1. Introduction
South Africa is country with eleven official languages. The majority of learners will have their primary through tertiary schooling in an English of Afrikaans medium institution. Most of these learners are not English mother tongue speakers and this can be a huge barrier for effective teaching to take place. Walton (2013: 131) states that different learners will require different scaffolding, depending on their current readiness to learn and all learners do need scaffolding to support them in moving from their current skill to a more difficult level. In this paper I will discuss how scaffolding can be used to help the teacher approach this problem and different strategies a mathematics teacher can use.
2. Context
According
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Used at the end of a topic, it allows them to express the mathematical language and explain the math concepts that they have been learning.
Create a grid with up to nine boxes. In each box, write a simple math problem that is based on the mathematical topic the group is studying. Allocate the first student a cell reference (for example, A2). The student works out the answer and then chooses someone from the group to go next, allocating a new cell reference to that student.
This strategy gives students opportunities to use mathematical language in a supported and scaffolded way to describe their reasoning.
• Clines: Clines are gradients used for teaching gradations of meaning. Words are spaced along the gradient, for example, words to describe temperature, such as tepid, hot, boiling, cool, cold, warm, chilly, and freezing. After modelling the task, give these words to groups of students to place on the cline. The discussion that comes with this task is as important as the task
Restivo, Sal, Jean Paul Van Bendegen, and Roland Fischer. Math Works: Philosophical and Social Studies of Mathematics and Mathematics Education. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1993.
Van Der Stuyf. R.R. (2010). Scaffolding as a Teaching Strategy. Adolescent Learning and Development. Section 0500A, November, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.sandi.net/20451072011455933/lib/20451072011455933/RTI/Scaffolding%20as%20a%20Teaching%20Strategy.pdf
The curriculum implies that teachers will teach students the skills they need for the future. Valley View’s High School math department announces, “Students will learn how to use mathematics to analyze and respond to real-world issues and challenges, as they will be expected to do college and the workplace.” Also, the new integrates math class allows students to distinguish the relationship between algebra and geometry. Although students are not being instructed a mathematical issue in depth, they are rapidly going through all the different topics in an integrated math class. Nowadays, students are too worried to pass the course to acquire a problem-solving mind. Paul Lockhart proclaims the entire problem of high school students saying, “I do not see how it's doing society any good to have its members walking around with vague memories of algebraic formulas and geometric diagrams and dear memories of hating them.” A mathematics class should not be intended to make a student weep from complicated equations, but it should encourage them to seek the numbers surrounding
• Make approximately 10 copies of 1 cm grid paper on colored paper for each group of students.
Mathematical dialogue within the classroom has been argued to be effective and a ‘necessary’ tool for children’s development in terms of errors and misconceptions. It has been mentioned how dialogue can broaden the children’s perception of the topic, provides useful opportunities to develop meaningful understandings and proves a good assessment tool. The NNS (1999) states that better numeracy standards occur when children are expected to use correct mathematical vocabulary and explain mathematical ideas. In addition to this, teachers are expected
...d content can keep learning interesting, and personal for each of my students. Each format will be identified as a tool of language, because information is useless for students if they don’t have a clear guide for applying it. In this WAC-type manner students will be guided to experience how important language is in every field. I believe my conversational ability will help establish this type of a classroom community. This community will benefit from a variety of activities that can illustrate the importance, and numerous uses of our language in any field my students show an interest in.
...sociated with meaning prediction” (Axford, Harders and Wise, 2009, p.26). of course this also works for writing. Any scaffold that a teacher gives their students must be thoroughly introduced, and worked through with the students step by step, and reiterated briefly before use, this ensures that the students have abundant exposure and instruction to the use of the scaffolds and sufficient time to memorise their use. The teacher must insure that their method of explaining the scaffold is not simply to narrate its use all at once then leave the students to their own devices, as this can leave the students with too much to think about all at once, called ‘overload’. A good way to introduce the scaffold is to “present the students with cards of questions they should be trying to answer as they read and write, to reduce the problem of overload” (Cornish & Garner, 2009).
Divide the class up into groups of three and have them sit in their own spot in the room.
Scaffolding is metaphorical term which refers to the process through which teachers facilitate children’s learning by enabling them achieve a level of ability beyond the child’s current capacity. Through scaffolding, teachers play an active role by interacting with children to support their development by providing structures that support them to stretch their understanding or me...
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.
Puntambekar, S. & Hubscher. R. (2005). Tools for scaffolding students in a complex learning environment: What have we gained and what have we missed? Educational Psychologist, 40, 1-12.
Mathematics teachers teach their students a wide range of content strands – geometry, algebra, statistics, and trigonometry – while also teaching their students mathematical skills – logical thinking, formal process, numerical reasoning, and problem solving. In teaching my students, I need to aspire to Skemp’s (1976) description of a “relational understanding” of mathematics (p. 4). Skemp describes two types of understanding: relational understanding and instrumental understanding. In an instrumental understanding, students know how to follow steps and sequential procedures without a true understanding of the mathematical reasons for the processe...
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,
As with every academic subject, there are a variety of strategies for teaching mathematics to school-aged students. Some strategies seem to be better than others, especially when tackling certain topics. There is the direct instruction approach where students are given the exact tools and formulas they need to solve a problem, sometimes without a clear explanation as to why. The student is told to do certain steps in a certain order and in turn expects to do them as such at all times. This leaves little room for solving varying types of problems. It can also lead to misconceptions and students may not gain the full understanding that their teachers want them to have. So how can mathematics teachers get their students to better understand the concepts that are being taught?
Use different types of reasoning to justify statements and arguments made about mathematics and mathematical concepts;