Teaching number operations and number relationships in a grade 7 classroom: a self-study.

Abstract

My self-study research focused on the teaching of numbers, operations, and relationships in a grade seven class. This study aimed to improve my teaching practice by exploring new and innovative strategies for effective teaching and learning of numbers, operations, and relationships. I was concerned with the systematic pattern of underperforming learners in this content area: numbers, operations, and relationships. I was also worried by my unintentional role in continuing with this pattern. Adopting a Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) theoretical perspective of teaching and learning helped me connect the classroom and the real world where the context has to resonate with learners' lived knowledge level. The first question that guided my research was: What can I learn from my personal history about teaching and learning of number operations and number relationships? This question helped me reflect on my personal educational journey and my engagement with mathematics, commencing with primary school, then high school followed by college and my first teaching experiences where I interacted with the curriculum for the first time. I identified three significant learnings from my lived experiences that influenced my teaching of numbers, operations, and relationships: i) learning to be a present teacher ii) learning through mental calculations and computations iii) learning to teach and learn mathematics using games. My second research question was: How can I improve my teaching and learning of number operations and number relationships? To respond to this question, I worked with my grade seven class as research participants on different lessons that I designed for this study. The learners’ engagement with the classroom activities and reflections from their reflective journals helped me to understand how they perceived the teaching and learning of numbers, operations, and relationships. Throughout this self-study research journey, I worked closely with a colleague who was also a master’s student, as my critical friend. I used various data sources to generate data for this self-study namely my personal reflective journal, learners’ journals, photographs, memory drawings, collage, Curriculum Assessment and Policy Statement document (CAPS) and lesson plans. My engagement with this self-study journey brought about four key learnings concerning the teaching and learning of numbers, operations, and relationships: a) Aligning myself with other mathematic teachers through committees and cluster meetings b) Reimagining my enactment of the mathematics curriculum policy c) Seeing learner voice and participation as an asset in teaching and learning d): Knowledge of learners – teacher’s instruction tailored to meet each learner’s needs. I also learned that mathematics cannot not be taught in isolation but should be connected to learners' daily experiences.