Gervasius Hivengwa Stephanus (Stephen) – PhD Candidate
BEd Mathematics and Biology (University of Namibia)
MEd Mathematics (University of Namibia)
Provisional title of the research project:
Exploring teaching proficiency in mathematics of selected effective mathematics teachers in Namibia
Provisional project outline:
The prime focus of this study is to analyze selected effective secondary school teachers’ geometry teaching in Namibia. In examining the classroom practice one is studying a complex system, so this research project will make use of an adapted model of Kilpatrick’s teaching (mathematical) proficiency as the conceptual framework to deconstruct participants’ instructional practices in terms of teaching for mathematical proficiency. The Kilpatrick’s framework is centred on five novel interwoven strands of teaching proficiency: Conceptual Understanding, Procedural Fluency, Strategic Competence, Adaptive Reasoning and Productive Disposition. These strands of teaching proficiency will guide both the data collection and data analysis. Hence, competent teachers’ proficiency of mathematics teaching will be analysed within the context of teachers’ classroom actions. The study will also draw on elements of an enactivist worldview as a theoretical framework. The dimensions of enactivism viz. co-emergence, embodied cognition and structural coupling/determinism will be infused into the Kilpatrick’s model to provide a rich and powerful analytical tool of analysis of teaching practices of effective teachers. Thus, the overall aim of this project is to provide an in-depth analysis of teachers’ geometry classroom instructional practices in relation to their teaching proficiency. To this end, the endeavour is not solely to see how different effective teachers are, but also how similar they are in their teaching practices. All in all, the study is oriented within the interpretive research paradigm and employs both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis.
Email: gervasius2006@yahoo.com
Supervisor: Prof Marc Schafer m.schafer@ru.ac.za
Gervasius Stephanus Research Outputs
