Some cognitive difficulties that standard six and seven pupils at a typical Cape Flats school experience with the generalized number pattern approach to algebra

Abstract

Mathematics teaching in South African schools is currently in a state of ferment. The recent political transformation in the country has had a ripple effect on the curriculum in the form of a more "pupi1 centered approach. One of the more noteworthy curricular changes is the proposed generalized number pattern approach to algebra (e.g., in the Draft Syllabus for Mathematics of the Western Cape Education Department. for the Junior Secondary Phase, 1996). This thesis sets out to explore, against a constructivist background, some of the cognitive difficulties that standard six and seven pupils at a typical Cape F1at.s school experience with the new approach.