HELP WITH MATHEMATICS

Shrek I agree with you that sport is good. My youngest son did a lot of that. He still played for two soccer clubs at league level while he was in grage 12. But he was focussed, never absent from school and returned to his books and studied well into the morning. Lucky we all have a late sleeping habit.
Children need to read the newspaper and magazines of their choice from an early age and this culture stays with them. We must allow them to live their lives with little supervision and they will do well.

Thanks Mr H. What we have now are a generation of children that are excited by technology (cell phone, tablets etc). We need to motivate this Millenial generation (whose attention span is also short).
Subjects like mathematics need extra tuition, winter classes etc. The Department of Basic Education also as a good website with past examination papers with solutions for all subjects. 30 years ago we had difficulty finding these resources.
There is also the Learning Channel on TV. Government needs to partner with business to make these available to under resourced schools (especially where there are no qualified teachers) In KZN the majority of ours schools are in rural settings.

Scot as far as I know some schools are on a feeding programme. As per usual someone is milking the system and this does not reach all the needy schools.

I can say from experience that the key issue in why kids aren't able to pass is the resources the kids have. Forget the teachers, at the lower level schools they are useless and will be for a very long time, that's not something that can be changed over night. Their are many kids with huge potential that want to learn and if they were given a better text books to learn from they would go home and learn the thing word for word and make it on their own. I was lucky enough to go to a very good school and maths came easily to me but it's scary the gap between the top and bottom schools. From grade 10 I was teaching matric kids in the valley to try get them the knowledge they needed to pass, I hadn't even done half the syllabus but these guys couldn't even do the basics which killed me. I mean we talking about not even knowing their multiplication.

My suggestion would be to scrap the text books that they are given now, they are useless and difficult to understand. All the top schools use their own notes, textbooks and revision papers. They not using the government ones that's for sure. The department needs to outsource notes that are simpler and more to the point for kids that are trying to teach themselves. I can say by giving a class of 30 or so better notes and study material I got the pass rate from 30% to 60% with one lesson a week. I know that 60% is not a lot but its a huge rise in the pass rate of the school with minimal effort put in, just empowering the kids and giving them a better shot if they really want to pull themselves out of their situation. It's not a long term solution but in the short term I think it's very viable to outsource from a private company or even just a half decent school with good results.

I tutor grades 8-12 Maths at Kumon on Friday afternoons and I have a (just turned) 7 year old that comes along with me when I tutor at Kumon. I also tutor 3 kids outside of Kumon and have tutored kids in public and private schooling.

Kids learn by repetition so they need to do something many times in their younger years until it becomes automatic (habit) and then they can focus on more specific knowledge...so I get my daughter to do 10 addition, 10 subtraction and 5 multiplication examples (max answer of 30) every day (even during the holiday that just finished) and she can do these quite comfortably now placing her in good stead when more complex things are done in school...

Also think that technology has proven to be a hindrance to learning as kids are now leaving it to the computer or tablet or phone to do the thinking for them...we learn anything best by doing it with our own hands (even if it means failing many times at first) rather than leaving it to technology or by merely watching...see the spelling of kids due to the negative influence of texting...or the dependence on calculators for simple arithmetic...Kumon does not allow the use of calculators even for trigonometry so it forces kids to solve problems using their heads...

I never went for any tuition when I was at school but loved Maths from a very young age and automatically did more the better I did which resulted in me doing more and doing even better...got 100% in apartheid era Higher Grade Maths so I think I know what the secret to success in Maths is...creating a habit through repetition, doing well leading to a passion for the subject resulting in me wanting to spend more time doing it and knowing that it was one of the very few subjects in which one could get 100% meant that I had a marker to aim for...

The really exceptional students do so without the help of a teacher...a teacher though is vital in conveying the basic principles to ALL students...the teacher must thoroughly understand the basic principles themselves to be able to convey it to students...the habits that enable one to do well at Maths start at a very young age and bad habits are very difficult to undo / fix as a child gets past the foundation phase of schooling...

@kristieN...I am more than willing to help and can cite more specific information should you require it...please PM if you so wish...

Great perspective on the value of a sound foundation in mastering a subject where you have to apply logical thinking rather than purely learning.

I commend you for the work that you are doing as I had a terrible teacher for two years that made me hate the subject rather than foster an interest in it.

Wonderful to see that there are people that still care and that are willing to make a difference in an area of great need in our country.

Think the problem is twofold, one the qualtiy of teachers, some schools are using foreign teachers from Nigeria etc just to save costs on paying good quality teachers. The other issue is we are taking the thinking ability away from kids (common sense), not sure if its technology or the way society as evolved.

Excellent that this is being addressed

When i was in high school and wanted to take Maths on higher grade......i was 1 of 2 kids that wanted to take HG.....and i was told that there are only 2 kids interested, so i HAVE TO take SG. How do you like that! I got 92% for Maths on SG in matric. Coming to think of that now......its terrible! Perhaps the teacher wasnt apable of teaching HG.

I also dod Science.....the teacher i got to teacher me Science (in freakin Matric), was a Biology teacher....a very well qualified Biology teacher, but had zero experience teaching Science. They asked her to teach the Science as she apparently had it as a major some 30 years back.

Anyway, i managed to pass both very well. I will not mention the school's name, but it hasn't got a very good reputation.

My kids, 1 in Gr R and the other in Gr3 are in a primary school that is also not very good imo. The teachers DO NOT go the extra mile......and its difficult cos they have 30 kids in the class.

I am in the process of trying to get my child out of this school and into a very good school, but this also has its own issues......I dont reside in the area....and i have my own school in my own catchment area......these are the replies i am getting and i am very frustrated. My hope for next year is to manage to get moth my kids into this good school for Gr1 and Gr4.

I live in hope

The Missing Link your effort is commendable. I agree with you that the text books are of poor quality. A suggestion would be that District Managers need to recall seasoned teachers to write modules to assist learners especially those schools that are under achieving. Currently we look at results and say children are not learning. I agree we are working with a different generation, without resources no one can prepare adequately for any examination.
Keep up the good work!

TN thank you for the bit on Kumon Math. I agree with you that children need to know how to do and pencil and paper work is best suited to do this. I will pm you to find out your own primary school experience this will tell us more on what is missing in the classroom today. Then what I need to ask is what are the main areas of concern in the learning pattern of the current learner.
At University Technology is used in what we call Blended Learning. We use a platform called Black Board to post additional support material that students could use. Videos, Notes, Tests, Past Exams etc. It works well and students like it too. The question is: Will this work at school?

@KristieN...please forgive me if I have come across as an advocate of Kumon...I would not suggest it to some-one that has already started school as the methodology and syllabus does differ from CAPS...I had to re-learn the CAPS methodology and syllabus to enable me to tutor students outside of Kumon...I went to a site called www.everythingmaths.co.za and "studied" in my own time for +-1 year to be comfortable enough to tutor students...took a bit of time to familiarise myself but I wanted to help and so it was no sacrifice...

I'm familiar with the university platforms as I recently studied and completed a Forensics qualification through UNISA and had sight of the additional support material you make mention of...personal opinion is that it cannot currently work as it requires cheap internet connectivity and we are not yet at that point in SA...furthermore, additional support material with extra tests, past exams, etc are only of use once the principles are repeated and learnt with some competence and this can be done with the aid of existing materials coupled with competent teachers...Another means I have found successful is to reduce almost everything in Maths to something visual as it is easier to understand a picture than merely words and numbers...works on most occasions and I use this extensively...

The absolute basics have to be inculcated at the earliest ages before bad habits / muscle memory has developed and that goes for anything we are to master at a later age...and that can only be achieved by repetition...10 minutes of repetition every day during the year saves you having to study 10 hours a day at the end of the year...

The kids that get less than 70% do not understand the basic principles so these need to be re-taught by going back and trying to undo the bad habits before the correct habits can be taught otherwise they will default to what they were comfortable with even thought incorrect...much harder to do as a student gets older so early learning habits and teaching (primary source from which basic principles are learnt) at that stage is imperative in determining longer term results / performance...

Will reply regarding my primary school experience re: Maths when you PM me...

Apologies for length of post but it's late and I think I'm rambling on a bit...
@Englander...I think I will join you in the precis writing course...

The option to choose Maths or Maths Lit. for the weaker learners...........................


Maths or Maths Lit? Making sense of Matric subject selection.

March 4, 2014/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Kath Morse


Inappropriate Matric subject selection in Grade 10 contributes to poor results and failures in Grade 12. The most problematic subject is maths. There has been a drive in recent years for more learners to take maths and hence improve our overall number of maths passes. Due recognition is given to the crisis in scarce skills industries such as science and technology which rely on maths as a gateway subject to tertiary studies.

When students who could do well in maths take maths lit we lose potential human capital. Equally we must also acknowledge that for the many learners taking maths (those who ultimately fail or pass poorly), maths literacy may well have been a better option, improving not only their chance of passing matric but also their overall aggregate.

Gustafsson (2011) researched subject choice and ultimate matric failure. He found that 24% of the learners that took maths in 2009, who ultimately failed their matric, would have PASSED MATRIC if they had switched to maths literacy.

A second report from the Department of Basic Education (2013) noted that learners in historically white and colored schools who took maths in matric, were already noticeably stronger at maths in Gr 8. However learners in historically black schools who took maths at matric were not necessarily those who showed strength in the lower grades. The report notes “It is therefore mystifying what informed the decision to take mathematics to matric – clearly this decision was not informed by the true mathematics ability of learners.”

So, what can we conclude? Learners with strong maths results in Gr 8 & 9 who are at a school with a strong teaching record for maths, should take maths. Learners with weak results in Gr 8 & 9 or learners at schools with poor pass rates for matric maths, should NOT take maths.

When making a decision, learners should look closely at their tertiary options. Some courses require mathematics (not maths lit). Examples would be Science, Engineering, Computer Technology and Accounting. Many courses do not require maths.

Exactly what does this look like? SAILI recommends the 50/50 rule. If the learner is passing in Gr 9 maths at 50% (code 4) or more AND the school has a matric pass of 50% scoring over 50% (code 4) for maths, then take maths. If the learner is has less than 50% (code 1,2,3) for maths AND the school has a matric maths result of less than 50% of learners scoring over 50%, take Maths Literacy.



School matric maths pass rate strong >50% pass at 50% School matric maths pass rate weak <50% pass at 50%
Learner maths results strong >50%
Take Mathematics
Consider whether you need maths for your tertiary course preference, consider whether you will be able to access additional materials & past papers to compensate for your school’s weakness
Learner maths results weak<50% Consider whether you need maths for your tertiary course preference, consider whether you will be able to get extra help at school or from an external tutor to compensate for your weakness
Take Maths Literacy


saili.org.za/website/matric-subject-selection/