Do numbers make sense: an investigation on how foundation phase learners engage with multiplicative thinking in Motheo district, South Africa

Abstract

The study investigated how the multiplicative thinking of Grade 3 learners develops and how ensuring inclusivity of all learners during the number learning process enhances learning in mathematics Grade 3. This study used a qualitative methodology to explore these two complex phenomena: multiplicative thinking and gender-sensitive pedagogy for teaching and learning mathematics in early grades. Interviews and classroom observations are employed as tools for data collection, and data was analysed qualitatively. The participants were 30 Grade 3 learners and three educators at three schools, of which two were in a township, and one in a suburban area. The findings of the study are that learners in the early grades need to be proficient in their home language, to help facilitate meaning and development of abstraction of number concepts; procedural teaching still dominates teaching and learning in mathematics practice of early grades; use of manipulatives mediate meaningfulness in mathematical ideas; multiplicative thinking of learners is impeded by procedural knowledge; COVID-19 has transformed homes with a low socioeconomic background to supportive learning environments; and that inequalities still disrupt the possibility of quality teaching and learning, through a lack of resources (physical and human). This study recommends improving foundation phase teacher training, enhancing mother tongue instruction, making more meaningful use of concrete manipulatives to encourage fluent conceptual understanding, and nurturing mother tongue use for mathematics to promote learners’ language proficiency. The results of the study also call for a full implementation of gender-sensitive pedagogy in classrooms, to accommodate all genders and diverse teaching methods during instruction of mathematics from the early grades. There is a need for inter-sectoral and interdepartmental fora to address issues of early childhood education, focussing on developing and establishing solid knowledge of mathematics from an early age.