Vision
A mathematical programme that prepare youth at work and community.
Mission
To equip students with mathematical skills and attitudes at *vocational level of competency and confidence that can be applied in life.
* The four core vocational modules : Electrical, Mechanical, Retail and Food & Preparation.
Aim
The programme aims to enable students to:
a) Acquire the foundation mathematical concepts and skills to meet the general demands of life at home and at work, and also for participation in the community; and
b) Appreciate mathematics as essential and relevant to daily life, demonstrate confidence in the use of mathematics, and perseverance in solving problems in practical and relevant situations.
Programme Structure
| Year (No of hours) | Modules | |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1(150h) | Foundation Modules(core):
|
|
| Year 2(150h) |
Foundation Modules (core/enrichment):
|
|
| Year 3 (100h) | Elective modules (50h):
|
Integrated into vocational strands (50h) |
| Year 4 (50h) | Integrated into vocational strands (50h) | |
- To enhance student motivation to do mathematics, we need to work on three interacting components: goal orientations, emotions and self-confidence (Ford ). The programme focuses on motivating and engaging students in the learning of mathematics through the strategies elaborated below.
- Success Opportunities: The tasks set are within students´ comfort zone to solve, that is, neither too difficult nor overly simple. As many of the students are also weak in their language, the tasks will be presented in a more visual format with fewer words. There is an emphasis on helping students to understand and use mathematical language in everyday situations. Calculators are used to support arithmetic computations so that the focus will be on using maths to solve everyday problems and not mastery of manual computations. A study by Hembree " Dessart showed that calculator use would enhance the learning of problem-solving skills and allow students to proceed directly into real-life problems. Motivation will thereby increase, and the anxiety associated with mathematical computation will be reduced.
- Tasks − Meaningful and Diverse: Mathematics will be introduced through meaningful hands-on learning tasks that are interesting, relevant to the students and set in realistic contexts. Through working on these tasks in groups, students will come to view mathematics as an interesting and powerful tool that enables them to understand their world. Students use hands-on manipulatives, visual models and technological aids to explore and understand the mathematical concepts. For example, in a learning task in the unit ’Let´s go shopping´ under the theme ’Mathematics Around Us´, students can work in groups to plan the weekly grocery needs for a family of four within a given budget. They have to search the internet to work out the best buys and then present their proposal to the class. Besides appreciating the relevance and usefulness of mathematics in everyday situations, students will be motivated to learn and develop the confidence in applying mathematics. As the attention span of these students is very short, instead of the usual pen-and-paper worksheets, a variety of novel and interesting tasks will also be used for practice and mastery of skills. These include board games, online games, self-checked cards and puzzles. In many of these tasks, immediate feedback will be given on the tasks and they are allowed multiple attempts to succeed in the tasks.
- Approach - Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract: Students are allowed to explore and understand mathematical concepts through use of concrete hands-on manipulatives, visual models and technological aids such as the interactive white board.
- Relationships - Co-operative learning groups: The students are predominantly kinaesthetic learners, with a disposition to social interaction. Hence, doing mathematics in cooperation with others will allow them to develop a richer set of experiences than working independently. Moreover, they will feel less ’stressed´ in a group environment as they can look to each other for help and ideas to solve the problems. Once the students have experienced success in the task, they will have opportunities to work individually to further build their confidence and perseverance in problem solving.
- The department´s strategic focus and how it is supported by its STAR approach to teaching and learning is described above.
Hembree. R., & Dessart, D. (1992). Research on calculators in mathematics education. In J.T. Fey (Ed.), Calculators in Mathematics Education: 1992 Yearbook of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (pp. 22-31). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
