Research Project: Mathematics Attitudes The study will discuss the attitudes of grade seven learners towards mathematics in a government-based school on the East Rand, Gauteng. The subject mathematics forms an integral part of the school curriculum and it is also necessary for many occupations and career advancement and change. Mathematics affects us all in some way or another and it has become the key component in today’s growing world of technology. However understanding mathematics concepts and learner performance and achievement is poor. Looking at the report by The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS 2007), South Africa was ranked at the bottom of the list of countries that participated in the survey (McAteer 2012). This is a clear indication that problems exist in the teaching and learning of mathematics. As a mathematics educator, I’m always confronted with the dilemma of learners’ attitude and learner achievement. There will always be a certain percentage of learners that will be successful in mathematics, while a certain percentage will be experi...
Whenever learning about this project for SMED 310, I wanted to pick out a learner who I knew had a low self-concept and low self-efficacy in their mathematics ability. After thinking back over the years, I remembered a friend I had in high school who had struggled with their math courses. Matthew Embry, a freshman at Western Kentucky University, is looking to major in Sports Management. Whenever I was a senior in high school, we played on the same sports team. Throughout my senior year, I helped him with his Algebra 1 class. When I would help him after a practice, I could tell he struggled with the material. As a mathematics major, I have taken numerous math courses. By teaching him a lesson dealing with football, Matthew was able
Abhi is a stage 3 student from Year 6, who recently attempted his selective school test. Having a conversation with his parents helped me to know that Abhi enjoys doing maths and is working at appropriate stage level. Abhi states that his most interesting topics in maths are place value, angles and geometry (I-04), as they are easy to understand (I-05). Whereas, he hates fractions and decimals (I-06) as he found them to be very confusing (I-07).
Maths is a tool needed for everyday life and it is a way of helping children to understand the concepts of the world around them. Using the programmes of study from the National curriculum and the EYFS curriculum for numeracy, Washingwell Community Primary school aim:-
From two studies in mathematics, a total of four relationships between teachers' content knowledge and student learning were examined. In three instances, a positive relationship was found, for two cohorts of elementary grades students over a three year period and for grade 3 students' learning of advanced concepts. In one instance, grade 3 students learning of basic concepts, no relationship was found. In science, a total of three relationships between teacher content knowledge and student learning were examined. In two instances, a relationship was documented between teachers' content knowledge, both correct and incorrect, and their grade 8 students' development of correct and incorrect understandings, respectively. In the third instance, high school biology teachers' knowledge of the nature of science was not found to relate to their students' learning about the nature of
The second part of this memo contains a rhetorical analysis of a journal article written by Linda Darling-Hammond. Interview The following information was conducted in an interview with Diana Regalado De Santiago, who works at Montwood High School as a mathematics teacher. In the interview, Regalado De Santiago discusses how presenting material to her students in a manner where the student actually learns is a pivotal form of communication in the field (Personal Communication, September 8, 2016).
Mathematics has become a very large part of society today. From the moment children learn the basic principles of math to the day those children become working members of society, everyone has used mathematics at one point in their life. The crucial time for learning mathematics is during the childhood years when the concepts and principles of mathematics can be processed more easily. However, this time in life is also when the point in a person’s life where information has to be broken down to the very basics, as children don’t have an advanced capacity to understand as adults do. Mathematics, an essential subject, must be taught in such a way that children can understand and remember.
My students we be able to do math confidently and enjoy the subject. Every student is going to be strong in different areas of math and that’s okay. I need to express to students that we are all different and think different in other subjects. I believe students struggle with math because they feel discouraged math has this reputation for being disliked.
Using literacy strategies in the mathematics classroom leads to successful students. “The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 1989) define mathematical literacy as an “individual's ability to explore, to conjecture, and to reason logically, as well as to use a variety of mathematical methods effectively to solve problems." Exploring, making conjectures, and being able to reason logically, all stem from the early roots of literacy. Authors Matthews and Rainer (2001) discusses how teachers have questioned the system of incorporating literacy with mathematics in the last couple of years. It started from the need to develop a specific framework, which combines both literacy and mathematics together. Research was conducted through
Sherley, B., Clark, M. & Higgins, J. (2008) School readiness: what do teachers expect of children in mathematics on school entry?, in Goos, M., Brown, R. & Makar, K. (eds.) Mathematics education research: navigating: proceedings of the 31st annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australia, Brisbane, Qld: MERGA INC., pp.461-465.
...atics in six countries, Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century, Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education, Michigan State University.
As a secondary subject, society often views mathematics a critical subject for students to learn in order to be successful. Often times, mathematics serves as a gatekeeper for higher learning and certain specific careers. Since the times of Plato, “mathematics was virtually the first thing everyone has to learn…common to all arts, science, and forms of thought” (Stinson, 2004). Plato argued that all students should learn arithmetic; the advanced mathematics was reserved for those that would serve as the “philosopher guardians” of the city (Stinson, 2004). By the 1900s in the United States, mathematics found itself as a cornerstone of curriculum for students. National reports throughout the 20th Century solidified the importance of mathematics in the success of our nation and its students (Stinson, 2004). As a mathematics teacher, my role to educate all students in mathematics is an important one. My personal philosophy of mathematics education – including the optimal learning environment and best practices teaching strategies – motivates my teaching strategies in my personal classroom.
... a sense of accomplishment, something they cannot get through direct instruction alone. This sense of accomplishment will raise their mathematical self-esteem. This can, in turn, help students appreciate and enjoy mathematics even more. Few would argue against the idea that any teaching strategy that gets students to believe in themselves and enjoy the subject is a good one.
Devlin believes that mathematics has four faces 1) Mathematics is a way to improve thinking as problem solving. 2) Mathematics is a way of knowing. 3) Mathematics is a way to improve creative medium. 4) Mathematics is applications. (Mann, 2005). Because mathematics has very important role in our life, teaching math in basic education is as important as any other subjects. Students should study math to help them how to solve problems and meet the practical needs such as collect, count, and process the data. Mathematics, moreover, is required students to be capable of following and understanding the future. It also helps students to be able to think creativity, logically, and critically (Happy & Listyani, 2011,
What is math? If you had asked me that question at the beginning of the semester, then my answer would have been something like: “math is about numbers, letters, and equations.” Now, however, thirteen weeks later, I have come to realize a new definition of what math is. Math includes numbers, letters, and equations, but it is also so much more than that—math is a way of thinking, a method of solving problems and explaining arguments, a foundation upon which modern society is built, a structure that nature is patterned by…and math is everywhere.
When I graduated from high school, forty years ago, I had no idea that mathematics would play such a large role in my future. Like most people learning mathematics, I continue to learn until it became too hard, which made me lose interest. Failure or near failure is one way to put a stop to learning a subject, and leave a lasting impression not worth repeating. Mathematics courses, being compulsory, are designed to cover topics. One by one, the topics need not be important or of immediate use, but altogether or cumulatively, the topics provide or point to a skill, a mastery of mathematics.