- Title
- How selected Grade 7 participants develop conceptual understanding in solving algebraic problems as a result of participating in a screencast intervention
- Creator
- Wienekus, George Renier
- ThesisAdvisor
- Schäfer, Marc
- Subject
- Algebra -- Study and teaching -- South Africa
- Subject
- Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Elementary) -- South Africa
- Subject
- Problem solving in children
- Subject
- Algebra -- Ability testing
- Subject
- Algebra -- Computer-assisted instruction
- Date
- 2021-04
- Type
- thesis
- Type
- text
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MEd
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/176833
- Identifier
- vital:42763
- Description
- This research project is an interventionist case study, oriented in the interpretive paradigm, which aims to investigate how selected Grade 7 participants develop conceptual understanding in solving algebraic problems as a result of participating in screencast interventions. The aim of my screencast intervention programme, which lies at the heart of this study, is to develop practices, inter alia, of how such devices and software may be “used to develop conceptual rather than procedural or decorative knowledge” (Larkin & Calder, 2015:1) in solving linear equations. The planned intervention was delivered in the form of a series of screencasts: these take the form of audio-video lessons with an emphasis on the visual impact, and were recorded using an application called Explain Everything. The screencast interventions were delivered via Google Classroom and included animations supported by such conceptual explanations of early algebra as are relevant to Grade 7 students, and in line with the South African Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements - Department of Education, 2011. The fundamental components of an early algebraic equation that would be relevant to a Grade 7 student were considered and used to develop an analytic framework. This was based on a taxonomy designed according to four identified “clusters” in order to analyse the workings of the purposefully selected Grade 7 participants who were video recorded and questioned in a talk-aloud interview while they completed a post-intervention pencil-and-paper test. What emerges from this research project is that there is a significant need for specific and concentrated technology-based techniques, such as the interventions undertaken here, and that exploration and development in the field could benefit the delivery of a pedagogy for algebra. The pedagogical methods implemented and studied in the form of screencasts proved to be successful and were well received by the learners particularly in relation to the conceptualisation of “symbol sense” and transformation in early algebra. The structure and design of the screencast interventions were important in supporting the acquisition of these concepts and were demonstrated to be worthwhile tools for an epistemological application in a classroom or teaching context.
- Description
- Thesis (MEd) -- Rhodes University, Faculty of Education, Education, 2021
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (204 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Education, Education
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Wienekus, George Renier
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details | SOURCE1 | WIENEKUS-MED-TR21-81.pdf | 5 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details |