LMS to learn mathematics. The study concludes that the integration of the LMS in teaching and learning mathematics is a means by which failure in mathematics can be minimised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key intervention of the South African Numeracy Chair Project (SANCP) since 2011 has been the introduction of mathematics (or maths) clubs, which occur in the out-of-school time space. In 2016 the maths club concept was developed into a 15-week Pushing for Progression (PfP) teacher development programme which supports primary school mathematics teachers to run clubs beyond the SANCP local area. Expanding intervention models beyond local schools is imperative in the second phase of the SANCP (2016–2020). Working from a mixed methods methodological approach, the researchers collected pre- and post-data for a 4-operations assessment of the entire PfP programme. In this article they share learner data from one of the nine teachers who participated in the PfP maths club programme in the Uitenhague District, Eastern Cape, South Africa, to illuminate how partnerships between academics, district officials and teachers can enable powerful student learning in the club space. They argue further that within the tightly focused development programme run by teachers in this one district, it is possible for learners to make substantive progress in mathematical proficiency (MP) (especially procedural fluency and conceptual understanding) when comparing scores and learner methods between a pre- and post- assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the challenges of implementing a new curriculum is how to bridge the gap between the underlining principles of the curriculum and the cultural and social orientations of the society which includes teachers and students. This article reports on a study that explored how the cultural and social orientations of teachers and students can influence the implementation of a constructivist curriculum in mathematics classrooms. The data for the study came from 250 students and 41 mathematics teachers, using questionnaires, observations, and interviews. The results showed that inasmuch as mathematics teachers and their students acknowledge the importance of student’s active participation and teamwork, these practices have not been fully conceptualised into the Ghanaian mathematics classroom due to some cultural factors. Two main cultural factors were discovered from the analyses of the results. Firstly, the culture of acknowledging only correct answers in class has a negative impact on individual students’ confidence and participation during mathematics lessons. Also, the culture of teamwork is not fully accepted within Ghanaian classrooms as most students find it difficult working in groups and accepting and appreciating each other’s view. It was evident in all lessons that students were ridiculed by their peers when they provide a wrong answer to a question and this affected individual students’ participation in the classroom. Therefore, we suggested that teachers should be pro-active in promoting a classroom environment which is free from fear and intimidation to motivate students to be actively involved in the classroom discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article emerged from an analysis of learners’ responses to a task presented to learners studying Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy (ML) in Gauteng, South Africa. Officially, Mathematics and ML are two separate learning areas. Learners from Grade 10 onwards are supposed to take either one or the other, but not both. This means that by Grade 11, learners would have acquired different kinds of knowledge and problem solving skills depending on which of these they take. The article demonstrates that this possibility may not necessarily happen. Grade 11 learners from both learning areas appeared to have acquired sufficient knowledge and skills and were able to solve similar Mathematics tasks in similar ways, with similar adequacy. We argue that, contrary to common perceptions in the field of Mathematics education (particularly in South Africa), engaging in ML does not and should not make one less mathematically advanced than engagement in pure Mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]