Learners in general struggle when working with word problems. South African learners in particular have an added barrier owing to the many official languages that have been legislated. The South African Department of Basic Education, through its curriculum statements, envisages that problem solving will play a fundamental part in mathematics…

The present study explores the validity of inferences that may be drawn from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) learner achievement data by measuring the South African curriculum-TIMSS alignment for the Grade 8 science assessments from 2007 to 2019. The Singapore curriculum--TIMSS alignment indices are a fair…

This study investigated children's knowledge of the addition of fractions with unlike denominators. It focussed on the strategies used by children to add fractions with unlike denominators. A cross-sectional survey of Grade 8 children in schools in two districts in Ghana was used. A test on the addition of fractions with unlike denominators was…

There is growing global concern concerning South African learners' mathematics achievement, with research identifying many factors contributing to poor mathematics achievement, with class size being one of them. When classrooms are overcrowded, this may lead to a stressful environment which can negatively impact the quality of teaching and…

Globally girls' performance in mathematics has improved over the years as measured by TIMSS results. Inconsistency in mathematics performance of boys and girls is still an area of great concern. This study examines the relationship between mathematics achievement and gender of South African Grade 9 learners from TIMSS 2015 data. The data were…

Learning mathematics is as much about developing relationships with mathematics as the development of mathematics concepts and skills. Mathematics clubs usually support learners to develop relationships with mathematics through engaging with challenging mathematics problems, exploring mathematical ideas, and communicating and sharing their ideas.…

The use of guided inquiry-based learning (GIBL) in a manner designed to challenge individual students' unscientific conceptions of science, has been researched widely. However, few (if any) studies have investigated the implementation of GIBL in a manner designed to challenge the fundamental patterns of students' context-dependent unscientific…

Mathematics is a gateway to science-related careers and all stakeholders want to improve the achievement levels in mathematics. In this study we use data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2015 to investigate the association between the learner situational factors of gender, grade level age appropriateness, school…

Extant literature has demonstrated the importance of individual and school-related factors in improving mathematics achievement. Despite this, there is still a gap in research to understand the mediating role of educational aspiration in mathematics achievement. The aim of the present study is to test the relationship between self-efficacy, school…

This study investigated the extent to which the proposed Factory of Ideas (FOI) teaching approach impacted on students' understanding of energy based on their prior knowledge. The FOI is a didactic approach that, unlike the classic cognitive conflict approach, employs a variety of activities to offer students a scientific conception for comparison…

Research findings show that inquiry-based science education has positive effects in improving learning of both science content knowledge and scientific inquiry (SI) skills. As a result, various science curricula, including that of Namibia, recommend the use of an inquiry-based approach in science teaching. However, the implementation of an…

For efficient and effective pedagogical interventions to address Uganda's alarmingly poor performance in Physics, it is vital to understand students' motivation patterns for Physics learning. Latent profile analysis (LPA)--a person-centred approach--can be used to investigate these motivation patterns. Using a three-step approach to LPA, we sought…

Within the science education community, it is widely accepted that quality science instruction is focused on knowledge construction and inquiry. The Ghanaian education system has many hallmark issues that inhibit such instruction, however, including a pervasive teacher-centred pedagogy, lack of laboratory materials, and minimal support systems for…

Mathematics is frequently considered as value-free, centering entirely on abstract reasoning. However, more often than not, the teaching of values in mathematics classrooms takes place implicitly through the actions of the teacher. The role values play in mathematics learning is also a growing area of interest and is now viewed by many as a…

The world we live in is increasingly multimodal, necessitating multiliteracy for learners to engage meaningfully with knowledge and skills. While verbal language is the primary medium for constructing, communicating and learning scientific knowledge and concepts, visuals can help learners to gain knowledge that they may not develop from verbal…