In this article, I reflect on the meaning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (ST... more In this article, I reflect on the meaning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and consider how the kind of learning and instruction implied in this thrust could play out in under-resourced Zimbabwean mathematics classroom environments. In a qualitative case study, I explored the implementation of STEM education in the mathematics classrooms. Three (3) form three mathematics teachers teaching at two (2) community high schools were interviewed and observed teaching. Seventy (70) form three pupils completed an open-ended questionnaire. Narratives from the questionnaire and interview transcripts were analysed thematically. Results show that mathematics is not being taught as a practical subject. STEM has been introduced in schools but very little professional development on how to implement STEM education has been done. STEM policies exist in schools but are not fully adhered to, and this impacts negatively on the quality of STEM programmes. Inquiry-based teaching strategies are not being utilised. Learners are not allowed to bring smart phones to school for learning purposes. After examining the main defining characteristics of STEM education, I recommend an instructional orientation that privilleges inquiry and investigations and draw heavily from local everyday life phenomena especially in less affluent community schooling environments. The phenomena may include indigenous knowledge resources such as those depicted by the field data findings on basket and mat weaving shown on the ensuing pages of the article. I also argue that limited but available ICT affordances such as multipurpose mobile phones can augment STEM education resources.
This article analyses teachers‟ and learners‟ perspectives on the role of school mathematics in u... more This article analyses teachers‟ and learners‟ perspectives on the role of school mathematics in understanding cultural activities. The qualitative study from which this article emerges worked with three mathematics teachers and their Grade 9 learners from one rural school (situated very close to a cultural village). An attempt to connect mathematics concepts to cultural activities was made. Mathematics and culture are often interconnected, making school mathematics intimately linked to the society in which it is taught. Where connections are applied in mathematics education, the position often taken is using cultural activities as a vehicle into understanding school mathematics. This article focusses on the reverse, which is using school mathematics to understand cultural activities. This will be pursued in some discussions of cultural activities via mathematics, largely based on the notion that the mathematics content learnt in schools should be transferrable for use in learners‟da...
This article analyses teachers‟ and learners‟ perspectives on the role of school mathematics in u... more This article analyses teachers‟ and learners‟ perspectives on the role of school mathematics in understanding cultural activities. The qualitative study from which this article emerges worked with three mathematics teachers and their Grade 9 learners from one rural school (situated very close to a cultural village). An attempt to connect mathematics concepts to cultural activities was made. Mathematics and culture are often interconnected, making school mathematics intimately linked to the society in which it is taught. Where connections are applied in mathematics education, the position often taken is using cultural activities as a vehicle into understanding school mathematics. This article focusses on the reverse, which is using school mathematics to understand cultural activities. This will be pursued in some discussions of cultural activities via mathematics, largely based on the notion that the mathematics content learnt in schools should be transferrable for use in learners‟da...
Some mathematics educational reform policies indicate that mathematics education should be connec... more Some mathematics educational reform policies indicate that mathematics education should be connected to learners’ cultures. However, teaching in schools rarely brings the interconnection between mathematics and culture in pedagogically informed ways. Connections are often done superficially; the curriculum in schools lacks content and specific strategies that enable the making of the connections explicit in the context of teaching. The qualitative study from which this paper emerges worked with three mathematics teachers in an attempt to teach mathematics in ways that connect key concepts with culture. Through mathematizing culturally-based activities performed at a cultural village, two Grade 9 mathematics topics in the South African curriculum were indigenised. A teaching unit on the indigenised topics was designed and implemented in five Grade 9 classes at the same school. The paper demonstrates that the experience of designing, implementing, and reflecting on the intervention st...
International studies on teacher learning communities (TLCs) emphasise that TLCs that are formed ... more International studies on teacher learning communities (TLCs) emphasise that TLCs that are formed within the school context are powerful to help teachers improve their teaching practices. This paper presents a qualitative case study that analyses teacher-learning activities in a school-based professional learning community (PLC). The PLC aimed at staff developing teachers on how to connect mathematics education to cultural activities in the context of curriculum reform. Three middle school mathematics teachers participated in the learning community. Cultural activities performed at a cultural village very close to the school were mathematized. The embedded mathematics concepts were indigenised into the Grade 9 mathematics curriculum. Two teaching units on number patterns and transformations were crafted and co-taught by the facilitator and the class teachers in five Grade 9 classes. Data consisted of audio-recorded pre and post teacher interviews, video- recorded cultural activities,...
Investing in women’s economic empowerment sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty era... more Investing in women’s economic empowerment sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth. This chapter reflects on how women’s economic empowerment could serve as a prerequisite for sustainable development. Zimbabwe is still experiencing a generally low status for women with respect to access to economic resources and economic opportunities. Women’s economic empowerment may be achieved through education. This chapter considers the significance of non-formal education in Zimbabwe. It analyses how holistic community-based non-formal education organisations might offer education to women that could lead to sustainable development through training women on how to weave baskets and mats using indigenous materials. Three indigenous basket and mat weavers based at Great Zimbabwe Monuments were observed and interviewed whilst weaving. It was established that the weaving skills being used could be passed on to other community women through non-f...
Kufakunesu, M; Chinyoka, K & Madusise, S. (2020). Certification and Job Expectations among College and University Students in Zimbabwe: Prospects and Potential of Employment. Journal of African Interdisciplinary Studies, 4(4), 44 – 56., 2020
The research manuscript was an endeavour to explore the assorted perceptions of college and unive... more The research manuscript was an endeavour to explore the assorted perceptions of college and university students in Zimbabwe on the extent to which higher and tertiary education facilitates vertical social mobility. The researchers became enthusiastic to undertake this study after detecting a steady increase in the number of students enrolling for higher and tertiary education amid a diversity of inimical countervailing variables. Theoretically, the study was anchored on the psychological theories of Maslow, Herzberg and Erikson. The mixed method approach involving the descriptive survey research design and the chi-square test was employed. Questionnaires, telephone interviews and focus group discussions were used to gather data during the empirical investigation. A gender balanced sample of 80 students from colleges and universities was selected using the stratified random sampling method. The study revealed that the students strongly believed that higher and tertiary education provides an avenue to a financially stable social life, despite the expenses to be incurred and the apparently glaring uncertainties. The researchers also established that some students pursued higher and tertiary education for other reasons apart from financial and social benefits. The researchers recommended, among other things, that other researchers interested in the explored domain should conduct related longitudinal research studies in which cohorts of research participants are studied over a long period of time in an attempt to determine the extent to which attaining higher and tertiary education translates to automatic vertical upward social mobility.
In this article, I reflect on the meaning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (ST... more In this article, I reflect on the meaning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and consider how the kind of learning and instruction implied in this thrust could play out in under-resourced Zimbabwean mathematics classroom environments. In a qualitative case study, I explored the implementation of STEM education in the mathematics classrooms. Three (3) form three mathematics teachers teaching at two (2) community high schools were interviewed and observed teaching. Seventy (70) form three pupils completed an open-ended questionnaire. Narratives from the questionnaire and interview transcripts were analysed thematically. Results show that mathematics is not being taught as a practical subject. STEM has been introduced in schools but very little professional development on how to implement STEM education has been done. STEM policies exist in schools but are not fully adhered to, and this impacts negatively on the quality of STEM programmes. Inquiry-based teaching strategies are not being utilised. Learners are not allowed to bring smart phones to school for learning purposes. After examining the main defining characteristics of STEM education, I recommend an instructional orientation that privilleges inquiry and investigations and draw heavily from local everyday life phenomena especially in less affluent community schooling environments. The phenomena may include indigenous knowledge resources such as those depicted by the field data findings on basket and mat weaving shown on the ensuing pages of the article. I also argue that limited but available ICT affordances such as multipurpose mobile phones can augment STEM education resources.
This article analyses teachers‟ and learners‟ perspectives on the role of school mathematics in u... more This article analyses teachers‟ and learners‟ perspectives on the role of school mathematics in understanding cultural activities. The qualitative study from which this article emerges worked with three mathematics teachers and their Grade 9 learners from one rural school (situated very close to a cultural village). An attempt to connect mathematics concepts to cultural activities was made. Mathematics and culture are often interconnected, making school mathematics intimately linked to the society in which it is taught. Where connections are applied in mathematics education, the position often taken is using cultural activities as a vehicle into understanding school mathematics. This article focusses on the reverse, which is using school mathematics to understand cultural activities. This will be pursued in some discussions of cultural activities via mathematics, largely based on the notion that the mathematics content learnt in schools should be transferrable for use in learners‟da...
This article analyses teachers‟ and learners‟ perspectives on the role of school mathematics in u... more This article analyses teachers‟ and learners‟ perspectives on the role of school mathematics in understanding cultural activities. The qualitative study from which this article emerges worked with three mathematics teachers and their Grade 9 learners from one rural school (situated very close to a cultural village). An attempt to connect mathematics concepts to cultural activities was made. Mathematics and culture are often interconnected, making school mathematics intimately linked to the society in which it is taught. Where connections are applied in mathematics education, the position often taken is using cultural activities as a vehicle into understanding school mathematics. This article focusses on the reverse, which is using school mathematics to understand cultural activities. This will be pursued in some discussions of cultural activities via mathematics, largely based on the notion that the mathematics content learnt in schools should be transferrable for use in learners‟da...
Some mathematics educational reform policies indicate that mathematics education should be connec... more Some mathematics educational reform policies indicate that mathematics education should be connected to learners’ cultures. However, teaching in schools rarely brings the interconnection between mathematics and culture in pedagogically informed ways. Connections are often done superficially; the curriculum in schools lacks content and specific strategies that enable the making of the connections explicit in the context of teaching. The qualitative study from which this paper emerges worked with three mathematics teachers in an attempt to teach mathematics in ways that connect key concepts with culture. Through mathematizing culturally-based activities performed at a cultural village, two Grade 9 mathematics topics in the South African curriculum were indigenised. A teaching unit on the indigenised topics was designed and implemented in five Grade 9 classes at the same school. The paper demonstrates that the experience of designing, implementing, and reflecting on the intervention st...
International studies on teacher learning communities (TLCs) emphasise that TLCs that are formed ... more International studies on teacher learning communities (TLCs) emphasise that TLCs that are formed within the school context are powerful to help teachers improve their teaching practices. This paper presents a qualitative case study that analyses teacher-learning activities in a school-based professional learning community (PLC). The PLC aimed at staff developing teachers on how to connect mathematics education to cultural activities in the context of curriculum reform. Three middle school mathematics teachers participated in the learning community. Cultural activities performed at a cultural village very close to the school were mathematized. The embedded mathematics concepts were indigenised into the Grade 9 mathematics curriculum. Two teaching units on number patterns and transformations were crafted and co-taught by the facilitator and the class teachers in five Grade 9 classes. Data consisted of audio-recorded pre and post teacher interviews, video- recorded cultural activities,...
Investing in women’s economic empowerment sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty era... more Investing in women’s economic empowerment sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth. This chapter reflects on how women’s economic empowerment could serve as a prerequisite for sustainable development. Zimbabwe is still experiencing a generally low status for women with respect to access to economic resources and economic opportunities. Women’s economic empowerment may be achieved through education. This chapter considers the significance of non-formal education in Zimbabwe. It analyses how holistic community-based non-formal education organisations might offer education to women that could lead to sustainable development through training women on how to weave baskets and mats using indigenous materials. Three indigenous basket and mat weavers based at Great Zimbabwe Monuments were observed and interviewed whilst weaving. It was established that the weaving skills being used could be passed on to other community women through non-f...
Kufakunesu, M; Chinyoka, K & Madusise, S. (2020). Certification and Job Expectations among College and University Students in Zimbabwe: Prospects and Potential of Employment. Journal of African Interdisciplinary Studies, 4(4), 44 – 56., 2020
The research manuscript was an endeavour to explore the assorted perceptions of college and unive... more The research manuscript was an endeavour to explore the assorted perceptions of college and university students in Zimbabwe on the extent to which higher and tertiary education facilitates vertical social mobility. The researchers became enthusiastic to undertake this study after detecting a steady increase in the number of students enrolling for higher and tertiary education amid a diversity of inimical countervailing variables. Theoretically, the study was anchored on the psychological theories of Maslow, Herzberg and Erikson. The mixed method approach involving the descriptive survey research design and the chi-square test was employed. Questionnaires, telephone interviews and focus group discussions were used to gather data during the empirical investigation. A gender balanced sample of 80 students from colleges and universities was selected using the stratified random sampling method. The study revealed that the students strongly believed that higher and tertiary education provides an avenue to a financially stable social life, despite the expenses to be incurred and the apparently glaring uncertainties. The researchers also established that some students pursued higher and tertiary education for other reasons apart from financial and social benefits. The researchers recommended, among other things, that other researchers interested in the explored domain should conduct related longitudinal research studies in which cohorts of research participants are studied over a long period of time in an attempt to determine the extent to which attaining higher and tertiary education translates to automatic vertical upward social mobility.
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