"Mathematics and science at school are vital to higher education, skilled jobs, and the national economy. For this reason, CDE has taken a sustained interest in the performance of the South African schooling system in these subjects. This paper summarises the results of four statistical analyses of Senior Certificate and National Senior Certificate results since 1998. Conducted by Professor Charles Simkins, they provide important new insights into the mathematics and science performance of South African schools, and identify key policy issues arising from the research."
New article published online in Pythagoras, 32(1):
Rasch modelling of Mathematics and Science teachers' preferences of real-life situations to be used in Mathematical Literacy.
This unit gives a historical background to mathematics education in South Africa, to outcomes-based education and to the national curriculum statement for mathematics. The traditional approach to teaching mathematics is then contrasted with an approach to teaching mathematics that focuses on 'doing' mathematics, and mathematics as a science of pattern and order, in which learners actively explore mathematical ideas in a conducive classroom environment.
In the largest study of its kind, girls measured up to boys in every grade, from second through 11th. The research was released Thursday in the journal Science.
Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development, Inc. (SEED) offers creative math puzzles, with solutions. Puzzle categories include:
* Number Sense
* Arithmetic
* Probability
* Algebraic Thinking
* Geometry, Spatial Reasoning, and Visualization
* Topology
* Logic
* Combinatorics
* Miscellaneous
In order to ascertain the real-life situations that teachers, as stakeholders, would find suitable and appropriate to deal with in Mathematical Literacy (a compulsory subject for students who are not doing Mathematics at the Further Education and Training level of the South African education system), we embarked on a study known as the Relevance of School Mathematics Education (ROSME). The principle underpinning this article is that there are times when it is necessary to assess the functionality and quality of questionnaires used to ascertain affective domain issues. The study provides an analysis technique which is not affected by the sample of individuals completing a questionnaire, provided that the instrument meets particular requirements. It thus improves the rigour of measurement. Various statistics obtained in this study showed that the instrument used to determine the real-life situations which teachers prefer for Mathematical Literacy reasonably identifies this variable. However, it is cautioned that much more care needs to be exercised in construction of such instruments. The results also indicated the real-life situations which teachers most and least preferred to be included in Mathematical Literacy, providing useful information for policy-makers and textbook authors on contextual situations to be included in learning materials.