Representation of the Equal Relationship in the Development of Mathematical Thinking: A Case of Grade One’s

Abstract

This paper presents a practical demonstration and presentation observed whilst a pre-service teacher was teaching a mathematics lesson on ‘doubling a number’‘(Ukuphinda kabili)’, ‘to thirty two grade one learners in a primary school in kwaZulu Natal of South Africa. The lesson was presented in Zulu, the learners’ home language in line with the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) which requires all phase one (grade 1-3) learners to be taught mathematics and other subjects except English in their vernacular in South African public schools. The lesson engaged learners in games and interactions involving replicating a given number twice using stones or bottle tops, combining them and then counting and registering their total. The symbolic representations though and the use of equal sign were misleading on the chalkboard. Interviews with the teacher after the lesson revealed that the teacher assigned no particular meaning to the equal sign used in the number sentences. Also the teacher revealed that he was aware that at grade one level the multiplication sign could not be used and did not know how to represent a duplicate of a value without a sign so as to get double the number.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p914