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Teachers’ Knowledge About The Nature Of Mathematics: A Survey Of Secondary School Teachers In Karachi, Pakistan, Munira Amirali, Anjum Halai
Teachers’ Knowledge About The Nature Of Mathematics: A Survey Of Secondary School Teachers In Karachi, Pakistan, Munira Amirali, Anjum Halai
Institute for Educational Development, Karachi
This study presents the findings from a study which explored patterns in teachers’ knowledge about the nature of mathematics. A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to 200 secondary school mathematics teachers teaching in public and private schools in Karachi, Pakistan. Exploratory factor analysis was performed which showed patterns in teachers’ view about the nature of mathematics. The analysis illustrates that teachers hold contradicting views about the nature of mathematics i.e. mathematics, both as discovered as well as invented body of knowledge. Moreover, teachers irrespective of their professional qualification, considered mathematical knowledge as ‘truth’, where mathematical rules can never be …
Students’ Conceptions Of The Nature Of Mathematics And Attitudes Towards Mathematics Learning, Munira Amirali
Students’ Conceptions Of The Nature Of Mathematics And Attitudes Towards Mathematics Learning, Munira Amirali
Institute for Educational Development, Karachi
Students’ conceptions of the nature of mathematics have a great influence towards mathematics learning. In order to understand gender-wise students’ conceptions and attitudes towards mathematics this study has been conducted in Karachi, Pakistan. This paper examines patterns in students’ conception and attitude towards mathematics by analyzing survey data obtained from 82 students studying in grade eight in a private school context. The survey was conducted using a five-point Likert scale ranging from ‘strongly agree’ through ‘neutral’ to ‘strongly disagree’. The survey findings illustrate that students consider mathematics as a useful subject which is used in daily life routines and facilitates …
Teaching Teachers And Students About The Nature Of Science, Nelofer Halai
Teaching Teachers And Students About The Nature Of Science, Nelofer Halai
Institute for Educational Development, Karachi
This article advocates the teaching about the nature of science to both pupils in schools and teachers in teacher education institutions in Pakistan. Not knowing about science; teachers tend to continue to teach science as fixed knowledge and not as inquiry and this cycle continues. This cycle needs to be broken. This article first discusses the salient features about the concept of the nature of science and then illustrates these ideas with the help of a simple but a powerful activity which could be used both with teacher educators and pupils in secondary and lower secondary classrooms.