Ansie Harding

The research on the format of a technique mastering programme in the first year Calculus course involves a group of first year engineering students at the University of Pretoria. Apart from conceptual understanding these students are also expected to master a certain amount of basic knowledge and rote skills in the Calculus course. The process of acquiring and assessing basic

The world wide web is becoming wider at an increasing rate. It is virtually impossible to take any kind of accurate snapshot at one time of the state of its development. Undergraduate mathematics courses presented on the internet are relative newcomers to the race but are nevertheless increasing in numbers at the same phenomenal rate. Internet education is developing as

It is almost 30 years since Morris Kline published his wide-ranging critique of undergraduate education in his book, "Why The Professor can't Teach" (1). In 1999, Steve Krantz, in his book, "How to Teach Mathematics" (2) reported that academics were paying much more attention to their teaching duties than before. Both of these books were largely about the situation in

ABSTRACT At the University of Pretoria we embarked on designing a web based course for first year Calculus students. This was done within a WebCT framework. The course ran on an experimental basis during the first semester of 2000. This paper discusses the structure ...

Abstract: This article describes the experiences and mathematics performance of Grade 12 learners selected to participate in a mathematics intervention project using digital video disk (DVD) technology within a blended learning context. Blended learning in the context of ...

ABSTRACT Why a book on gender issues in mathematics in the 21st century? Several factors have influenced theundertaking of this project by the editors. First, an international volume focusing on gender and mathematicshas not appeared since publication of papers emerging from the 1996 International Congress onMathematical Education (Keitel, 1998). Surely it was time for an updated look at this critical area ofmathematics education. Second, we have had lively discussion and working groups on gender issues atconferences of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education [PME] for the past fouryears, sessions at which stimulating and ground-breaking research has been discussed by participants from many different countries. Some publicationseemed essential to share this new knowledge emerging from a wider variety of countries and from different cultural perspectives. Third, some westerncountries such as Australia and the USA have experienced in recent years a focus on the "boy problem," with an underlying assumption that issues offemales and mathematics have been solved and are no longer worthy of interest. Thus it seemed timely to look more closely at the issue of gender andmathematics internationally. When the idea for this volume first emerged, invitations were issued to those regularly attending the working anddiscussion groups at PME. Potential authors were charged to focus on gender issues in mathematics and were given wide scope to hone in on the issuesthat were central to their own research efforts, or were in receipt or in need of close attention in their own national or regional contexts.

Abstract: Uitkomsgerigte onderrig (UGO) het 'n groei-en hersieningsfase beleef en is vir die afsienbare toekoms hier om te bly. Die 2009-inname van studente op universiteit is die eerste matrikulante wat slegs binne die nuwe bedeling onderrig ontvang het. Hierdie ...

ABSTRACT Post-apartheid South Africa is witnessing an education crisis of significant proportions. The new outcomesbased education system has failed to deliver, and universities are suffering the consequences of underpreparation of learners for tertiary ...

The research on the format of a technique mastering programme in the first year Calculus course involves a group of first year engineering students at the University of Pretoria. Apart from conceptual understanding these students are also expected to master a certain amount of basic knowledge and rote skills in the Calculus course. The process of acquiring and assessing basic knowledge and rote skills (also referred to as must-knows and techniques, respectively) is known as the technique mastering programme at the University of Pretoria. This paper deals with the issue as to whether the paper-based assessment format for the technique mastering programme in first year Calculus can be replaced by computer-based assessment without a significant difference in performance. In answer to the first question, the study shows that statistically there is no significant difference in performance in the technique mastering tests when the paper format is replaced by an online format. Yet, low cor...

In this study we propose a taxonomy for assessment in mathematics, which we call the assessment component taxonomy, to identify those components of mathematics that can be successfully assessed using alternative assessment formats. Based on the literature on assessment ...

Abstract The 2009 intake of university students were the first to have received complete school education within the recently implemented Outcomes‐Based Education (OBE) system. A feature of the matriculation examination results of these students was the ...

Abstract This article describes the experiences and mathematics performance of Grade 12 learners selected to participate in a mathematics intervention project using digital video disk (DVD) technology within a blended learning context. Blended learning in the context of ...

Following the political changes of 1994 in South Africa, the decision was taken to replace the traditional skills-based education system at primary and secondary school level (Grades 1–12) with an outcomes-based education system (OBE). The implementation of the OBE system did not come without problems, giving rise to revised initiatives. The OBE approach, referred to as Curriculum 2005, was introduced

Understanding abstract concepts and ideas in mathematics, if instruction takes place in the first language of the student, is difficult. Yet worldwide students often have to master mathematics via a second or third language. The majority of students in South Africa – a country with ...

... VOL. 45, NO. 2, PP. 197–218 (2008) Transfer of Algebraic and Graphical Thinking between Mathematics and Chemistry Marietjie Potgieter,1 Ansie Harding,2 Johann Engelbrecht2 1Department of Chemistry, University of Pretoria, 0002 Pretoria, South Africa ...

The supplemental instruction (SI) programme has been well-established worldwide and the resulting success of the programme is indisputable. The University of Pretoria has decided on SI as the model to be used for addressing the underpreparedness of students entering ...

This article is a follow-up of a study conducted in 2000 by the same authors on trends in numbers of mathematics majors at South African universities. Data from 12 universities for the 2000–2007 period is investigated. The previously observed trend of general and dramatic decrease ...

... Linked to long-term retention of knowledge is the ability to integrate knowledge between different subjects ... William is an example of how stimulation and motivation can improve performance, changing ... The active learning strategy employed in the first year of study was either not ...

CHAPTER 17 TRY AND CATCH THE WIND Women Who Do Doctorates at a Mature Stage in Their Lives Ansie Harding University of Pretoria, South Africa Leigh Wood and Michelle Muchatuta Macquarie University, Australia With Barbara Edwards, Lucia Falzon, Sibba ...

COMPARING ASSESSMENT MODES AND QUESTION FORMATS IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS Johann Engelbrecht and Ansie Harding University of Pretoria, South Africa When presenting an online course within a virtual learning environment such as WebCT, the facility of ...

The process of acquiring and assessing basic knowledge and rote skills (also referred to as must-knows and techniques, respectively) is known as the technique mastering programme at the University of Pretoria. The research on the long-term effect of the technique ...

WE HAVE INVESTIGATED THE TRENDS IN numbers of students majoring in mathematics at South African universities and compared them with international experience. A general decline in these numbers over the past decade reflects what has been happening abroad and is ...

After having presented web-based Calculus courses for a number of years, we investigate the impact that this medium of instruction has on the student's mathematical and general academic progress. Since the web-based model that we developed is much more flexible than the ...

It is almost 30 years since Morris Kline published his wide-ranging critique of undergraduate education in his book, "Why The Professor can't Teach" [1]. In 1999, Steve Krantz, in his book, "How to Teach Mathematics" [2] reported that academics were paying much more ...