An investigation into the use of visualisation processes as a teaching strategy to enhance number sense
- Authors: Griqua, Ronald Max
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- South Africa , Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Psychological aspects , Visualization , Number concept , RUMEP (Rhodes University Mathematics Education Project)
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147226 , vital:38606
- Description: The literature agrees that in order to improve learning outcomes, instruction in classrooms should be improved first. Mathematics educationists therefore advocate that schools should make extensive and deep efforts to rethink their instructional programmes. Research furthermore suggests that increasingly, indicators on school performance and teaching reveal largely unacknowledged problematic teaching of mathematics in the great majority of South African schools. This research study is therefore a contribution towards rethinking the teaching strategies within mathematics classrooms. The study examined the use of visualisation processes in order to understand how these interact with the pedagogy of selected mathematics teachers when they teach number sense after participating in an intervention programme. This study argues that the effective use of visualisation processes enhanced the teaching of number sense. The research study was framed as a case study that was grounded within the interpretive paradigm. The study was located in classrooms where the participating teachers promoted active learning after taking part in an intervention programme. A constructivist theoretical underpinning was therefore adopted. At the heart of the study was the Visualisation Intervention Programme (VIP), which involved seven Rhodes University Mathematics Education Project (RUMEP) teachers within the John Taolo Gaetsewe District of the Northern Cape Province. The content of the VIP was informed by initially working with five teachers of well-resourced schools within the Northern Cape who made interesting use of visualisation processes and manipulatives to teach number sense. With the assistance of these five teachers, the VIP was then implemented by seven selected RUMEP teachers to investigate the role of visualisation processes in the teaching of number sense understandings. The study employed a mixed method approach. Qualitative data was collected through observations and interviews, while quantitative data was collected with a series of pre- and post-tests. The analysis of the findings of this research study revealed that the effective use of visualisation processes was instrumental in enhancing the teaching of number sense understandings. Furthermore, the use of visualisation processes by the selected teachers fostered independent thought and conceptual understanding of number sense topics on the part of their learners.
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- Date Issued: 2020
An investigation of how Visual Technology for the Autonomous Learning of Mathematics (VITALmaths) video clips on mobile phones can be used by student teachers as a visualisation tool in the teaching of Number Sense: a case study
- Authors: Kangwa, Lemmy
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Zambia -- Case studies , Visualization , Number concept , Mobile communication systems in education , Mathematics -- Study and teaching -- Software , Telecommunications in education , Educational innovations , VITALmaths
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/6930 , vital:21201
- Description: Visualisation is increasingly being recognised as having a significant role in the learning of mathematics especially when students are solving mathematical problems (Thornton, 2001). It is argued that visualisation is a powerful tool for learners to construct mental and physical representations that correctly mirror mathematical relationships and concepts. To gain a thorough understanding of the scope of visualisation, three Visual Technology for Autonomous Learning of Mathematics (VITALmaths) (www.vitalmaths.com) video clips were uploaded on mobile phones of each of the eleven participating student teachers who used them in their teaching practice. This is in cognisance of the educational potential offered by mobile phones and their current pervasiveness in the daily lives of both teachers and learners in Zambia (Zambia. Ministry of Education [M.O.E], 2013]). This study sought to investigate how VITALmaths video clips on mobile phones could be used by student teachers as a visualisation tool in the teaching of Number Sense. The videos of the lessons formed the core of my analysis. The study was conducted at four primary schools by eleven student teachers of a public university in Zambia. The study is framed as a case study and is grounded within the interpretive paradigm. The findings revealed that the student teachers’ use of the video clips in the classrooms for teaching was generally approached from two perspectives: at the beginning of the lesson or at the end. The videos were used at the beginning of the lesson as a means to introduce a topic or an idea, and at the end of the lesson to consolidate what was taught. The videos were also used to enhance the conceptual understanding of Number Sense. The findings also revealed that students encountered both enabling and constraining factors in their use of mobile phones to teach number sense. The overall findings revealed that, if well utilised, mobile phones as visualisation tools had the potential to enhance the teaching of Mathematics in general and Number Sense in particular, and therefore teachers should be encouraged to use them in their teaching.
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- Date Issued: 2017