Experiences of grade nine learners' in learning mathematics at a secondary school in Umzimkhulu.

Abstract

This study is an exploration of experiences of grade nine mathematics learners in learning mathematics at a secondary school in Umzimkhulu. This case study has been conducted at one of the junior secondary school in Umzimkulu with five grade nine learners as the participants. I targeted this group in full knowledge that it does not represent the wider population and there is no attempt to generalise the findings (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2000). The participants’ experiences provided an insight to curriculum developers, classroom teachers and stake holders in need to attaining a successful attained curriculum. Purposive sampling was used in choosing a particular group of learners who have got different experiences when learning mathematics. Cohen et al (2000) urges that purposive sampling is mostly suitable for small scale research and it is less complicated to set up and considerably less expensive. I have positioned myself with in the interpretive paradigm in order to approach this study. This study aims to gain in depth of knowledge and greater understanding of experiences of grade nine mathematics learners at a junior secondary school in Umzimkhulu. It has been conducted within the qualitative framework with semi-structured observations, a focused group discussion, and one-to-one semi structured interviews as data generation methods (Denzin & Lincoln, 2003). The study consequently recommends content centred teaching approach which underpins performance curriculum.