TUT tackles maths, science problems

Tshwane University of Technology and the faculty of engineering and the built environment, together with a team of lecturers, has developed a maths and science workshop to get teachers of these subjects at schools in the university’s footprint area “back on track”.

In addition to addressing an important national issue, the project forms part of the faculty’s annual community outreach programme.

Professor Daniel Chowdhury, a research professor at the de- partment of electrical engineering, said science, engineering and technology have been declared national growth areas.

Despite this, the results of matric pupils in mathematics and science countrywide have been on the decline.

“Based on these declining results, it has become clear that interventions at more than one level are vital to help students improve their mathematics results. One such intervention is to invest in the training and development of mathematics teachers,” Chowdhury said.

He said the primary goal of the recent content workshop for Gauteng secondary schools mathematics teachers was to maximise the impact on the pass rate of the pupils at the schools in Mamelodi and Atteridgeville, in Pretoria, where the 15 teachers came from.

“The content workshop was designed to complement training programmes already organised by the Gauteng department of education.

“The pass rate of the corresponding schools will be evaluated to determine the success. During the workshop, challenges were identified, while the group also looked at ways to make maths and science more attractive for students,” said Chowdhury.