Eastern Cape pupils’ maths lit marks fall 15%
EASTERN Cape pupils’ performance in the subject of mathematics literacy, perceived to be an easier alternative to pure maths, has dropped by more than 15% in the years since it was introduced.
The Department of Education’s subject adviser for maths literacy, Luleka Nombombo, said in the Eastern Cape pupils’ performances in maths lit had dropped from 80% when it was introduced in 2006 to 65%.
Dr Xolani Khalo and Professor Anass Bayaga have spent the past few years investigating the reasons for this drop and have produced three research papers which provide some reasons for the lower marks.
Their focus was on the errors committed by Grade 10 pupils when solving mathematical literacy questions on finances.
The authors found that some of the underlying problems contributing to the errors were that pupils were applying irrelevant strategies in their problem-solving, they lacked mastery of prerequisite skills, facts and concepts that should have been acquired in previous grades and they illustrated language difficulties when answering certain problems.
The men spoke at a maths literacy workshop hosted by the Department of Education in collaboration with the University of Zululand and University of Fort Hare at the East London Science College yesterday, where they shared their research findings to an audience of about 100 Grade 10 maths literacy teachers from various East London schools.
The dissertations titled: “Underlying factors related to errors in Financial Mathematics due to incorrect or rigidity of thinking”, “Error Analysis: Case of Pre-service Teachers” and “Analysis of errors due to deficient mastery of prerequisite skills, facts and concepts”, look at the underlying factors related to errors due to incorrect association by pupils.
The authors sought to understand why pupils continued to make such errors so that mechanisms could be devised to avoid these errors.
A total of 105 Grade 10 pupils from East London participated in the research, which aimed to answer two questions: What errors do Grade 10 pupils commit and why do they commit these errors when solving maths finance questions?
Nombombo said the department would use the research findings as a guide to get the province back to its 80% pass-rate in this subject.
“The only time teachers received proper training on this subject was 11 years ago when it was introduced. Hopefully this [new] knowledge will assist in improving the learners’ performance,” Nombombo said.