REFLECTIVE LEARNING: USING A DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING – CONCEPTUAL THREAD APPROACH IN ADDRESSING ACQUIRED LEARNING DEFICITS IN MATHEMATICS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Teachers come across errors not only in tests but also in their mathematics classrooms virtually every day. When they respond to learners’ errors in their classrooms, during or after teaching, teachers are actively carrying out formative assessment. In South Africa the Annual National Assessment, a written test under the auspices of the Department of Basic Education, requires that teachers use learner data diagnostically. This places a new and complex cognitive demand on teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. We argue that teachers’ involvement in, and application of, error analysis is an integral aspect of teacher knowledge. The Data Informed Practice Improvement Project was one of the first attempts in South Africa to include teachers in a systematic process of interpretation of learners’ performance data. In this article we analyse video data of teachers’ engagement with errors during interactions with learners in their classrooms and in one-on-one interviews with learners (17 lessons and 13 interviews). The schema of teachers’ knowledge of error analysis and the complexity of its application are discussed in relation to Ball’s domains of knowledge and Hugo’s explanation of the relation between cognitive and pedagogical loads. The analysis suggests that diagnostic assessment requires teachers to focus their attention on the germane load of the task and this in turn requires awareness of error and the use of specific probing questions in relation to learners’ diagnostic reasoning. Quantitative and qualitative data findings show the difficulty of this activity. For the 62 teachers who took part in this project, the demands made by diagnostic assessment exceeded their capacity, resulting in many instances (mainly in the classroom) where teachers ignored learners’ errors or dealt with them partially.

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Piloting national diagnostic assessment for strategic calculation

Mathematics Education Research Journal ◽

10.1007/s13394-019-00291-0 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Mellony Graven ◽

Hamsa Venkat

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Mathematics Education ◽

Department Of Education ◽

Diagnostic Assessment ◽

Eastern Cape ◽

Counting Methods ◽

Grade 3 ◽

Pilot Intervention ◽

Post Assessment ◽

Positive Results

AbstractIn this paper, we share the results of the piloting of national diagnostic assessments for strategic calculation with Grade 3 learners in South Africa. The diagnostic assessment pilot intervention was focused on promoting strategic use of calculation strategies and aimed to move learners on from the concrete one-to-one counting methods that persist in this grade and into higher grades. Working with a broader team of mathematics education specialists, including international leaders in the field and department of education representatives, we designed a series of assessments that focus on key calculation strategies such as bridging through ten. Each assessment, comprised a pre- and repeat post-assessment, was accompanied by interim lesson starters for teacher use in eight 10-min mental mathematics sessions. These were designed to develop learner fluency in each of the focal strategies and related skills. The pre- and post-assessments allow teachers to track improvement in student learning. The pilot focused on the “bridging through ten” strategy in seven classes across the Eastern Cape and Gauteng provinces. Positive results indicate that the format of these assessments paired with the lesson starters is potentially useful for broader national trialling and implementation. This work feeds into the need for diagnostic assessments that inform teaching focused on strategic efficiency rather than simply accepting correct answers produced through highly inefficient methods.

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Time and Latitude in South Africa

International Astronomical Union Colloquium ◽

10.1017/s0252921100026816 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 27-38

Author(s):

J. Hers

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Cape Town ◽

Astronomical Observations ◽

Royal Observatory ◽

The Republic ◽

Astronomical Determination ◽

Limited Accuracy ◽

Better Than

In South Africa the modern outlook towards time may be said to have started in 1948. Both the two major observatories, The Royal Observatory in Cape Town and the Union Observatory (now known as the Republic Observatory) in Johannesburg had, of course, been involved in the astronomical determination of time almost from their inception, and the Johannesburg Observatory has been responsible for the official time of South Africa since 1908. However the pendulum clocks then in use could not be relied on to provide an accuracy better than about 1/10 second, which was of the same order as that of the astronomical observations. It is doubtful if much use was made of even this limited accuracy outside the two observatories, and although there may – occasionally have been a demand for more accurate time, it was certainly not voiced.

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Indirect Rule in South Africa

10.1017/upo9781580467421 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

J. C. Myers

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Indirect Rule

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Combining Professional Interests and Travel: People to People Citizen Ambassador Program

Perspectives on Global Issues in Communication Sciences and Related Disorders ◽

10.1044/gics1.2.47 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 47-54

Author(s):

Alex Johnson ◽

Amanda Hitchins

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Health Education ◽

Communication Disorders ◽

Social Conditions ◽

Speech Language Pathologists ◽

Exchange Program

Abstract This article summarizes a series of trips sponsored by People to People, a professional exchange program. The trips described in this report were led by the first author of this article and include trips to South Africa, Russia, Vietnam and Cambodia, and Israel. Each of these trips included delegations of 25 to 50 speech-language pathologists and audiologists who participated in professional visits to learn of the health, education, and social conditions in each country. Additionally, opportunities to meet with communication disorders professionals, students, and persons with speech, language, or hearing disabilities were included. People to People, partnered with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), provides a meaningful and interesting way to learn and travel with colleagues.

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