Mathematics, pedagogy and textbooks : a study of textbook use in Grade 7 mathematics classrooms
type: CreativeWork
description: This dissertation is concerned with a systematic description of the recontextualization of the practices of a textbook, Maths for all Grade 7 Learner's Activity Book, when it is incorporated into grade 7 mathematics teachers' classroom practices. In particular, the research described here focuses on the impact of the textbook on four grade 7 mathematics teachers' classroom practices. My study forms a sub-project of a larger research project which explores the impact of the textbook, Maths for all Grade 7 Learner's Activity Book, in 14 grade 7 mathematics classrooms. The research design of my study comprised two aspects: an analysis of a chapter from the textbook, Maths for all Grade 7 Learner's Activity Book, and an analysis of its use in classrooms. Data collected included a textbook chapter on measurement and the accompanying chapter in the teacher's guide, questionnaires (learner, teacher and school), teacher interviews, video recordings of observed lessons and learner notebooks. Drawing largely on Paul Dowling's Social Activity Theory and Paula Ensor's extension of this work in her study on teacher education, a theoretical model was developed for the analysis of data. The theoretical model was supplemented with theoretical concepts from Basil Bernstein's sociological theory of pedagogic discourse. While the model was developed in relation to the content and use of a specific textbook, the model can potentially be used for other mathematics textbooks or textbooks from other disciplines. Analysis shows that the textbook, which embodies an inductive, exploratory pedagogy, cannot on its own achieve learner's apprenticeship into mathematics, or teacher's apprenticeship into its privileged mode of teaching mathematics. The analysis of the teachers' use of textbook shows that in most cases, the privileged pedagogy of the textbook differed considerably from the preferred pedagogy of the teachers. Most teachers preferred a deductive pedagogy and used the textbook in ways…
abstract: This dissertation is concerned with a systematic description of the recontextualization of the practices of a textbook, Maths for all Grade 7 Learner's Activity Book, when it is incorporated into grade 7 mathematics teachers' classroom practices. In particular, the research described here focuses on the impact of the textbook on four grade 7 mathematics teachers' classroom practices. My study forms a sub-project of a larger research project which explores the impact of the textbook, Maths for all Grade 7 Learner's Activity Book, in 14 grade 7 mathematics classrooms. The research design of my study comprised two aspects: an analysis of a chapter from the textbook, Maths for all Grade 7 Learner's Activity Book, and an analysis of its use in classrooms. Data collected included a textbook chapter on measurement and the accompanying chapter in the teacher's guide, questionnaires (learner, teacher and school), teacher interviews, video recordings of observed lessons and learner notebooks. Drawing largely on Paul Dowling's Social Activity Theory and Paula Ensor's extension of this work in her study on teacher education, a theoretical model was developed for the analysis of data. The theoretical model was supplemented with theoretical concepts from Basil Bernstein's sociological theory of pedagogic discourse. While the model was developed in relation to the content and use of a specific textbook, the model can potentially be used for other mathematics textbooks or textbooks from other disciplines. Analysis shows that the textbook, which embodies an inductive, exploratory pedagogy, cannot on its own achieve learner's apprenticeship into mathematics, or teacher's apprenticeship into its privileged mode of teaching mathematics. The analysis of the teachers' use of textbook shows that in most cases, the privileged pedagogy of the textbook differed considerably from the preferred pedagogy of the teachers. Most teachers preferred a deductive pedagogy and used the textbook in ways…
author: Jaffer, Shaheeda
language: eng
date published: 2001
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:35Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: School of Education

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14964