Alison Kitto's presentation on FET Maths CAPS document at Wits 14 Sept 2010

1. Mathematics Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement Grades 10-12 What is in? What is out? What has changed?

2. Call for a return of HG/SG This was not an option. The HG/SG system has done inestimable damage: many FET mathematics teachers themselves did SG mathematics at school because their schools did not offer HG. Attempts to encourage Dinaledi schools to prepare their best candidates to write Paper 3 have not been successful.

3. Content changes Paper 3 topics included in the core curriculum: Euclidean Geometry Probability Core curriculum topics moved/removed: Transformation Geometry Linear Programming

4. Motivation for changes: Universities call for the return of Euclidean Geometry. Teachers and other stakeholders at Marang and other discussion forums indicated their support for the inclusion of Paper 3 topics. Concern about curriculum overload prompted a search for topics to remove. Apart from the rotation of a point through any angle, it was felt that the formalisation of the rules for transformation geometry can be handled in Grade 9. Internationally, linear programming (unlike probability) is not a topic that features in the majority of Grade 12 curricula.

5. “Grey” areas Teachers feel anxious when they are not sure of the depth at which topics might be examined. Typical questions are: “How much time should I spend on the log laws?” “Could they ask a question like : Solve for x:

6. Mathematics Results 2009

7. Suggested change in cognitive demand weighting of test and exam questions Current percentages are: K : 25% R : 30% C : 30% P : 15% Suggested percentages: K : 25% R : 45% C : 20% P : 10%

8. Need to develop a shared understanding of the four cognitive levels It is difficult to agree on the cognitive demands of questions in examination papers, but we need to work on this. It is hoped that the examples supplied and the suggested levels will go some way to opening up a debate on this issue.

9. Scheme of work The work schedules are not meant to be prescriptive, especially at top performing schools and this needs to be made clear. One expert stressed the need not to do too much Paper 1 work in the first term. This will become more critical if the recommendation to include Euclidean geometry is accepted.

10. Different types of assessment A decision was taken by subject heads at the DBE that only one project OR investigation per year can be set in future. It has become clear that teachers have very different ideas about what constitutes an investigation, a project and an assignment. The time and cognitive demands of assessment tasks vary significantly from school to school.

11. Error in CAPS document

12. BUT is a perfect curriculum document going to solve the problem? However, our problem in this country (as in many other places in the world) is NOT so much the curriculum as the lack of good math teachers; that's the bottom line! In my opinion, no curriculum will be 'successful' until massive inservice training on a continual basis is implemented. Specifically, their Pedagogic Content Knowledge needs to be drastically improved (from primary level up!), and unfortunately tinkering a little here, and a little there, or importing a different curriculum is not going to help much. Michael de Villiers