14 June 2006
StatsSA has the pleasure of announcing the winners of the maths4stats
competition. The competition attracted more than 600 Grade 10-12 Maths teachers
who participated in this national competition. The 26 successful teachers
are:
Free State
Segogo H Molete: Bloemfontein.
Henry D Madlala: Welkom
Limpopo
Tshililo D Mukhaninga: Nzhelele
Onicca Makgaba: Polokwane
Salome Mabale: Polokwane
North West
Moruku Rebeccal Seagisho: Mafikeng
Makhanana Anna Netsibo: Rustenburg
Eastern Cape
Sibusisiwe Maki: Dimbaza
Nomfundo Zithumane: King Williams Town
Gary Hendricks: Pearston
Nokwanda Mbusi: Butterworth
Western Cape
Zainulabidien Ismail: Manenberg
Anthea Bailey: Wellington
Desiree Timmet: Eersterivier
Bridget Cameron: Rondebosch
KwaZulu-Natal
Zwelabantu Elphas Zuma: Msinga
Viniagumal Govender: Newcastle
Nombuso Makhaza: Ladysmith
Amur Singh: Pietermaritzburg
Mpumalanga
Cecilia Coetzee: Sabie
Samukelisiwe Mkhweli: Piet Retief
Gauteng
Bonginkosi Dlalisa: Soweto
Ntebaleng Hendrica Mamabolo: Atteridgeville
Bongiwe Maila: Mamelodi
Northern Cape
Dina Elizabeth Scheepers: Kimberley
Johannes Februarie: Prieska
The twenty six (26) winning teachers will be part of a South African
delegation to attend the Seventh International Conference on Teaching
Statistics (ICOTS-7) in Salvadore, in the state of Bahai, Brazil from 2 to 7
July 2006.
Some of the topics that will be covered are working co-operatively in
statistics education and Statistics Education at school level.
The convergence of history, mathematics and statistics is an interesting one
that has best been depicted by the evolution of apartheid Bantu education in
South Africa. It is a curious convergence that in real terms has been
responsible for a number of challenges that South Africa faces today in its
endeavour towards statistical development.
Too few South Africans have the necessary statistical skill our country
needs; a lingering result of the apartheid era. On 17 September 1953, the
Minister of Native Affairs, H F Verwoerd, addressed Parliament and said, "What
is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it cannot use it in
practice." Thus Bantu Education was introduced in 1954, consciously
de-emphasising the teaching of Mathematics and Science. This destroyed a
generation of scientists, mathematicians and statisticians in South Africa.
Dismantling a legacy is not an easy task. Getting to the core of a
convergence of any kind, let alone an unlikely one of history, mathematics and
statistics is not an easy task to say the least. We are constantly plagued by
the reverberating questions on mathematics and statistics, "Why do we have to
learn this?" and "When am I going to use it?â
The deafening silence to these questions has begun to be addressed in
democratic South Africa, making way for small but meaningful efforts towards
addressing and developing a culture of numeracy in South Africa. South Africa
is currently in the process of developing and implementing a new school
curriculum, with outcomes-based education as a fundamental building block.
The 6th International conference on the Teaching of Statistics (ICOTS-6)
held in Cape Town in July 2002 kick-started an outreach to local mathematics
school teachers. This endeavour recognised the cross-curricular need for data
handling as an anticipated outcome, resulting in vast amounts of statistical
material being included throughout the various phases of the new school
curriculum. In particular, the hosting of the highly successful ICOTS-6
conference in July 2002 prompted the enquiry by the ISI as to the possibility
of our hosting the 57th Session of the ISI in 2009. ICOTS is a conference
organized by a section of the ISI (the International Association of Statistical
Education). The Association of Mathematics Educators of South Africa (AMESA)
was involved in ICOTS-6, and in presenting workshops. A number of teachers and
subject advisors were able to attend locally organised workshops, and to attend
talks by and network with international and other national delegates. It has
resulted in a number of further workshops on the teaching of statistics at
schools, being held under the auspices of AMESA, and in the involvement of SASA
members in commenting on the proposed new statistical components of the
mathematics syllabus.
This year, the 7th International conference on the Teaching of Statistics
(ICOTS-7) will be held in Bahia, Salvadore in Brazil in July 2006. The theme of
the conference quite aptly titled is "Working cooperatively in statistics
education".
A new climate of appreciation of statistics has developed internationally
and in South Africa. It is reflected in a marked increase of professional
activities devoted to the subject through the exchange information, ideas and
experiences, and presentations of recent innovations and research in the field
of statistics education. In South Africa it is also reflected in post-1994
awareness-raising and concern about the statistical illiteracy of citizens as
well as the extent to which philosophical, ethical, procedural and even
political questions are being debated.
What is the maths4stats campaign?
It is with this need in mind that the maths4stats campaign has been
conceived as a juncture where mathematics, statistics, teaching and history
interact to address the need for statistical development in South Africa
through developing a culture of maths4stats education; producing a cadre of
statisticians for a democratic nation; promoting a statistical literate society
and working towards better statistics for better results.
Changing the statistical landscape of South Africa will depend on the extent
to which we can convince teachers that statistics is an important theme for
their students. A better preparation of these teachers, who frequently lack
specific preparation in statistics education, is required. The maths4stats
campaign through collaboration with the aim of analysing the situation of
teaching statistics at school level will work towards making recommendations on
how to train mathematics teachers to better succeed in educating statistical
literate students.
The campaign, which will run for three years, aims to bring the mathematics
and education communities together to work in collaboration with the aim of
developing mathematics education and strengthening the statistics component of
mathematics, while making recommendations on how to train mathematics teachers
to better succeed in educating a cadre of statistical literate students.
About the maths4stats logo
The logo is a visual representation of a large rock supported by a small
stone. The large rock depicts the image of an iron ochre rock discovered in
2002 at the very tip of South Africa where scientists recently uncovered in the
Blombos cave, 300 kilometres east of Cape Town, some Paleolithic art that dates
back 70 000 years. The iron ochre rock decorated with geometric patterns
presumably represented some mathematical or geometrical meaning and methods of
counting at the time. The small stone represents small but systematic efforts
to uphold, support and promote a culture of numeracy in South Africa and in
Africa as a whole.
For South Africa, the urgency to develop mathematics education and
statistical education in mathematics has been spurred by the after-effects of
an interruption of a historically-founded culture of counting. The Bantu
Education Act No 47 of 1953 became the pillar of the apartheid project, a piece
of legislation intended to separate black South Africans from the main,
comparatively very well-resourced education system for whites. Authored by Dr H
F Verwoerd (then Minister of Native Affairs, later Prime Minister), it
established a Black Education Department in the Department of Native Affairs.
They were tasked with the compilation of a curriculum that suited the "nature
and requirements of the black people". Mathematics was not seen as a part of
this curriculum as Dr Verwoerd, who on 17 September 1953, in addressing
Parliament is quoted as saying "what is the use of teaching the Bantu child
mathematics when it cannot use it in practice." Thus Bantu Education was
introduced in 1954, consciously de-emphasising the teaching of Mathematics and
Science.
This cornerstone of apartheid ideology-in-practice wreaked havoc on the
education of black people in South Africa, and deprived and disadvantaged
millions for decades. Its devastating personal, political and economic effects
continue to be felt and wrestled with today because of a destruction of a
generation of scientists, mathematicians and statisticians in South Africa.
Further, the legacy of decades of inferior education (underdevelopment, poor
self-image, economic depression, unemployment, crime, etc.) has lasted far
beyond the introduction of a single educational system in 1994 with the first
democratic elections, and the creation of the Government of National Unity.
The challenge South Africa faces is to build capacity in mathematics and
statistics. In collaboration with the South Africa Association of Statistics
(SASA) and the Association for Mathematics Education in South Africa (AMESA),
Statistics South Africa has embarked on a series of activities to enhance
statistical development in South Africa. The maths 4 stats campaign aims to
encourage the development of mathematics education as important bedrock for
statistics.
But given the unique challenges that South Africa faces in light of its
unsavoury history that affected the education of many South Africans, the
climate of appreciation alluded to earlier has to be maintained through
rigorous concerted cooperation between Statistics South Africa as the lead
agency in this initiative, the Department of Education, the South Africa
Association of Statistics (SASA) and the Association for Mathematics Education
in South Africa (AMESA).
A core team has been constituted to roll out the campaign in the endeavour
to work cooperatively towards improving and enhancing statistics education in
South Africa. The core team comprises:
Statistics South Africa: Dr. Miranda Mafafo, Dr. Jairo Arrow, Prof. A.
Kahimbaara and Prof. M. Nthangeni
SASA: Dr. Delia North
SA Statistics Council: Prof. Jacky Galpin
AMESA: Prof. Mamokgethi Setati
Wits University: Dr. Jackie Scheiber
The work programme to be implemented by the core team recognises that in
South Africa there is still an urgent need to redress the paucity of skills in
statistics. The challenge of capacity building needs to be addressed at a
number of levels that targets the general public, learners at different levels
of education and educators through a number of initiatives that address a
number of core issues. The programme will reflect on the specificity of
statistics teaching at school level and on the current situation in the
education of mathematics teachers to face this teaching. It will also produce
some recommendations and materials that can be used in the training of
prospective teachers at University level and in-service teachers who never had
an adequate preparation to teach statistics.
To address the broader need of statistical development, the issues we are
pressed to consider include:
* How is the teaching of mathematics different from teaching other topics in
the school curriculum? How do you teach statistics differently from teaching
statistical literacy?
* What are the basic statistical and pedagogical content knowledge and
competencies that teachers require to successfully teaching statistics at
different school levels?
* How can teachers be assisted to develop teaching competencies in mathematics?
What are good didactic situations that can be meaningfully used to teach
statistics? What material and technology can be made available to increase
knowledge and capabilities related to the teaching of statistics?
* How can mathematicians and statisticians collaborate in educating mathematics
teachers to teach statistics? What is the role of University departments,
national statistical offices and statistical associations in promoting
teachers' training? What best practice can we draw from?
A first small step being taken is the maths4stats competition for Grade
10-12 Maths teachers. The competition is aimed at motivating all mathematics
teachers from historically disadvantaged background to be involved in
statistical literacy in schools through mathematics.
Enquiries:
Hilgard Matthews
Media Liasion
Tel: (012) 310 2923
Cell: 082 805 7249
Issued by: Statistics South Africa
14 June 2006
