Professional training in mathematics education: a study of programmes, practices and prospects
Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in the Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2012.
Creative Teaching Methods Impacts Based on Structuralism Approaches in Improving Mathematics Performance
The project purpose is to analysis the impact of creative teaching methods based on Structuralism Approaches in Improving Mathematics Performance of the third and forth class of elementary schools in Mazandaran province. The project is provided by the unbalanced-control plan with pre-test and post-test in tow groups of experiment and control in type of experiment likeness research and its society containing 40537 students of third class and 40136 student of forth class of elementary school. There were 380 students of third class and also 380 student of forth class selected by the method of different level bunched-random sampling. The classification of teaching skills of teachers and mathematics performance test questions were the tools of gathering data of criteria form which was planned in four levels of "knowing, meaning usage, usual problem solving and reasoning" within the framework of TIMSS cognitive. The validity of questions were determined by training group experts and test permanent was made 0.79 and 0.82 for each tools by the method of retesting and Pirson correlation statistic analysis. The parametric results showed that creative teaching methods in improving students mathematics performance in the both classes in knowing level had no impact meaningfully, but it had an comprehensive impact on the other levels of meaning usage, usual problem solving and reasoning.
The National Senior Certificate : implications for access to higher education
In the light of the uncertainty surrounding the new National Senior Certificate that was written in South African schools for the first time in 2008, this article aims to examine the new Grade 12 National Senior Certificate results quantitatively in the context of the Grade 11 application score for entry into higher education and the Grade 12 Senior Certificate scores of the old curriculum. Ultimately, the article also aims to examine the use of an additional measuring instrument (in conjunction with the National Senior Certificate final matriculation examination) to determine access to higher education. Attention is focused specifically on the Stellenbosch University Access Test. The results showed that grade inflation occurred particularly in the results of the lower performance group. Although the real influence of the National Senior Certificate results on access and throughput rates can only be determined over a longer period, the first results of the National Senior Certificate and the use of the Access Test as benchmarking show that the scores of especially the lower group of achievers could cause first-timeentering students to have an unrealistic perception of their own academic ability. This article confirms the increasingly important role of additional measuring instruments in determining students’ access to higher education.