Content and Pedagogy

The daily work of teaching entails not only an understanding of the subject matter to be taught but also the skill to teach this content in a manner which enables learning to take place. The teacher education resources selected for this focus area will support the aim of developing teachers’ understanding of maths content in relation to pedagogy. Course materials for teacher education programmes, as well as articles/papers that can serve as readings will be posted. The teacher education course materials posted will range from early primary to senior secondary.

Content and pedagogy articles and resources

Academic articles relating to the mathematics content and pedagogy debate

• Mathematics for teaching matters, an article by Jill Adler First Rand Foundation (FRF) Mathematics Education Chair at the University of the Witwatersrand and the Chair of Mathematics Education at King’s College, London.

Materials on mathematics content and pedagogy for teacher education

• Mathematics for Primary School Teachers, a course on mathematics content for primary school (Foundation and Intermediate Phase) teachers consisting of 6 maths content units:
  • Unit 1: Space and Shape
  • Unit 2: Numeration
  • Unit 3: Operations
  • Unit 4: Fractions
  • Unit 5: Statistics
  • Unit 6: Size and Measurement
• A learning guide entitled Junior Primary Mathematics, which was part of the PREP Education series developed at the University of Cape Town Maths gives methodology in the foundation phase.
• The ACEMaths materials, a set of materials for mathematics teacher education developed collaboratively under the leadership of a Saide materials development expert. The materials were designed for use in both distance education and face-to-face contexts. Over a period of two years, they were adapted, piloted and revised and then made freely available for downloading in two formats - for printing (PDF), and for adaptation (Word). This set of materials provides a real example of OER that have been used in the field for several years. The four adaptations give examples of the flexibility of OER and the ways in which different users can adapt them for their own purpose.
• The original ACEMaths materials – six units with accompanying readings
  • Unit 1: Exploring what it means to ‘do’ mathematics
  • Unit 2: Developing understanding in mathematics
  • Unit 3: Teaching through problem solving
  • Unit 4: Planning in the problem-based classroom
  • Unit 5: Building assessment into teaching and learning
  • Unit 6: Teaching all children mathematics
• Four ACEMaths adaptations – different lengths, different applications, different adapting authors.
  • Learners with Special Educational Needs (LSEN) ACE module material (Six units) (University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, South Africa)
  • Further Education and Training (FET) Maths Literacy ACE (Two units) (University of KwaZulu (UKZN) Natal, Pinetown, South Africa)
  • Further Education and Training (FET) Mathematics Certificate Course (Six units) (University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa)
  • Foundation Phase Wrap-around Guide to accompany the ACEMaths materials (Six units) (Wits, Johannesburg, South Africa)

Teacher Education in Sub Saharan Africa (TESSA)  Mindset Learn