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The Mathematics Foundation integrates educational technologies to empower primary school teachers

Tuesday, 19 April 2022

On 19 April 2022, the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF) commences its first-ever fully online training programme for primary school teachers. 399 Teachers will attend this, the first of two Primary Teacher Mathematics Problem-Solving courses this year.

Alwyn Olivier, a retired mathematics lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch and the academic coordinator of the SAMF's primary school teacher development programme, and Dr Erna Lampen from the University of Stellenbosch developed the course content. "The course is our attempt to help teachers to break out of the current self-perpetuating cycle of mediocrity and rote learning in mathematics teaching and learning in the country by experiencing mathematical power, i.e., to learn to think like a mathematician– to explore, conjecture, and reason logically,"explains Olivier, who has been a member of the South African Mathematics Challenge (SAMC) Problem Committee for many years. "The SAMC questions are aimed at conceptual knowledge, applying knowledge in new situations, problem-solving, reasoning, communication, and general mathematical thinking."

For this free-to-attend online learning programme, the SAMF partnered with Limina Education Services, supported by NESTLE NESPRAY. The integration of Limina's learner management system and online educational technologies allows more teachers to attend the development programme than the face-to-face workshops in previous years.

Dr Isabel Tarling, the founder and director of Limina, holds a PhD in Education Technology and explains some of the advantages of online learning theories. "Online learning creates an open learning context that maximises students' learning experiences within a flexible enabling environment. We follow a social constructionist approach at Limina, designing learning to be student-centred, shared and visible. Our learning experts create the learning structure on the LMS, allowing students to choose when they want to go online and where they want to study."

Limina prides itself on removing barriers to accessing online learning. "We realise that many South Africans do not have access to the Internet," says Tarling. "Our learning designs chunk the modules into bite-size pieces and provide these as downloadable, offline packages that teachers and students can download and access when they don't have internet access. Seeing as many students and teachers can access mobile phones but not always computers, all our courses are optimised for mobile access to allow greater participation."

The almost 400 teachers enrolled on the SAMF Mathematics Problem Solving course come from across the country. SAMF facilitators and the Limina team provide in-time support to smaller groups of teachers to ensure that each teacher gets help and guidance as and when they need it. "In 2020, we rolled out advanced training for the selected facilitators," says Olivier. "After thorough training, we are confident in their abilities to support primary school teachers to develop their own problem-solving know-how and attitudes."

This first course runs from 18 April until the end of May. Applications for the second intake of primary school mathematics teachers will start in May. The second course runs from 18 July until the end of August. SAMF will circulate invitations to enrol for the second intake on social media.

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