MATHEMATICAL LITERACY FOR SOUTH AFRICA

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MATHEMATICAL LITERACY FOR SOUTH AFRICA

• Mark Jacobs
• Cape Peninsula University of Technology
• JacobsMS_at_cput.ac.za

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Overview of talk

• History lesson on South Africa
• Mathematical Literacy critical issues
• Challenges for the classroom, with an example

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Overview

• The Past
• Conquest (1652
• Colonialism (1652
• Apartheid (1652
• Bantu Education Act 1952

http//www.sahistory.org.za/pages/mainframe.htm
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http//www.library.yale.edu/MapColl/ethop.GIF
Aethiopia Inferior vel ExteriorAmsterdam, Willem
Janszoon Blaeu This map was made before Dutch
settlement of South Africa, so some areas are
still largely unknown. Still, this was a standard
reference map throughout the seventeenth century.
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(No Transcript)
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http//home.global.co.za/mercon/map.htm
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http//www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/geo
graphy/maps.htm

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Education and Training post 1994

• Qualifications Framework
• Outcomes based education
• Curriculum 2005
• Mathematical Literacy?

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Legacy of Apartheid

• During apartheid Race and
  socio-economic division favouring whites,
  indians, coloureds, blacks in descending
  order
• Post apartheid socio economic division
  favouringin that order

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Legacy of Apartheid 2

• Number of math faculty at school with no formal
  training in the subject 50
• Number of science faculty with no formal training
  in the subject 68 (junior secondary level
  particularly)
• (1999 government audit)

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Legacy of Apartheid 3

• Number of math classes with more than 40 learners
  per educator 68
• Number of science classes with more than 40
  learners per educator 74
• (1995 government audit in 7 prov)

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Legacy of Apartheid 4
Our strategyDinaledi seeks to overcome the
legacy of apartheid in which those subjects
(maths and science) were deliberately neglected.
We live with that legacy still. Apartheid
education did more than simply waste human
potential. It undermined the self-confidence of
most of those unfortunate enough to suffer under
it. Professor Kader Asmal, ex-Minister of
Education, 2002
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Mathematical Literacy Definition 1 (SA)

•   Ability to think quantitatively
•   Ability to think spatially
•   Ability to critically analyse situations
•   Opportunity to use acquired mathematical skills
  in real life situations
•    Ability to deal with information (numerical ,
  spatial) in tables, graphs, diagrams and text
• (South Africa, DOE, 2003)

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Mathematical Literacy Definition 2 (SA)

• different subjects
• Mathematics mathematics for engineering, science
  etc
• Mathematical literacy for disciplines that
  require math application but not mastery of
  abstract math concepts

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Quantitative Literacy (Lynn Arthur Steen, U.S.A)
Definition 3

• "two mathematics
• One an abstract, deductive discipline employed
  in every corner of science, technology, and
  engineering.
• The other a practical, robust habit of mind
  anchored in data, nourished by computers, and
  employed in every aspect of an alert, informed
  life
• www-math.cudenver.edu/wbriggs/qr/papers.html

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Mathematical Literacy definition 4
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Critical issues in Math Literacy

•  Readiness and continuing professional
  development of teachers
• availability of learning materials
• challenge of avoiding the temptation to make
  Math Lit a "watered down" math

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Critical issues in Math Literacy 2

• mass migration of learners from Math to Math
  Literacy
• Pathways between math and math literacy
• Access to tertiary non-math specific programmes
  via math literacy

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Desirable Impact

• a numerate society
• a critical society
• a better foundation for the intermediate skills
  needed by a growing economy
• more people with these skills
• more employment?

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Challenges for the classroom

• focus on local and personal contexts
• focus on global contexts
• focus on the mathematics without losing the
  meaning of the content
• focus on the content without losing site of the
  mathematics

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Challenges for the classroom 2

• What mathematical skills do we expect
  non-transfer students to have at the end of
  their studies at school/community colleges? How
  can this be achieved inside and outside
  traditional math courses?

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HIV/AIDS IN SOUTH AFRICA

• HIV infection rates
• 5.3 million in 2003 (estimates)
• 55 female
• 96,228 babies
• 230,000 under 15 yrs
• Deaths caused by HIV
• 15 59 yrs
• 53,185 men
• 59, 445 women
• children under 5 yrs 40,727

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HIV/Aids and EducationTIRISANO 2000 - 2004

• Awareness, information, advocacy
• HIV/AIDS within the curriculum
• HIV/AIDS and the education system
• 40m funding (U.S.A. congress 2003)
• Clinton Foundation - generic drugs companies

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Mandela and HIV/AIDS
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Outcomes example HIV/AIDS
Intended outcomes for this section

• 1.Find out how many people have HIV/AIDS
•     2. Learn about antiretroviral drug treatment
  for AIDS patients
• 3. Learn about the role of nutrition in helping
  those who are HIV positive

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Mathematics you should attempt to cover (cont)

• Fractions
• Percentages
• Ratio
• Represent and interpret data
• Convert units of measurement
• Sampling methods in statistics

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Examples of questions

• How is information about HIV/ AIDS gathered?
  Check out sites on line and discuss.
• What does it mean to say x number of people are
  infected with HIV per square kilometer?
• Which graphs best decribe the rate of increase of
  the HIV virus in
• South Africa
• Africa
• The world?

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Conclusion

• Mathematical literacy is here to stay
• Mathematics needs to embrace Mathematical
  literacy
• Mathematical literacy cannot function optimally
  in isolation of other disciplines
• Mathematical literacy is necessary for democracy

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Acknowledgements

• Highline CC (esp Math Dep)
• M Mulcahy, Special Advisor to Minister of
  Education
• A Brombacher, Chair, Ministerial Comm for Math
  and Math Literacy
• AVERT AIDS information website
• Family,Friends, colleagues