Browsing by Author "Wessels, Helena"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    An examination of pre-service teachers’ capacity to create mathematical modeling problems for children
    (SAGE Publications, 2017) Paolucci, Catherine; Wessels, Helena
    This study examined preservice teachers’ (PSTs) capacity to create mathematical modeling problems (MMPs) for grades 1 to 3. PSTs created MMPs for their choice of grade level and aligned the mathematical content of their MMPs with the relevant mathematics curriculum. PSTs were given criteria adapted from Galbraith’s MMP design principles to guide their work. These criteria were then used to evaluate the resulting MMPs, leading to findings and implications relevant to two areas—mathematics teacher education, and the design and evaluation of MMPs for young children. Results highlight an inclination toward creating problems for higher grade levels as well as concerns regarding both the PSTs’ proficiency with the curriculum content and their capacity to create MMPs for particular content areas. Findings contribute to an important international conversation about the need for further research and development of resources aimed at supporting the integration of mathematical modeling in early childhood mathematics education.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Moving beyond the tools : pre-service teachers' views on what they value in a digital literacy short course
    (AOSIS, 2021-06) Strydom, Sonja C.; Wessels, Helena; Anley, Casey
    Background: A digital literacies short course, rooted in a pedagogical model of authentic learning and mapped against the TPACK model, was conceptualised and implemented to enhance the existing digital literacies and technological pedagocial content knowledge of student teachers and to promote an awareness of technology-enhanced curriculum practices. Aim: In aiming to inform course improvement, our study interrogates student teachers’ perceptions of the aspects that they valued in the short course. Methods: Guided by social constructivism and situated within a qualitative paradigm, twenty-four 2nd and 3rd year Bachelor of Education (BEd) students who completed the course participated in three semi-structured focus group interviews whereby data was analysed by means of constant comparison analysis. Results: Findings suggest participants found value in authentic tasks and assignments as well as the process of knowledge creation. They did, however, differ in their views of the purpose and aim of such a course. Conclusion: This study contributes to the gap in South African research and the growing South African interest in preparing teachers in adopting technology-enhanced practices and curriculum changes in schools, and argues that standardised theoretical training courses ignoring psycho-socio-cultural factors and individual differences should be reconsidered.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Number sense of final year pre-service primary school teachers
    (AOSIS OpenJournals, 2014-06) Courtney-Clarke, Magret; Wessels, Helena
    Number sense studies have indicated that the development of number sense should be the focus of primary school mathematics education. The literature review revealed that learner performance is linked to teacher subject knowledge and that teachers’ confidence in doing and teaching mathematics influences the way they teach and their willingness to learn mathematics. This study was motivated by the poor performance of Namibian primary school learners in both national and international standardised assessment tests and explored the number sense of 47 final-year primary school pre-service teachers (PSTs) in Namibia. The data in this mixed method research design were obtained from a number sense questionnaire, a written computations questionnaire, a mental calculations questionnaire and the McAnallen confidence in mathematics and mathematics teaching survey (MCMMTS). Six PSTs, randomly selected from the 47 participants, were interviewed to determine their use of number-sensible strategies. The overall results of this investigation revealed that the final year primary school PSTs demonstrated limited number sense and possessed very few of the indicators of number sense. Unexpectedly, the confidence survey showed that they were confident in their ability to do and to teach mathematics. This study exposed one reason for the low standards of performance of Namibian learners in mathematics and the lack of improvement over the last few decades. It indicates a need for teacher training institutions to identify the mathematics that teachers should know and the ways in which teacher understanding of subject content has to be transformed to enable them to develop the number sense of primary school learners.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Teachers’ professional development needs in data handling and probability
    (AOSIS Publishing, 2011-07) Wessels, Helena; Nieuwoudt, Hercules
    Poor Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) results and widespread disappointing mathematics results in South Africa necessitate research-based and more efficient professional development for in-service mathematics teachers. This article reports on the profiling of mathematics teachers’ statistical knowledge, beliefs and confidence in order to inform the development of in-service teacher education programmes in statistics for Grade 8 and Grade 9 teachers. Ninety mathematics teachers from schools with culturally diverse learner populations in an urban region in South Africa were profiled using an adapted profiling instrument (Watson, 2001). Although statistics formed part of quite a number of these teachers’ initial teacher education and about half of them were involved in professional development in statistics education, they still teach traditionally, rather than using a more data driven approach. Teachers indicated high levels of confidence in teaching most statistics topics but showed low levels of statistical thinking when they had to apply their knowledge of concepts, such as sample and average in social contexts including newspaper articles and research reports.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Teachers’ reasoning in a repeated sampling context
    (AOSIS Publishing, 2013-05-02) Wessels, Helena; Nieuwoudt, Hercules
    The concepts of variability and uncertainty are regarded as cornerstones in statistics. Proportional reasoning plays an important connecting role in reasoning about variability and therefore teachers need to develop students’ statistical reasoning skills about variability, including intuitions for the outcomes of repeated sampling situations. Many teachers however lack the necessary knowledge and skills themselves and need to be exposed to hands-on activities to develop their reasoning skills about variability in a sampling environment. The research reported in this article aimed to determine and develop teachers’ understanding of variability in a repeated sampling context. The research forms part of a larger project that profiled Grade 8–12 teachers’ statistical content and pedagogical content knowledge. As part of this larger research project 14 high school teachers from eight culturally diverse urban schools attended a series of professional development workshops in statistics and completed a number of tasks to determine and develop their understanding of variability in a repeated sampling context. The Candy Bowl Task was used to probe teachers’ notions of variability in such a context. Teachers’ reasoning mainly revealed different types of thinking based on absolute frequencies, relative frequencies and on expectations of proportion and spread. Only one response showed distributional reasoning involving reasoning about centres as well as the variation around the centres. The conclusion was that a greater emphasis on variability and repeated sampling is necessary in statistics education in South African schools. To this end teachers should be supported to develop their own and learners’ statistical reasoning skills in order to help prepare them adequately for citizenship in a knowledge-driven society.